Virginia Travels To North Carolina For Sunday ACC Quarterfinal Match

Oct. 29, 2016

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The fifth-seeded Virginia (13-3-2) women’s soccer team opens ACC Championships play on the road Sunday, traveling to face fourth-seeded North Carolina (11-3-3) at 1 p.m. at Fetzer Field.

Fans can follow the action through live stats and a video stream on the ACC Network Extra linked at VirginiaSports.com.

Both teams are ranked in the top 20 of the latest coaches poll with the Cavaliers coming in at No. 7 and the Tar Heels coming in at No. 16 in the poll. The squads finished 6-2-2 in the ACC standings in a three-way tie with Florida State. The Tar Heels claimed the tie-break with a win over Florida State in the regular-season finale, while Virginia tied both North Carolina and the Seminoles.

The winner of Sunday’s match advances to the semifinals of the ACC Championships which will be played at the MUSC Health Stadium in Charleston, S.C. beginning on Friday, Nov. 4.

Virginia is coming off a 2-1 win at Louisville on Thursday night, while North Carolina is coming off a 1-0 victory over Florida State. Both teams have won three consecutive matches heading into the quarterfinal match.

Virginia is 4-0-2 against North Carolina in the last six matches, but the Tar Heels lead 35-4-4 in the all-time series. North Carolina leads the series 5-2-2 in ACC Championship play with the Cavaliers picking up both wins in the last two meetings in the event.

The two teams met in the regular season, playing to a 1-1 tie in Charlottesville. In that match, the Cavaliers got a goal late in the first half when Megan Reid (Orinda, Calif.) connected with Alexis Shaffer (Cary, N.C.) for the score. North Carolina tied things up in the 82nd minute when Annie Kingman found Megan Buckingham for the equalizer.

Shaffer leads the Virginia offense with 28 points as she has a team-leading 11 goals and six assists. The senior midfielder as scored in five of the last seven matches for the Cavaliers. She is one of 13 different players to score goals for the Cavaliers as Virginia has scored 43 goals on the season. Junior forward Veronica Latsko (Venetia, Pa.) has eight goals, while freshman forward Taylor Ziemer (Santa Rosa, Calif.) has seven goals this season.

Conversely, the Cavaliers have allowed only 12 goals this season and posted 10 shutouts, all victories for the Cavaliers.

The defensive production has come from a veteran back line that features seniors Meghan Cox (Springfield, Va.), Tina Iordanou (Upper Brookville, N.Y.), Kristen McNabb (Montville, N.J.) and junior Megan Reid (Orinda, Calif.). Senior Morgan Stearns (San Antonio, Texas) anchors the defense in goal.