Virginia Tech’s Kelly Conheeney scored in the 50^th minutes of play as the unranked Hokies upset eighth-ranked North Carolina Sunday afternoon before a crowd of 1,432 at Thompson Field.  This marked the second straight trip to Blacksburg for the Tar Heels when they finished on the wrong end of a 1-0 score against an unranked Virginia Tech team.

 

North Carolina fell into a tie for second place in the ACC standings with one match remaining in the regular season.  UNC saw a six-match unbeaten streak snapped by the Hokies as Virginia Tech improves to 12-5-1 overall and 4-4-1 in the ACC.  Virginia Tech has now won four of its last five matches.  Carolina falls to 11-3-1 overall and 6-2-1 in the ACC.

 

Carolina must regroup quickly as it faces a key ACC test at #15 Maryland on Thursday at 7 p.m. at Ludwig Field in College Park, Md.  The Tar Heels will need a win over the Terrapins and a loss by league leader Duke at NC State on Thursday to grab a share of the regular-season conference championship.

 

Virginia Tech outshot the Tar Heels 15-14 while UNC had a 9-3 edge in corner kicks.  All nine UNC corner kicks came in the second half.

 

The Hokies had the edge in the first half, repeatedly putting pressure on the Tar Heel goal but unable to put any shots on frame against UNC starting goalkeeper Adelaide Gay.  The best Tar Heel scoring chance in the opening 45 minutes came at the 6:43 mark when Virginia Tech starting goalkeeper Dayle Colpitts made a save on a point blank shot by Kealia Ohai.  On the other end Jazmine Reeves was repeatedly attacking the UNC goal and had four shots in the opening half.

 

Early in the second half, Reeves set up the Virginia Tech goal with a run down the right side.  She fed Kelly Conheeney in the box and she finished into the low far corner past UNC goalkeeper Anna Sieloff, who had come on for the Tar Heels at halftime.  It was Conheeney’s 10^th goal of the season.

 

Virginia Tech then turned the game over to its defense and to Colpitts who had a brilliant game, saving six shots overall including five in the second half.  Colpitts made a key save on a shot by Maria Lubrano in the 74^th minute after the Tar Heel midfielder had slipped behind the Hokies’ defense.

 

At the 84:57 mark, the Tar Heels escaped further damage when Jazmine Reeves hit the left post with a shot that would have made it 2-0.  Anne Lumpkin followed up on the rebound but sent her shot just wide.

 

UNC had two more good looks at the goal in the last two minutes.  At 88:43, Amber Brooks sent a free kick from 22 yards out that was knocked away by Colpitts at the ball looked to curl inside the right post.  Colpitts also snuffed out UNC’s last chance when Maria Lubrano’s header in the box with 16 seconds left was snatched out of the air by Colpitts.

 

The game was a virtual carbon copy of UNC’s last trip to Blacksburg when Carolina fell to the Hokies 1-0 on October 4, 2009.  Sunday’s loss was only the 14^th ever in ACC regular season play for Carolina since 1987.  The shutout was the third time this season UNC has been blanked and it marks only the 29^th time in 793 matches since 1979 that UNC has failed to score.

 

Through Sunday’s games, Duke leads the ACC standings with 22 points while Virginia and North Carolina are tied for second with 19 points each.  Wake Forest is fourth with 18 points while Boston College has 15 points, Virginia Tech 13 points, Florida State 12 points and Maryland 11 points.  Miami has 10 points and is currently in ninth place and needs a win at Virginia Thursday night to earn a spot in the 2011 ACC Tournament.

 

The ACC Tournament begins next Sunday with the top four seeds hosting quarterfinal games at 1 p.m.  Carolina has clinched a home field for the quarterfinals but its seed an opponent will be determined by the five ACC games to be played Thursday night.