No. 18 Orange Hosts No. 7 UNC in ACC Semifinals

Game Details: Wednesday, Nov. 8, Syracuse, N.Y., 6 p.m.
Live Video: ACCN
Live Coverage: Stats
Twitter: @CuseMSOC
Instagram: @cusemsoc
Syracuse Links: Notes | News | Roster | Schedule
North Carolina Links: Roster | Schedule

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - No. 18 Syracuse returns home to face No. 7 North Carolina in the ACC Championship Semifinals on Wednesday, Nov. 8, at 6 p.m. The match will air live on ACC Network.

Wednesday will be the second time Syracuse will host an ACC Semifinal match. The Orange hosted Virginia in last year's semifinal match, beating the Cavaliers, 5-3, in penalty kicks. Lorenzo Boselli leveled the game at two with less than seven minutes to go in the full time, pushing the game into extra time. Syracuse would go on to win its second ACC title in program history.

Tickets for the 2023 ACC Championship Semifinal match on Wednesday, Nov. 8 will cost $10 for adults and $5 for senior citizens and youth ages 18 and under. Gates will open at 5 p.m. and tickets can be purchased here.

Students from any ACC member institution will be admitted free of charged with a valid school ID.

'Cuse Update
Syracuse defeated No. 9 Virginia, 5-3, in penalty kicks Sunday afternoon in Charlottesville, Va., to advance to the ACC semifinals. This was the second straight season the Orange defeated the Cavaliers in penalty kicks in the ACC Championship Tournament.

Down a goal with less than seven minutes in full time, junior Mateo Leveque leveled the match at one. Following two, 10-minute overtime periods, the match continued to a penalty kick shootout.

The Orange outshot the Cavaliers, 24-9, and held a 14-2 advantage in shots on target, both are season highs. 'Cuse had eight corners to Virginia's two in the contest.

Graduate student Noah Singelmann appeared in his 90th career game on Sunday, becoming the fourth active Division I player to reach 90 career games this season. Singelmann joins Washington's Imanol Rosales (93) and Christian Soto (94) and Indiana's Maouloune Goumballe (102).

ACC Tournament History
Syracuse is 8-4-6 all time in the ACC Tournament and 6-0-1 at the SU Soccer Stadium. This is the first time Syracuse is the No. 6 seed in the tournament. 'Cuse has been the No. 2, 5, 7, 10 and 12 seeds. All time, the Orange are 8-1-4 when they are a top-seven seed and are 1-1-1 in the ACC Semifinals.

Syracuse will play North Carolina for the fifth time in the ACC Championship Tournament, the most against any opponent. The Orange won, 1-0, on Nov. 6, in the 2022 ACC Quarterfinals. Levonte Johnson scored at 85:06 to advance Syracuse to the ACC Semifinals en route to the team's treble.

The teams first faced one another in the ACC Quarterfinals in 2015, when the No. 7 seeded Orange beat the No. 2 seeded Tar Heels, 4-3, in penalty kicks, after 110 minutes of 1-1 play. 'Cuse would go on to win its first ACC Title in program history that season.

Scouting the Tar Heels
Carlos Somoano is in his 13th season leading the North Carolina men's soccer program and holds an overall record of 165-58-42. The Tar Heels finished the regular season with a 7-3-5 overall record and a 2-3-3 record in conference play.

North Carolina is led by Quenzi Huerman, who has nine goals and 21 points in 15 matches this season. Martin Vician is second on the squad with five goals and 12 points.

Andrew Cordes has a 6-3-2 record in goal for the Tar Heels. Cordes has a 0.43 goals-against average and a .889 save percentage along with six clean sheets in 1,058:32 minutes in net.

Series History
Wednesday's contest will be the 13th all-time meeting between Syracuse and North Carolina. The Tar Heels lead the series, 5-3-4. This will be the fifth match that has occurred in postseason play and fourth in the ACC Tournament. Syracuse is 1-1-2 against UNC in the conference tournament.

This will be the sixth time the two teams will face one another twice in a season. The teams faced off twice in 2015, 2016, 2019 and 2021-23.

The Orange beat the Tar Heels in this year's regular season matchup, 1-0, on Oct. 6. Graduate student Buster Sjoberg scored his first goal in a Syracuse uniform at 22:42 while sophomore goalkeeper Jahiem Wickham turned aside a career-best four shots on target in the clean sheet.

Up Next
If the Orange win on Wednesday, they would advance to the ACC Championship game for the third time in program history and second consecutive season. The championship match will take place on Sunday, Nov. 12, at noon. The contest will be played at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, N.C., and air live on ESPNU.

For complete coverage of Syracuse men's soccer, follow us on Facebook (/cusemsoc), Twitter (@CuseMSOC) and Instagram (@cusemsoc).

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Lorenzo Boselli

Levonte Johnson

Mateo Leveque

Noah Singelmann

Buster Sjoberg

Jahiem Wickham

Syracuse University Athletics