Man, anytime, any sport, when a UVA team beats a UNC team, it’s a good day. We had us one of those days on Sunday, with a late goal from Nick Simmonds lifting the ‘Hoos to a 2-1 win over the Heels on Sunday at Klöckner Stadium to advance Virginia to the ACC Tournament semifinals.
Carolina (9-5-4), the ninth seed in the tournament, took the early 1-0 lead on a goal in the 27th minute by Gabriel Bracken Serra.
The Cavaliers (11-1-4), the top seed, equalized in the 34th minute. Reese Miller played the ball in to Umberto Pelà, who, with one touch, sent Simmonds in behind the Carolina back line.
Simmonds centered the ball to Triton Beauvois, who blasted his chance into the back of the net.
The tiebreaker came in the 78th minute. Jesus De Vicente played a long pass to Simmonds, who once again fired away from outside the area. This time, the ball found the back of the net after taking a deflection off the Carolina keeper.
“This time of the year, against a very good UNC team, what a performance,” Virginia coach George Gelnovatch said. “The thing for me is that we had to fight back. This is the first time, in a big game, that we’ve had to do that. It’s been a while since we’ve been scored on first in an ACC game. The response was excellent in the first half to get the equalizer, and wearing them down, getting our chances in the second half. Then once we took the lead a championship performance is locking it down. That’s what I’m most proud of.”
With the win, UVA advances to the semifinal round for the third time in four years. Virginia will take on Cal (8-7-2), the 12th seed, on Thursday at First Horizon Stadium at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, N.C.
The match will kick off at either 5:30 p.m. or 8 p.m.
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Chris Graham
