Charlotte 49ers men's soccer coach Jeremy Gunn slept late Monday and woke up feeling a bit conflicted.

It was one day after his 49ers lost 1-0 to North Carolina for the NCAA's College Cup in Hoover, Ala. The 49ers gave the top-seed Tar Heels everything they wanted, and perhaps more.

Charlotte outshot North Carolina 19-10 and came oh-so close on several occasions to tying the game in the final 10 minutes. At least two 49ers shots hit the post. Another, a vicious header off a corner kick by defender Thomas Allen, was cleared off the goal line by a North Carolina defender. One 40-second flurry featured five 49ers shots.

But none went in.

The 49ers lost, but gained immeasurable respect for how they played in the nationally televised game.

"I'm hurting today," said Gunn. "But it's a weird feeling to come away with a loss and at the same time to have that feeling of exhilaration. I'm usually not philosophical about losses. I've learned that you either win or lose and the rest goes into the small print pretty quickly.

"But sometimes you win and really lose, and sometimes you lose and you really win. The latter might be the case with us."

Gunn thinks the unseeded 49ers' run through the NCAA tournament - in which they eliminated the No. 2 and 3 teams (Creighton and Connecticut) and the defending champion (Akron) - will pay dividends for a program he's coached for five seasons.

"We're always trying to promote what we're doing with this program, that we can be one of the best teams in college soccer," Gunn said. "There are so many good college soccer programs out there. Hopefully, people watching (Sunday) will see that about us."

Gunn also hopes it will make a difference in recruiting. He focuses first on finding players from the region - many through his contacts as a coach with the Charlotte Soccer Academy. But coaching a national finalist might allow him to broaden his scope further.

"It massively increases the volume of interest and gives us more opportunities in recruiting," he said. "The great news is that you look at the players we had on the field, they weren't those so-called highly touted players.

"But we had a belief in them that they could become great players with great futures."

Gunn also said he's not interested in coaching anywhere else. He'll have another strong team next season: Eight starters should return. He also signed a three-year contract extension in 2010.

"There can either be speculation about a coach leaving because a team's doing poorly or speculation about leaving because your team playing well," he said. "So it's a good thing if people are speculating about the positive things you're doing."