No. 12 North Carolina gets one more shot at a trophy run Sunday, and the final test is the biggest one in the bracket.
The Tar Heels will meet No. 1 SMU at 4 p.m. at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary in the ACC Championship final.
Carolina enters as the seven seed but has already knocked off Cal, No. 3 Clemson and NC State to reach this point.
SMU, the tournament’s top seed, has advanced with wins over Virginia and Syracuse.
This will be only the fifth meeting between the programs, and the series is dead even at 1-1-2. The teams also played last season in Chapel Hill, where they finished in a 1-1 draw.
UNC comes into the final riding an 11-match unbeaten streak, going 8-0-3 over that stretch. The Tar Heels are also sitting at No. 9 in the RPI and No. 12 in the United Soccer Coaches Poll.
Much of Carolina’s surge has been driven by Joschi Schelb, who has 17 goals and three assists in 18 matches. A Hermann Trophy Midseason Watch list member, Schelb has found the net in nine of the last 13 matches overall, including the winner against NC State in the ACC semifinal.
His 17 goals are second nationally, trailing Washington’s Zach Ramsey by two, and Schelb leads the nation in open-play goals because he does not take penalties and six of Ramsey’s goals came from the spot. His 37 points are tied for second nationally, and his goal total ranks fourth on UNC’s single-season list.
It’s the most goals by a Tar Heel in a season since Billy Schuler scored 16 in 2011.
UNC has also gotten production across the attack. Luca Nikolai has five goals and 10 assists, with his assist total tied for second in the ACC and tied for eighth nationally.
Ryan Zellefrow has added four goals and six assists for 14 points, good for third on the team. Bertil Rygaard Hansen has used his pace to create problems for defenders and has produced two goals and nine assists, with his nine assists tied for 14th nationally.
At the back, Alan Rutkowski anchored a defense that earned its sixth clean sheet of the season in the win over NC State.
The final will air on ESPNU, with Joe Malfa and Devon Kerr on the call.
In Other News...
Michael Malone Sends Early Warning After UNCs Costly Collapse
Michael Malone did not sugarcoat UNCs loss to Georgia, using the setback as an early-season lesson in how small lapses can snowball. The Tar Heels coach pointed to a lack of attention to detail, game-plan discipline and personnel discipline as the biggest reasons things slipped away, and he singled out missed free-throw box-outs, shaky defensive adjustments to perimeter shooters and missed high-percentage looks as the kinds of mistakes that can turn a winnable game into a costly one.
For a team still trying to establish its identity, the message was less about one bad night than about the habits that have to hold up when the margin gets thin. Malone stressed accountability and the need to build better routines before those breakdowns become a pattern, which makes the next stretch of games especially important as UNC tries to show it can respond the right way. [Read more 🡒]
UNC Is Back In The ACC Final With A Familiar Rival Waiting
The No. 2 Carolina womens soccer team is back in the ACC final after a tight 1-0 semifinal win over No. 12 Duke, with Bella Devey delivering the game-winner to send the Tar Heels on. It sets up another high-stakes meeting with a familiar opponent, as Carolina now turns its attention to No. 10 Virginia in the 2026 Ally ACC Womens Soccer Championship Final.
Virginia and Carolina have built plenty of history, and this will be the fifth time the two programs have met in the ACC final. For Carolina, it is another chance to chase a conference title against a rival that knows the stage as well as it knows the Tar Heels, which is exactly what makes this matchup feel so fitting at this point in the tournament. [Read more 🡒]
UNCs First Loss Leaves Fans Debating A Familiar Problem
Georgias 78-70 win at the Smith Center did more than snap North Carolinas 21-game home winning streak. It also left the Tar Heels with an all-too-familiar conversation on their hands, because the game followed a pattern fans have seen before: a sluggish start, a long chase, and too many missed chances when the outcome was still in reach. North Carolina dug in after halftime and made the game competitive again, but the early damage from a 25 percent first half was hard to fully erase.
Georgia closed the night on a 10-2 run, turning a tight finish into a frustrating first loss at home for the Tar Heels. Kanon Catchings set the tone for the visitors with 22 points and 11 rebounds, while North Carolina came up empty on key shots down the stretch. For a team still trying to establish consistency, the bigger concern may be how quickly the same issues can resurface when the margin for error gets thin. [Read more 🡒]