The California men's soccer team (6-7-2) makes its ACC Championship debut when it takes on eighth-ranked North Carolina (9-3-4) on Wednesday at 3 p.m. PT in its second trip to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, this season. Both teams are vying to earn the conference's automatic berth into the NCAA Championship that is awarded to the winner of the ACC Championship final.
 
The Golden Bears are coming off a 1-0 upset of 22nd-ranked Stanford in the regular-season finale last Friday on the Farm. With the victory over the Cardinal, Cal claimed the No. 11 seed with a 2-4-2 ACC record and earn the right to face the sixth-seeded Tar Heels (4-3-1) in the conference tournament. The winner of Wednesday's game advances to the Nov. 10 quarterfinal round, hosted at a campus site. The Nov. 14 semifinals and Nov. 17 final will take place in Cary, North Carolina.
 
Here are the details for Wednesday's ACC first-round match:
 
At No. 8 North Carolina (9-3-4)
When: Wednesday, Nov. 6, 3 p.m. PT
Where: Dorrance Field, Chapel Hill, N.C.
Watch: ACC Network Extra
Live Stats: StatBroadcast
 
The game is being broadcast on ACC Network Extra (ACCNX) and ESPN+ via the ESPN App. Access to the ACC Network and ACCNX is determined by your pay TV provider (cable, satellite, telco or streaming service). Even if you do not have access to ACC Network, you can still access games via a subscription to ESPN+. Viewers with access to ACCNX can view the streaming channel on the same device (smart TVs, smartphones, tablets, connected streaming devices or espn.com/watch) where they view ACC Network. ESPN+ is a subscription-based streaming channel that can also be viewed on any streaming device.
 
Carmichael Scores To Stun Stanford
Kevin Carmichael scored the game-winning goal and Marco Brougher made four saves to power Cal to its 1-0 victory over No. 22 Stanford in the Big Clasico to end the regular-season last Friday night at Cagan Stadium.
 
Cal came out strong early, taking a 6-0 shots advantage and forcing two saves out of Stanford goalkeeper Rowan Schnebly in the first 17 minutes. The Bears ended the first half with a 7-3 lead in shots and Brougher made two saves of his own as the game remained 0-0 at halftime.
 
A corner kick led to the 81st-minute goal, with Alfredo Ortiz's corner ending up with Carmichael on the far side of the box. The Cal co-captain passed the ball to Kieran Bracken Serra, and the freshman played a short pass back to Carmichael, who settled the ball and fired from the top of the box to beat Schnebly for the central defender's first goal of the season.
 
Brougher faced just one Stanford shot the rest of the way, with the junior goalkeeper making a clutch save on Will Reilly's 22-yard effort at 88:37 to preserve his fourth shutout of the season.
 
Last Time Vs. UNC
Cal held a 1-0, second-half lead over third-ranked North Carolina on Sept. 28 in Chapel Hill. But UNC scored the equalizer eight minutes later and netted the deciding goal in the 80th minute to send the Golden Bears to a 2-1 defeat.
 
The teams played a relatively even first half. Cal goalkeeper Marco Brougher and UNC goalie Andrew Cordes made two saves each to keep the game 0-0 at halftime.
 
Cal forward Nonso Adimabua scored his second goal of the season when he fired a 20-yard shot past Cordes to give the Bears a 1-0 lead in the 59th minute.
 
In the 67th minute, UNC found Ahmad Al Qaq deep in the Cal box, and the forward fired the ball over Brougher from close range to tie the game 1-1.
 
Al Qaq scored his second goal in the 80th minute. With Cal defender Giancarlo Mota pressuring him on the flank, the Tar Heel sent a shot towards the Bears' goal and the ball carried into the upper corner of the far post to make the score 2-1.
 
Cal took one more shot the rest of the way. In the 86th minute, a long free kick by Cal forward Alfredo Ortiz found Adimabua in the six-yard box, but Adimabua's header was saved by Cordes.
 
Adimabua, Brougher Named ACC Players of the Week
After leading Cal to a 1-0 upset of then-No. 1 Pitt and its first ACC victory Oct. 11, forward Nonso Adimabua was named the ACC Offensive Player of the Week and goalkeeper Marco Brougher was named the ACC Defensive Player of the Week. Brougher was also named to the Top Drawer Soccer Team of the Week for his performance against the Panthers.
 
Those were the first ACC weekly honors for Cal in men's soccer.
 
The goal sequence began when the Panthers played the ball back to their goalkeeper, Cabral Carter, deep in their box. With Cal forward Arik Duncan pressuring him, Carter passed the ball to a Pitt field player. The Panther took a bad touch in the box to leave the ball in the path of the onrushing Adimabua, who slammed the ball into the net from 14 yards out.
 
Brougher made a career-best seven saves, including the stop of Luis Sahmkow's penalty kick. The Panthers' leading scorer had previously made two of two penalty kicks this season, but the Cal goalie made a diving save of the spot kick and two minutes later saved an Eben McIntyre shot in what was Pitt's last chance of the game to earn his third shutout of 2024.
 
Scouting Cal

• Cal is 0-2 in the all-time series with North Carolina
• Marco Brougher, a junior goalkeeper who's started 14 of 15 games, is among the ACC leaders in several categories – he's third in saves (48), fifth in saves per game (3.2), tied for sixth in save percentage (0.727) and tied for sixth in shutouts (4)
• Brougher has also compiled a 1.31 goals-against average
• As a team, Cal ranks second in the ACC in saves (58)
• Senior forwards Nonso Adimabua and Arik Duncan are tied for the Cal lead in points (8) and goals (3)
• Freshman forward Malcolm Zalayet paces the Bears in assists (4)
• Adimabua, who scored his game-winner at Pitt, Zalayet (vs. Dominican), senior defender Kevin Carmichael (at Stanford), junior midfielder Allan Juarez (vs. Saint Mary's), sophomore midfielder Justin Knighton (at CSUN) and sophomore defender Giancarlo Mota (vs. Sacramento State) have each scored one game-winning goal
• Adimabua, a member of the All-Pac-12 Second Team and the United Soccer Coaches All-Far West Region Third Team last year, is playing in his fifth season, with his career including two previous years at Cal (2022, 2023) and two seasons at San Francisco (spring 2021, fall 2021)
• Cal head coach Leonard Griffin coached Adimabua in the spring of 2021 when both were at San Francisco
• The Saint Mary's game is the only match in which another Bear (Connor Lambe) besides Marco Brougher started in goal in 2024
• Cal's 5-0 rout of Dominican on Sept. 16 in Berkeley was the first game in which any Bear besides Brougher played in goal this season (Thomas Grimes and Ryan Savoie)
• Kevin Carmichael and senior midfielder/defender Wyatt Meyer – both All-Pac-12 First-Team selections last season and draft picks by Nashville SC in the MLS SuperDraft last December – are co-captains in their final season at Cal
• Carmichael, who was chosen to the ACC Preseason Watch List, was profiled in Seizing The Opportunity, a Cal Sports Quarterly magazine feature
• Meyer – the 2023 Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year and a member of the United Soccer Coaches All-Far West Region Second Team – was named to the United Soccer Coaches Players to Watch List for defenders and garnered a spot on the Top Drawer Soccer Preseason Best XI Team this fall
• Leonard Griffin – who won the NCAA championship as a UCLA player in 2002 – was named the Pac-12 Coach of the Year last season and is in his third year as head coach of the Golden Bears
• A former professional player who was drafted No. 11 overall by the Chicago Fire in the 2004 MLS SuperDraft, Griffin made MLS stops in Portland, Oregon, in Columbus, Ohio, and in Los Angeles with the Galaxy
• The Cal coaching staff includes alumnus and long-time assistant coach Henry Foulk, who has mentored numerous Bears who've played professionally including current pros Stefan Frei (Seattle Sounders FC, MLS), Drake Callender (Inter Miami CF, MLS), David Bingham (Charlotte FC, MLS) and Jonathan Klinsmann (Cesena FC, Italy Serie C)

Scouting North Carolina

• Boston College upset North Carolina 1-0 in the teams' regular-season finale on Friday in Chapel Hill
• The Eagles shut out UNC despite a 17-4 shots advantage for the Tar Heels
• Forward Martin Vician leads the Heels in goals (10) and points (21); in the ACC, he is fourth in goals and is tied for fourth in points
• Vician is tied with forward Luke Hille for UNC's lead in game-winning goals (3)
• Hille (7) ranks ninth in the ACC in goals
• Midfielder/defender Andrew Czech paces UNC – and is tied for fifth in the ACC – in assists (6)
• Goalkeeper Andrew Cordes – who has played every minute in goal for UNC – has a 0.94 GAA to rank second in the ACC
• Carlos Somoano is in his 14th year as head coach at North Carolina

Stay Posted
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