CARY, N.C. — A spot in the ACC men’s soccer championship game will be settled between two old rivals on Thursday, with kickoff set for 5:30 p.m. at WakeMed Soccer Park as the 12th-ranked Tar Heels take on the Wolfpack. The ACC Network will carry the semifinal.
The Tar Heels, the No. 7 seed, come in unbeaten in 10 straight matches at 7-0-3. They reached the semifinals by getting past Cal in a penalty shootout, with their goalkeeper making two saves in his first college shootout, and then beating third-seeded Clemson.
Forward Joschi Schelb is the main threat. He has 16 goals and three assists in 17 matches, the second-most goals in the country, and has scored in eight of his last 12, including a late equalizer against Cal. His 16 goals are the most by a Tar Heel in one season since 2011. Luca Nikolai adds five goals and 10 assists, which ranks second in the ACC.
NC State has been the surprise of the bracket. Picked to win the league in the preseason after reaching the NCAA final a year earlier, the Wolfpack slumped to 11th in the regular season at 5-5-6 overall. Since then, it has knocked off sixth-seeded Virginia Tech 2-1 and third-seeded Wake Forest 1-0 in overtime, its first win over the Demon Deacons in 21 years, on a goal by Austin Bush 52 seconds into the extra period. It is the program’s first ACC semifinal since 2009.
The teams know each other well. They played to a 1-1 draw in Chapel Hill on Oct. 30, and NC State has not beaten North Carolina since 2018. A Wolfpack win would send the program to the ACC title game for only the third time, while the Tar Heels are chasing their own spot in the final as they build their NCAA tournament resume.
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