NCAA Division I Men: North Carolina headed back to College Cup

• by Paul Kennedy  @pkedit, Dec 3, 2017

No. 3 seed North Carolina held off unseeded Fordham, making its first appearance in the NCAA Division I men's quarterfinals, with a 2-1 win Saturday night.



Seniors Zach Wright and Alan Winn scored in the second half to send the Tar Heels the College Cup for the second year in a row and sixth time in the last decade, more than any other program in the country during that time.
 
Wright put the Tar Heels ahead in the 61st minute but Fordham responded less than two minutes later when German Jannik Loebe's free kick deflected off the back of a Tar Heel defender and was redirected into the goal.

Wright set up the winner in the 79th minute when his cross found Winn, who scored with a header for his 11th goal of the season.

The Tar Heels lost in a shootout, 10-9, to Stanford in the 2016 semifinals. They will take on Indiana, which they lost to in the 2012 semifinals, on Friday at Talon Energy Stadium in Chester, Pa.

UNC's last championship came in 2011 when it beat Charlotte, 1-0.

Dec. 2 in Cary, N.C.
North Carolina 2 Fordham 1. Goals: Wright (Skahan) 61, Winn (Wright, Lindley) 80; Jannik Loebe 63. Att.: 1,687.
North Carolina -- Pyle, Pineda, Comsia, Nelson, Salas, Lindley, Skahan, Kelly, Wright, Winn, Pieters. Sub: October.
Fordham -- Nuhu, Lewis, Zuccala, Oland, Jannik Loebe, Bazzini, Miller, Kagramanyan, Janos Loebe, Ohlendorf, Dziedzic. Subs: Lawrence, Bohm, Defilippis, Theeson.
Att.: 1,687.