By R.L. Bynum
CARY — No. 2 Carolina has made a habit of jumping out to leads, and that was important against No. 10 Virginia, which made the going difficult all afternoon.
The Tar Heels got outshot and had to work for everything, but they rode two early scores to a 2–0 victory Sunday at WakeMed Soccer Park in the ACC women’s soccer championship game, securing the program’s record 23rd title.
UNC (17–2), which earned its first ACC title since 2019, was outshot 9–7 but have now handed the Cavaliers (11–4–4) half their losses. Virginia has recorded 10 shutouts, but the Tar Heels are the only team to score multiple goals against the Cavaliers.
As in Carolina’s 3–1 regular-season win at Virginia on Sept. 25, the Tar Heels jumped ahead 2–0 early. They scored twice in the opening 10 minutes of that match; Sunday, freshman Amari Manning needed just 134 seconds to score her first college goal.
Manning juked past Virginia defender Kathryn Kelly, drove along the end line and beat goalkeeper Victoria Safradin with a left-footed shot from a tight angle.
In the 19th minute, Bella Devey ran onto a pass from Scottie Antonucci between two defenders and tapped the ball past Safradin for her 18th goal of the season.
UNC goalkeeper Peyton Trayer, who earned her third shutout, comfortably stopped a shot from sophomore midfielder Addison Halpern in the 30th minute, and Carolina carried its 2–0 lead into halftime.
Virginia went roughly 18 minutes without a shot before Halpern hit the crossbar in the 49th minute. Halpern entered the match as the Cavaliers’ leading scorer with 12 goals and 29 points.
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Notes
— Carolina won the title in its 30th appearance in the ACC championship game and claimed its first tournament championship since 2019.
— UNC’s Hope Munson received a yellow card in the 47th minute.
— Carolina defender Cali O’Neill, the ACC Freshman of the Year, left in the 83rd minute after being struck in the face by an inadvertent arm.
— UNC leads the all-time series with Virginia 43–5–5, including 9–1–2 at neutral sites.
No. 2 UNC 2, No. 10 Virginia 0
| Date | Month/day | Time/ score | Opponent (current rankings) | Record/ TV |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August | ||||
| 5 | Wednesday | W, 1–0 | vs. No. 11 South Carolina | Exhib. |
| 13 | Thursday | W, 4–0 | vs. Fairfield | 1–0 |
| 16 | Sunday | W, 8–0 | vs. Quinnipiac | 2–0 |
| 20 | Thursday | W, 2–0 | at Arkansas | 3–0 |
| 23 | Sunday | L, 3–2 | vs. No. 4 Michigan State | 3–1 |
| 28 | Friday | W, 3–0 | at Shelbourne FC | Friendly |
| September | ||||
| 3 | Thursday | W, 2–1 | at Arizona | 4–1 |
| 6 | Sunday | W, 1–0 | at Arizona State | 5–1 |
| 10 | Thursday | W, 3–0 | vs. California | 6–1, 1–0 ACC |
| 13 | Sunday | W, 5–0 | vs. NJIT | 7–1 |
| 17 | Thursday | W, 4–2 | vs. No. 12 Duke | 8–1, 2–0 |
| 20 | Sunday | W, 5–0 | vs. Alcorn State | 9–1 |
| 25 | Friday | W, 3–1 | at No. 10 Virginia | 10–1, 3–0 |
| October | ||||
| 2 | Friday | W, 4–1 | vs. No. 4 Notre Dame | 11–1, 4–0 |
| 15 | Thursday | W, 1–0 | at Clemson | 12–1, 5–0 |
| 18 | Sunday | L, 3–1 | at No. 6 Wake Forest | 12–2, 5–1 |
| 23 | Friday | W, 1–0 | vs. No. 16 Stanford | 13–2, 6–1 |
| 29 | Thursday | W, 2–0 | vs. SMU | 14–2, 7–1 |
| November | ||||
| 5 | Thursday | W, 3–2 | at Louisville | 15–2, 8–1 |
| ACC tournament | Cary | |||
| 12 | Thursday | W, 1–0 | Semifinal: vs. No. 12 Duke | 16–2 |
| 22 | Sunday | W, 2–0 | Final: No. 10 Virginia | 17–2 |
| NCAA tournament | (first four rounds at campus sites) | |||
| 20-22 | Fri.-Sun. | First round | ||
| 26 | Thursday | Second round | ||
| 29 | Sunday | Third round | ||
| December | ||||
| 4, 5 | Fri., Sat. | Quarterfinals | ||
| 10, 13 | Thur., Sun. | Women’s College Cup Cary |
Photo by Jaylynn Nash/theACC.com
