University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels Set Sights On ACC Regular Season Title
November 1, 2011 | Men's Soccer
Nov. 1, 2011
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - North Carolina will close out the 2011 regular season on Wednesday when the Tar Heels travel to Massachusetts to take on Boston College at 7 p.m. The Tar Heels will have a chance to claim the top spot in the ACC regular season standings with a win as they enter the week with 14 points, one better than Maryland and Duke and two points clear of Boston College and Wake Forest.
The Tar Heels are looking to cap off an undefeated run in conference play after being upset in the their first match of the conference season at Virginia Tech.
Carolina responded with road wins over Wake Forest, 1-0, and Virginia, 3-0, before returning home to take on rival Duke. The Tar Heels and Blue Devils played to a 2-2 draw.
Carolina responded with a 2-0 win against Clemson before battling to another draw against Maryland, 1-1. The Tar Heels extended their league unbeaten streak to six with a 2-1 overtime win against NC State last Friday and will look to make it seven straight on Wednesday against the Eagles.
The Tar Heels will enter Wednesday night's matchup with an offense and defense that ranks among the top 20 in the nation thanks to a scoring attack averaging 2.29 goals per contest (5thin NCAA) and a defense that allows 0.74 goals against (19th in NCAA).
Leading the charge for the Tar Heels is forward Billy Schuler who has found the back of the net a team-high 13 times this season and is just three goals shy of entering the top 10 in UNC career history.
The Eagles have won three straight entering Wednesday's contest with wins over Boston University, Duke in overtime and at Virginia all by one-goal margins. Boston College has used balanced scoring throughout the season picking up seven goals apiece from Kyle Bekker and Charlie Rugg, while Diego Medina-Mendez and Amit Aburmad have found the back of the net six and five times, respectively.
The match could be a tale of two halves as Boston College has a tendency to jump out to an early lead having scored 13 goals in the first half, while allowing just five. The Tar Heels have used the second 45 minutes to wear down their opponents having outscored their foes 24-6 but have also posted impressive first half numbers with 13 goals for and six against.
Carolina snapped a four-match winless streak against the Eagles in the ACC Tournament a year ago with a 1-0 win on a goal from Enzo Martinez. The Tar Heels are 3-1-1 in their five trips to Boston College picking up wins in 1981, 1983 and 2006, before dropping a 4-1 decision in 2008 and earned a 1-1 draw thanks to a late equalizer from Alex Dixon last year. UNC leads the all-time series 5-3-1.
The match will go a long way in the process of determining NCAA Tournament seeds as well as the Tar Heels are No. 8 in the latest NCAA RPI and the Eagles are just one spot behind at No. 9.
