Another box was checked off in the North Carolina women’s soccer team’s redemption tour when it beat Virginia, 2-1, in double overtime Sunday in the ACC Women’s Soccer Championship Final.
Junior forward Alessia Russo — who was named the tournament’s MVP — drilled the game-winner in the second minute of the second overtime, giving the Tar Heels their 22nd ACC Championship.
After falling short of the conference title last season to Florida State, the No. 3 Tar Heels (19-1-1, 9-0-1 ACC) asserted themselves from the start of the match to slide past the No. 1 Cavaliers (16-1-3, 6-1-3 ACC).
What happened?
UNC was the aggressor early on, forcing a corner kick early in the fourth minute that ended with a shot by sophomore midfielder Brianna Pinto sailing high over the crossbar. Just a minute later, Russo would collect the ball at midfield, beat her defender, and send a strike directly at Cavaliers goalie Laurel Ivory, who was forced to block the ball high out of bounds.
On the ensuing corner kick, junior defender Lotte Wubben-Moy sent a perfectly placed ball to the middle of the box, where first-year defender and reigning ACC Freshman of the Year Maycee Bell headed it in for UNC's first goal.
North Carolina continued to control the ball for most of the first half, not allowing Virginia to register its first shot until the 22nd minute, when senior forward Meghan McCool's shot was saved by a diving Claudia Dickey.
At halftime, the Tar Heels had outshot the Cavaliers 7-2, and had more shots on goal at 3-1.
The game started to get chippy around the 60th minute in the second half, when Virginia's Phoebe McClernon was called for a foul and charged a yellow card. About a minute later, another foul was called that eventually led to a corner kick for UNC. However, the Tar Heels couldn’t capitalize with a second goal.
