No. 12 North Carolina is headed back to the ACC Championship final after squeezing past NC State 1-0 on Thursday night in Cary.
The Tar Heels didn’t need a shootout or a flurry of chances. They needed one clean finish, and Joschi Schelb delivered it in the 63rd minute.
Bertil Rygaard Hansen worked the right side and slipped a ball into the middle of the box, where Schelb took over. He juggled it, turned, and lifted a shot over the Wolfpack keeper for the only goal of the match.
That was enough to send UNC to Sunday’s title game at WakeMed Soccer Park, where it will play for the conference crown at 4 p.m. The Heels are now unbeaten in 11 straight, with eight wins in that stretch, and they’ll be in the ACC final for the second time in the last four years and the 10th time overall.
It was the kind of game that never really opened up. NC State was whistled for 21 fouls, Carolina for 15, and both sides finished with six shots and two on target. In a match that tight, the difference came down to one moment of skill.
Schelb’s finish was his 17th goal of the season, which ranks second nationally and leads the country in goals from open play. It also moved him into sole possession of fourth on UNC’s single-season list.
Once Carolina got in front, it managed the rest with a mix of hard defending, strong goalkeeping and enough composure on the ball to keep NC State from building anything dangerous.
The Heels had a couple of other looks around the decisive stretch, too. In the 58th minute, Schelb tried to create something himself and sent a left-footed effort wide. Then, just after the goal, he had another attempt blocked in the 64th minute.
UNC will face the winner of SMU and Syracuse on Sunday.
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