Tar Heels Down Noles To Earn ACC Tournament Home Game

Thursday, October 27

Chapel Hill, N.C.

7:00 PM

North Carolina

11-3-3,ACC 6-2-2

Florida State

12-3-2,ACC 6-2-2

Team	1	2	Final F
Florida State	0	0	0
North Carolina	1	0	1

October 28, 2016 | Women's Soccer

Box Score

By: UNC Athletic Communications

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Under iffy skies that brought occasional rain, it was freshman striker Madison Schultz who delivered the only goal of the game to lift her senior teammates to a 1-0 North Carolina women's soccer victory over Florida State on Senior Night before 1,221 fans at Fetzer Field.

Schultz scored on a rebound with 6:49 to play in the first half to provide the difference in the game as #16 Carolina improved to 11-3-3 overall and 6-2-2 in the ACC. It was the first career goal for Schultz and it helped the Tar Heels end a seven-game winless streak against the Seminoles (0-6-1 over the past seven meetings). The win marked Carolina's first over the Seminoles since a 2-0 win in Tallahassee on September 29, 2011.

Florida State fell to 12-3-2 with the loss and 6-2-2 in ACC play. North Carolina, Virginia and Florida State all tied for fourth in the ACC regular season standings but UNC won the three-way tiebreaker and will play host to Virginia Sunday in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals. The match will be at 1 p.m. at Fetzer Field. Check back later on GoHeels.com for a complete release about the upcoming ACC Tournament.

Virginia is 13-3-2 overall and 6-2-2 in the ACC. The Cavaliers are ranked 7^th in this week's NSCAA poll. In the regular season, Carolina and Virginia played to a 1-1 tie on Charlottesville on October 2.

It was the typical match between North Carolina and Florida State on Thursday night. Only two of the 18 matches played since the 2005 NCAA Tournament quarterfinal meeting have been decided by more than one goal. UNC won by three goals in the ACC Tournament championship game in 2009 and by two goals in the regular season match in 2011. Other than those two games there have been three ties and 13 matches decided by a single goal since 2005.

UNC outshot the Seminoles 10-7 in the match and Carolina had a 3-1 edge in corner kicks. While Carolina dominated possession in the first half when it aggressively attacked the Seminoles, FSU flipped the field in a second half and controlled the ball in the Tar Heel end for much of the final 25 minutes.

The Tar Heels almost took the lead in the game at 15:14 when a powerful shot by Bridgette Andrzejewski from distance bounced off the underside of the cross bar and bounced quickly off the turf and out to Florida State goalkeeper Cassie Miller. The ball may have crossed the goal line but television replays were inconclusive after the bang bang play and the assistant referee could not have caught up to the play in time to provide a 100 percent accurate decision that the ball had crossed the goal line.

Denied at that point, the Tar Heels continued to press the issue for the remainder of the first 45 minutes, outshooting FSU 7-2 in the first half. Carolina then broke through at the 38:11 mark, scoring only the sixth goal Florida State has surrendered this year. Megan Buckingham sent a shot from outside the box on the left side. Miller went up near the crossbar to make a two-handed save but she was not able to control the ball and Schultz, who had entered the match less than four minutes earlier, was there to pounce on the ball and direct it into the back of the net.

Less than three minutes into the second half, Andrzejewski shook the crossbar again on a shot from the top of the box as the metal denied the freshman striker for the second time. In the 65^th minute, UNC senior Sarah Ashley Firstenberg almost made it 2-0 when her arcing shot from the left side of the pitch was corralled at the last second by Miller.

Florida State's best chances to score were both thwarted by diving saves from UNC senior goalkeeper Lindsey Harris who pushed a shot wide by Olivia Bergau at 66:15 for a corner kick and then made another diving save on an effort by Macayla Edwards at the 69:27 mark.

The Tar Heel defense allowed only one shot by FSU in the last 20 minutes of play as Carolina finished off the 1-0 win.

In pregame ceremonies, the Tar Heel women's soccer program honored the six Tar Heel seniors who were playing their final home regular season matches at Fetzer Field. This group included forward Sarah Ashley Firstenberg, midfielders Darcy McFarlane, Cameron Castleberry and Jenny Chiu, defender Hanna Gardner and goalkeeper Lindsey Harris.