CARY, N.C. — North Carolina men’s soccer gets the toughest possible test with a championship on the line Sunday, when the No. 12 Tar Heels face top-ranked SMU in the ACC Tournament final at WakeMed Soccer Park’s First Horizon Stadium. Kickoff is 4 p.m. Eastern.
Carolina entered the bracket as the No. 7 seed and carries a 10-2-6 record and has not lost in 11 matches, going 8-0-3 in that stretch. It reached the final with a 1-0 semifinal win over NC State, a game in which the back line led by Alan Rutkowski posted its sixth clean sheet of the year.
The scoring runs through Joschi Schelb. The forward has 17 goals and three assists in 18 matches, including the winner against the Wolfpack, and has found the net in nine of his last 13 games. His goal total ranks second in the nation and is the most by a Tar Heel in a season since 2011. Luca Nikolai adds five goals and 10 assists.
SMU arrives at 14-0-3 after a 3-0 semifinal win over Syracuse in which it outshot the Orange 20-7. SMU climbed back to the top spot in the national coaches rankings released Nov. 10, and it have given up just six goals all season, the fewest in the ACC, with 12 clean sheets. They also lead the conference at three goals per game.
The Mustangs collected a stack of league awards: defender Enzo Panozzo was the top defensive player in the ACC, goalkeeper Jonathan Evans took the keeper award and Jaylinn Mitchell shared the midfielder honor. Five SMU players made the All-ACC first team.
The programs have met four times, all in Chapel Hill, and the series stands even at 1-1-2. Their most recent meeting, last season, ended in a 1-1 draw.
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