Men's Soccer Blanks No. 4 Pitt, 3-0

Friday, March 5

Chapel Hill

7 PM

North Carolina

4-3-2, 4-1-2

Pittsburgh

8-2-0, 4-1-0

Pittsburgh

North Carolina

Jonathan Jimenez

Photo by: Dana Gentry

March 5, 2021 | Men's Soccer

Box Score Final Stats (.pdf)Photo Gallery

CHAPEL HILL—North Carolina scored early and led virtually from start to finish in a 3-0, shutout win over fourth-ranked Pittsburgh on Friday night at Dorrance Field.

Jonathan Jimenez scored an unassisted goal in the 11th minute to hand the Tar Heels the early lead, then Giovanni Montesdeoca scored twice in the second half to ice the victory.

Carolina improved to 4-3-2 overall and 4-1-2 in Atlantic Coast Conference play in 2020-21. The Panthers fell to 8-2, 4-1 ACC.

Jimenez scored his goal when he took a long pass from the left corner into the box, creating the space to shoot by evading two Panther defenders for the 1-0 lead.

After the two teams went scoreless the rest of the first half, Jimenez assisted Montesdeoca for UNC's second goal at the 53:08 mark, taking the ball from near midfield all the way to the end line before centering it to Montesdeoca, whose shot eluded Pitt goalkeeper Nicolas Campuzano into the bottom left corner of the net for a 2-0 advantage.

Not quite 14 minutes later, Campuzano was whistled for a yellow card for taking down Carolina's Akeim Clarke on a breakaway in the box. Montesdeoca drilled the resulting penalty kick into the lower right corner for a commanding, 3-0 lead.

Alec Smir posted his 15th career shutout (and sixth of the season) in goal for Carolina, making three saves.

UNC out-shot the Panthers, 8-3, in the game.

The Tar Heels will return to action on Saturday March 13 at home against Virginia before playing three of their final four Spring games on the road to close the regular season.

Gallery: (3-5-2021) UNC Passes Pittsburgh 3-0