CARY — The No. 3 North Carolina men's soccer team triumphed over the No. 16 Notre Dame Fighting Irish, 3-0, on Friday night in an ACC coastal division match-up.
What happened?
The game got off to a sluggish start as neither team could muster a shot on goal until the 34th minute.
Sophomore midfielder Cam Lindley stepped up to take the corner. He rocketed a pass right in front of the net to redshirt sophomore Jelani Pieters, and Pieters drilled a header into the back of the net for a Tar Heels goal.
Another opportunity to score came with only seconds remaining in the first half. Senior midfielder David October was fouled right outside of the penalty box, and the Tar Heels were awarded a free kick. Due to the shortage of time, the Tar Heels had to rush a free kick that resulted in a shot just wide of the goal by senior forward Alan Winn.
As a result, the Tar Heels took a 1-0 lead into halftime after controlling much of the first half.
North Carolina outshot Notre Dame 6-1, and the Tar Heels were able to create two shots on goal as opposed to Notre Dame’s zero. Furthermore, the Tar Heels were able to force four corner kicks and draw six fouls while the Fighting Irish only had one corner and drew two fouls.
The second half was icing on the cake for UNC. In the 74th minute sophomore Jack Skahan notched his first goal on the season on an assist from Pieters to give the Tar Heels a two-goal lead.
Less than two minutes later, Winn nailed a screamer from outside of the box to give the North Carolina a commanding 3-0 lead.