The North Carolina men’s soccer team went into Pittsburgh and left with a statement result, knocking off No. 7 Pitt, 1-0, on Friday night.
UNC controlled the tone from the start and never really let the Panthers settle in, even with the scoreline staying tight. The breakthrough finally came in the 51st minute, when Bertil Rygaard Hansen laid the ball across and Max Fisher arrived in stride to drive a low, hard finish past the keeper for the only goal of the match.
That was enough to extend Carolina’s winning streak to five straight. The Heels are now 7-2-3 overall and 3-1-2 in ACC play, while Pitt saw its six-match unbeaten run come to an end and dropped to 8-3-2 overall and 3-2-1 in the conference.
The numbers backed up UNC’s control of the night. Carolina outshot Pitt 13-3 and kept the Panthers off the board for the first time in nine matches. The Tar Heels also had a few chances to add to the lead and make things more comfortable.
Early on, Rygaard Hansen got behind the Pitt defense after a pass from Joschi Schelb, but the keeper handled the shot with his chest. Later, Schelb linked up again with Rygaard Hansen in a dangerous move that ended with Schelb sending a long attempt wide.
After Fisher’s goal, Evans Dappah was slipped in by Schelb and tried to go around the goalkeeper before firing wide, only to have the flag come up for offsides. Schelb also created another opening by cutting through the Pitt defense and forcing a strong save.
Here’s how the key moments unfolded:
9' - Joschi Schelb played in Bertil Rygaard Hansen, who got in behind the Pitt defense, but his shot went straight off the keeper's chest.
19' - The same duo used some nice combination play to allow Schelb to go for goal but his long shot went wide.
51' - Rygaard Hansen squared one and Max Fisher ran into the space and fired low and hard to beat the keeper and put UNC in front.
Carolina now heads to Durham to face Duke at 8 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 23. The match will air live on ACC Network.
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