Tar Heels Blank Hokies To Advance To ACC Tournament Semifinals

Sunday, October 28

Cary, N.C. (WakeMed Soccer Park)

1 p.m.

North Carolina

16-2-1

Virginia Tech

9-7-3

Virginia Tech

North Carolina

Dorian Bailey celebrates her insurance goal in UNC's 2-0 win over the Hokies.

Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati

Tar Heels Blank Hokies To Advance To ACC Tournament Semifinals

October 28, 2018 | Women's Soccer

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Kimball scores game-winning goal in third minute

By: Dave Lohse

CARY, N.C. – Goals by Alex Kimball and Dorian Bailey and another stout defensive effort led the third-ranked North Carolina women's soccer team to a 2-0 victory Sunday afternoon in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament at WakeMed Soccer Park.

With their 11^th successive victory, the Tar Heels improved to 16-2-1 on the season and they will play Clemson next Friday in the ACC Tournament semifinals at WakeMed Soccer Park at 5:30 p.m. The other semifinal game will feature Virginia versus Florida State at 8 p.m. Both games will be televised nationally on ACC Network Extra.

UNC posted its fifth successive clean sheet and has not allowed a goal since the first half of a 7-1 win at Syracuse on October 7. Samantha Leshnak played the whole way in goal for the Tar Heels and in the process posted her fifth solo shutout of the campaign.

Carolina outshot Virginia Tech (9-7-3) by a 20-3 margin overall and a 10-0 difference in shots on goal. Carolina had seven corner kicks in the game to three by the Hokies.

UNC scored early and late in moving to 3-0 all-time in ACC Tournament matches against the Hokies. UNC's first goal came at 2:20 off the foot of Alex Kimball, a redshirt senior from Chapel Hill. Kimball was starting just her second game of the year and her first as a forward in lieu of Carolina's leading scorer Alessia Russo, who suffered a broken leg last Thursday in UNC's 1-0 win over Wake Forest in the regular-season finale.

Kimball made the most of her chance to step in and help the Tar Heels as she played 66 minutes and notched her second goal of the campaign and first game-winner. Kimball slipped a ball to Bridgette Andrzejewski on a fast break and the junior forward from Maryland nutmeged a Virginia Tech defender with her pass back to Kimball, freeing Kimball past the Hokies' defensive line. Kimball's initial shot from just inside the box was knocked down by Hokies' goalkeeper Mandy McGlynn but Kimball immediately pounced on her own rebound and buried it in the back of the net for a 1-0 margin.

UNC would go on to dominate possession throughout the game but McGlynn, a U.S. U20 National Team goalkeeper, kept UNC at bay for much of the match with eight saves. A teammate of UNC players Brianna Pinto and Emily Fox at the U20 World Cup in France, McGlynn was at her best at the 81:50 mark when she laid out to her left to stop a rebound shot by Dorian Bailey that seemed destined for the back of the net.

That save kept the Hokies in the match but seven minutes later Bailey made the play to make sure there would be no Virginia Tech comeback at the end. Bailey intercepted a clearance by McGlynn about 40 yards from goal, beat two Virginia Tech defenders on the dribble and shot from 15 yards out left-footed, beating McGlynn into the lower right part of the goal for her third goal of the season. Bailey also scored the insurance goal in a 2-0 win over the Hokies in the regular season in Blacksburg on October 13.

With the Tar Heels' bench thinned by injuries, Tar Heel head coach still made liberal use of his bench as all six UNC reserves who played in the game saw 24 minutes or more of action.

Friday's game against Clemson will be the second between the two teams this season. UNC beat the Tigers in the regular season 1-0 on September 23 in Clemson, S.C.

UNC improved to 16-2 all-time against the Hokies and has now won eight in a row in the series against Virginia Tech, including shutouts in the last four victories.