No. 18 North Carolina Hosts Syracuse Saturday Afternoon

Chapel Hill -- In a rare meeting between cross divisional opponents, No. 18 North Carolina will host Syracuse on Saturday, Oct. 12 at a 1 p.m. at the Soccer & Lacrosse Stadium. This is just the sixth all-time meeting between the two programs as the Heels are undefeated against the Orangemen with a 3-0-2 record. The last meeting took place in 2016 when Jeremy Kelly scored the game-winning goal to advance the Tar Heels to the NCAA Quarterfinals with a 1-0 victory.

This game can be seen on ACC Network starting at 1:05 p.m.

History With Syracuse
• North Carolina has never lost to Syracuse as it leads the all-time series with Syracuse 3-0-2 with the last meeting coming in the 2016 NCAA Championship when Jeremy Kelly scored the game-winning goal to advance to the NCAA Quarterfinals.
• The Heels have only hosted Syracuse twice, with both meetings coming in 2015. UNC won the first meeting, 2-1, and tied the second meeting 1-1 with the Orange.

Pieters In Fine Form
• Pieters has scored or assisted in 4 of the last 5 games and has recorded a point in 8 of 11 games overall.
• Although he didn't record a point at Pittsburgh, Pieters was the player fouled that led to the free kick goal from Jack Skahan to end the half. The only other games in which he has not recorded a point was the 1-0 win over UNCG and the 0-0 draw against Davidson.

Team Offense
• 10 different players have scored or at least one goal this year while while 10 players have also recorded at least one assist.
• In total, 14 players have either scored or assisted so far on the season.

Rotating Starting Lineup
• Through its first 11 games of the season, 19 different players have started a game for the Heels. 13 of those players have started at least 2 games.

Clean Play
• UNC leads the country in fewest fouls committed per game at 7.82. The Heels also led the country in fewest fouls per game in 2018.

Offensive Breakout
• UNC has scored at least two goals in 5 consecutive games, something that hasn't been done since 2017 when UNC had one of the best offenses in the country and went to the NCAA College Cup.
• UNC ranks in the top 3 in the ACC in shots, points, goals and goals per game.

Pineda's Offensive Explosion
• Senior Mauricio Pineda has 5 goals through the first 11 games of the season, tying his single season career high from last year.
• The senior has already set a single season high in total shots (36), shots on goal (19) and game-winning goals (3).
• Pineda is tied for first on the team in goals and leads the team in shots, shots on goal and game-winning goals.
• In the ACC, the senior midfielder ranks in the top 10 in shots, shots per game, goals, goals per game and game-winning goals.

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University of North Carolina Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Jeremy Kelly

Mauricio Pineda

Jack Skahan

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