The weather never slowed North Carolina down Saturday night. On Dorrance Field at Play2Dream Legacy Stadium, the Tar Heels lit up Notre Dame 7-1 for a big ACC win, matching the program’s highest-scoring league outing since a 7-1 victory over NC State in 2000.
UNC has now won four straight and moved to 6-2-3 overall and 2-1-2 in ACC play. Notre Dame dropped to 5-4-3 and 2-3-0 in the league.
Joschi Schelb once again drove the offense, piling up a hat trick and an assist. Ryan Zellefrow was just as dangerous, finishing with two goals and three assists. Bertil Rygaard Hansen and Luca Nikolai also scored for the Tar Heels.
Schelb’s three-goal night was his first hat trick for UNC since Dan Klink’s last October and only the 10th by a Tar Heel since 2002. He’s now scored five times over the last two matches and sits at 12 goals for the season, which ranks second nationally.
UNC also got assists from Nico Loebus, who had two, along with Rygaard Hansen, Nikolai and Riley Berge.
Notre Dame struck first when Tristan Topeano finished a Vlad Walent cross in the 7th minute, but Carolina took control from there. The Heels answered in the 28th minute when Nikolai crossed and Schelb headed in the equalizer after a neat sequence with Rygaard Hansen.
From there, the floodgates opened. Schelb made it 2-1 in the 35th minute after Zellefrow worked through the defense and set him up, then Zellefrow scored 26 seconds later off a Rygaard Hansen-to-Loebus combination on the right side.
Carolina kept pressing after halftime. Zellefrow delivered another sharp cross in the 46th minute for Rygaard Hansen’s goal, then Schelb completed the hat trick in the 50th minute after slick buildup from Zellefrow and Loebus.
Zellefrow added his second in the 57th minute after Berge fed Schelb, who flicked the ball through to set up the finish. Nikolai closed the scoring in the 82nd minute by converting another penalty, leaving him 3-for-3 from the spot this season.
The night also moved several individual numbers forward. Schelb’s goals were his 10th, 11th and 12th of the year and the 30th, 31st and 32nd of his career.
He has scored in nine of 11 matches this season, including six straight. Zellefrow’s two goals were his third and fourth of the season and the eighth and ninth of his career.
Rygaard Hansen’s goal was his first this season and seventh overall, while Nikolai’s was his third of the year and 11th of his career.
Zellefrow’s three assists pushed him to 10 for his career, while Nikolai’s assist was his fifth of the season and 18th of his career. He has recorded at least one assist in three straight matches.
Rygaard Hansen added two assists to reach five on the season and 11 in his career, and Loebus picked up two more to move to nine career assists. Schelb’s assist was his second of the season and 21st of his career.
Carolina heads back on the road next, traveling to Pitt on Friday, Oct. 16 at 7 p.m. The match will be shown on ACCNX.
In Other News...
UNC Got The Ranked Win But Left Fans With A Bigger Concern
North Carolina went on the road and came away with its first ranked win under Bill Belichick, a result that should matter in a season still trying to establish a clear identity. The Tar Heels needed both sides of the ball to settle in after a sloppy start, but they did enough in the second half to take advantage of a Pitt team that kept helping them with poor decisions late.
Even with the victory in hand, the performance left plenty to sort through. UNC had turnovers, the game never felt clean for long, and the kind of sharp, steady execution that usually travels in November was only there in stretches, which is exactly why the mood around this one was a little more complicated than the final score suggested. [Read more 🡒]
North Carolina Kept Its Season Alive With A Win Fans Will Debate
North Carolina needed a win that could steady a season that has spent too much time on the edge, and Saturdays 21-17 result over No. 25 Pittsburgh did exactly that. The Tar Heels got the kind of lift they have been chasing, with the defense setting the tone and making life hard for Pitt after halftime, while Billy Edwards delivered a performance that had its rough patches but still mattered in the final accounting. Jordan Shipp and Jelani Thurman gave the passing game useful answers, and tight end Shamar Easter stepped into a larger role and found ways to help after injuries thinned the options around him.
The debate now is less about the result than how North Carolina got there, because this was not a clean, controlled win so much as a survival job with plenty of lumps along the way. Even so, the fourth-down stops in the second half and the timely contributions from a handful of receivers gave the Tar Heels something tangible to carry forward as bowl hopes stay alive. For a team trying to build some late-season momentum, the next few days will say a lot about whether this was the kind of win that changes a stretch run or just another close one in a year full of them. [Read more 🡒]
Belichick's Tar Heels Just Answered Their Biggest Early Question
The Tar Heels walked into Acrisure Stadium facing a sturdy early test and left with a win that carried real weight for Bill Belichicks first North Carolina team. UNCs 21-17 victory over No. 25 Pittsburgh was its first ranked win since 2023 and its first road win over a ranked opponent since 2020, a result built on toughness, preparation and enough timely offense to survive a game that was still hanging in the balance deep into the second half.
North Carolina had to rally from a 10-point deficit, and the defense was better after halftime when it mattered most, cutting down Pittsburghs scoring chances and giving the offense room to finish the job. Tight end Shamar Easters 75-yard touchdown was one of the biggest plays of the afternoon, and it helped answer the biggest early question around this group: whether it could respond when the game tilted against it on the road. [Read more 🡒]