The No. 6 seed Virginia men’s soccer team will continue its redemption tour through the ACC Tournament when they face off against second-seeded North Carolina in Friday’s Semifinal.
The Cavaliers (9-6-3, 3-4-1 ACC) defeated Wake Forest on penalty kicks, 5-3, in the quarterfinal round Tuesday. The win avenged Virginia’s 4-1 regular season loss to the Demon Deacons in October.
Friday, Virginia will look to atone for another previous outcome, as the squad suffered a 1-0 defeat to the Tar Heels (15-2-1, 6-1-1) in Chapel Hill Sept. 21.
During that adrenaline-inducing contest, Virginia created ample scoring opportunities and racked up a 6-2 scoring advantage in the second half. The defense also shored up after allowing a 47th minute goal and held the Tar Heels without a shot for the final 25 minutes of play.
North Carolina features one of the stingiest defenses in the country. Anchored by goalkeeper Scott Goodwin, the Tar Heels allow a paltry 0.22 goals per game — the best mark in the NCAA.
Goodwin — who has the most clean-sheets in North Carolina program history — is tied for the NCAA lead with 14 shutouts in 18 games this season and leads the nation outright with a .900 save percentage on the year.
Virginia will need to get offensive production from more than just senior captain and ACC First-Team selection Will Bates to score against North Carolina. With 11 goals on the season, Bates has led the Cavaliers in scoring all four of his seasons with the team. Remarkably, the squad is 27-2-1 since 2009 in games in which Bates scores a goal.
In Tuesday’s win against Wake Forest, however, with the Demon Deacons allocating much of their defensive focus to stifling Bates, other Cavalier players were able to take on the scoring burden.
Freshman defender Zach Carroll put away his fourth goal of the year off a long free kick in the 32nd minute, while sophomore Eric Bird fought off a defender in the box and redirected a low, hard cross into goal in the 55th minute.
North Carolina advanced to meet Virginia by defeating Duke 1-0 at home Tuesday. Tar Heel freshman midfielder Danny Garcia, just named the ACC Freshman of the Year on Thursday, scored the game’s only goal in the 22nd minute.
Friday’s semifinal matchup will be held at the Maryland SoccerPlex in Germantown, Maryland and will begin at 5:30 p.m.
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