Tar Heels Blank Pitt 3-0 To Get Back In Win Column

Thursday, October 20

Pittsburgh, Pa.

7:00 PM

North Carolina

9-3-3, 4-2-2ACC

Pittsburgh

2-13-1, 1-7-0ACC

Team	1	2	Final F
North Carolina	1	2	3
Pitt	0	0	0

October 21, 2016 | Women's Soccer

Box Score

By: UNC Athletic Communications

PITTSBURGH, PA. – A pair of goals early in the second half broke open the game as the #18 University of North Carolina women's soccer team defeated Pittsburgh 3-0 in a heavy rainstorm Thursday night at Ambrose Urbanic Field.

The match's start was delayed by one and one-half hours due to lightning and rain but once it started the Tar Heels pressured Pitt throughout the 90 minutes and earned three points in the ACC standings with only two games remaining in the regular season. With the victory, Carolina improved to 9-3-3 overall and 4-2-2 in the ACC. UNC has four wins and a pair of draws in its past seven conference games. Pittsburgh fell to 2-13-1 overall and 1-7 in the ACC.

Tar Heel goals came from freshman forward Bridgette Andrzejewski in the first half as well as by junior midfielder Megan Buckingham and sophomore forward Ru Mucherera in the second half.

Andrzejewski almost put the Tar Heels up just 1:39 into the match but Pitt defender Seyla Perez cleared the ball off the goal line at the last instant. The Tar Heels had another good look at the goal 8:29 into the match but Annie Kingman's shot from 20 yards went just wide right of the frame.

Carolina broke through to take the lead 1-0 at 15:02 on Bridgette Andrzejewski's seventh goal of the season and her fifth goal of the campaign in ACC play. Andrzejewski took a pass from Julia Ashley and danced across the top of the box, deking her defenders before sending a shot from the top of the box into the top right corner.

The Tar Heels held on to that lead throughout the rest of the first half with neither team producing a good look on goal. In the first 10 minutes of the second half however, the Tar Heels put the game away with a pair of nifty goals. At 52:18. Megan Buckingham notched her third goal of the season. She received a pass from Julia Ashley about 15 yards out in the penalty box and roofed a shot over the Panthers' senior goalkeeper Taylor Francis to give the Tar Heels a 2-0 lead.

Less than two minutes later, Ru Mucherera tallied her second goal of the season to put the game away. It was a great individual effort by Mucherera who dribbled past a defender towards the center of the pitch and then sent a shot from 25 yards out on a rope into the upper left corner. The official time of the goal was 54:03 and it made the score 3-0 in favor of Carolina.

The last good chance to score for either team actually came off a cross by Julia Ashley whose service from the right side went over everyone in the box and pinged off the left post and then off a Pitt defender before being cleared out of danger.

Carolina finished with an 11-3 edge in shots, including 7-0 in shots on goal. UNC outshot the Panthers 6-2 in the first half and 5-1 in the second half. UNC had four corner kicks to zero for the Panthers. Taylor Francis played all 90 minutes in goal for Pittsburgh, making three saves. Two Tar Heel goalkeepers combined on the clean sheet for UNC as Lindsey Harris played 76:11 of the match and Samantha Leshnak played 13:49.

Carolina will continue its Northeastern road trip when it plays at Syracuse Sunday at 1 p.m. at the SU Soccer Stadium. The Orange is 8-6-3 overall and 1-5-2 in the ACC after suffering a 3-2 double overtime loss at Wake Forest Thursday night. Pittsburgh will host the fourth-ranked Duke Blue Devils on Sunday in its Senior Day game.