ACC regular season finale predictions

By Quinn Casteel | ACC Own the Pitch

Boston College (8-4-4, 3-1-3)  at #3 North Carolina (13-2-1, 5-1-1) – 7 p.m. – Watch Live

Boston College has the tools to come out on top in what is a must-win match for the Eagles, while a loss for North Carolina would not affect the team’s seed in the upcoming ACC Tournament which starts Monday. However, there are no off days when you are playing a conference opponent, especially one you may see again very soon. North Carolina’s defense is hard to score on especially at home where the Tarheels have only conceded one goal the entire season, which came in a win against Boston University on Sept. 2.

Prediction: North Carolina 1, Boston College 0 

#1 Maryland (14-0-2, 6-0-1) at #18 Wake Forest (10-3-4, 3-1-3) – 7 p.m. – Watch Live 

If there’s one thing Wake Forest does extremely well, it’s grinding out opponents even if they’re over-matched by momentum or talent and coming away with points. They have three players (Sean Okoli – 9 goals, 1 assist, Mikey Gamble – 6 goals, 4 assists and Luca Giminez – 6 goals, 3 assists) who have been able to put up goals in bunches at times while the rest of the team takes care of business as well, especially on the defensive end where they have had the second best defense in the ACC with a .72 goals against average. The Demon Decons have a good shot to get points in this one and if so, it may be good enough to earn them the third slot in the conference tournament, depending on what Boston College is able to do against the Tarheels.

Prediction: Maryland 1, Wake Forest 1 

Virginia (8-6-2, 2-4-1) at NC State (10-8, 1-6) – 7 p.m. – Watch Live

Although it will be NC State taking on Virginia Tech in the play-in game to see who gets to face Maryland in the first round of the ACC Tournament, the Wolfpack are a more dangerous team than they were for most of the conference season now that Nazmi Albadawi is back in the starting lineup. Will Bates has been Virginia’s best offensive player this season with 10 goals, but Zach Carroll, a freshman defender had the second highest goal total for the Cavaliers with three. NC State’s Alex Martinez is near the top of the conference leader board in ever major statistic, so whichever side has a second or third scorer step up could win this one.

Prediction: NC State 2, Virginia 1

Virginia Tech (6-8-3, 0-6-1) at Clemson (5-8-4, 2-2-3) – 7 p.m. – Watch Live

This seems like two teams moving in different directions but Virginia Tech won’t want to be winless in the ACC heading into the play-in match against NC State. Clemson is a solid middle of the pack team in the ACC at this point and would be even more so if the Tigers can win tonight and finish above .500 in the conference.

Prediction: Clemson 2, Virginia Tech 0