“The first half we didn’t really play our game,” forward Cody Arnoux said. “Kind of giving the ball away a lot, and not really making them chase and tiring them out.”

But that all changed after halftime, and Carolina’s offensive clinic led to a flood of goals that lifted the squad to a dominating 5-1 win at BB&T Park.

The win lifted the Dynamo to 7-3-2 and helped them keep pace with Cary in the PDL’s top-heavy Mid-Atlantic Division standings. Carolina and Cary are tied for second place with 23 points, three points behind division-leading Reading. Virginia dropped to 1-5-6.

The Dynamo played well in the first half thanks to lots of pressure in the midfield and a fluid attack up front that struck early.

A ball served into the box found the head of Garry Lewis on the right side of the area, and he nodded it across the goal mouth to the left. Arnoux took over from there, as he went airborne for a volley that rocketed into the back of the net for a 1-0 lead in the fifth minute.

“We knew (Virginia) played last night, a difficult match,” Carolina coach Joe Brown said. “We wanted to get on top of them early. No problem — we did what we had to do there.”

The rest of the half saw the Dynamo bend a little in the back with some surrendered free kicks in threatening areas, but the defensive line held strong.

“I thought our two center backs did well closing their front runners down,” Brown said. “And that’s really what started off everything, just making a statement they weren’t going to get into us.”

UNC’s Zach Loyd made his presence felt on both ends of the field all night long, but particularly along the right flank. He was able to control play from that position on numerous occasions and provide dangerous crosses into the box.

Carolina threatened several times, but few were closer than a through ball down the middle of the field that Arnoux hammered just wide right on a first-touch shot near the end of the half.

But missed opportunities weren’t a problem in the second half.

Arnoux pinpointed more ball control as a key to getting Virginia to come out of its “shell” and open up space.

The all-important second goal came in the 55th minute thanks to more work from Loyd. The busy midfielder gathered a long cross from Rojo outside the top right of the box, and he measured the situation before playing in a low ball that found the feet of forward Karo Okiomah for a tap-in goal.

Virginia rallied for a quick strike in the 58th minute, but the Carolina pressure continued to build as the half wore on.

“I think just us keeping the ball a lot more, making them chase a little bit opened up the flanks. And then we got a couple breakaways and stuff like that just because we were just spreading them out a little bit,” said Arnoux, who played a huge part in sealing the victory.

First the talented Wake Forest forward received a pass in the 69th minute around the top of the box and turned a funny bounce into an acrobatic high lob over the charging keeper that trickled slowly into the empty net for a 3-1 lead.

After that it was two assists to Arie Muniz and Lewis to put the game well out of reach and give the Dynamo a good vibe despite playing a busy schedule.

“Since last weekend, we’ve played four games in (eight) days,” said Brown, whose team has won four in a row. “And we finished with some energy, and we finished with some chances on goal. So I’m happy with that.”

Goals: Carolina — Cody Arnoux 2, Garry Lewis, Arie Muniz, Karo Okiomah; Virginia — Hunter Smith. Assists: Carolina — Arnoux 2, Scott Rojo 1, Zach Loyd 1, Lewis 1; Virginia — Justin Madrid. Shots: Carolina 15, Virginia 8. Saves: Carolina 6, Virginia 5. Corner kicks: Carolina 3, Virginia 1.

Records: Virginia 1-5-6; Carolina: 7-3-2.