Road to Germantown update: Top two spots in ACC Tournament clinched over weekend

By Quinn Casteel | ACC Own the Pitch

With No.1 Maryland (14-0-2, 6-0-1) and No. 4 North Carolina (13-2-1, 5-1-1) so far ahead of everyone else in the ACC, and most teams in all of college soccer for that matter, the conference to no fault of its own has been top heavy this season.

Over the weekend, the Terps and Tarheels locked up the No. 1 and 2 seeds respectively in the ACC Tournament which begins Nov. 5 for the first rounds at campus sites, followed by the semifinals and finals from Nov. 9-11 at the Maryland SoccerPlex.

Maryland clinched the top seed by way of draw, a 2-2 match against Clemson which accounted for the only points the Terps left on the board in ACC play this season. North Carolina secured its spot by defeating NC State 2-0 on Friday night. Although the Tarheels can still tie Maryland in points with a win in  their last conference game and a Terps loss, Maryland owns the head-to-head tiebreaker and has already clinched.

Come tournament time however, the early pairings may eventually cease to matter, barring an upset by a dark horse team like Wake Forest, Boston College or even a now closer to full strength NC State despite their current 1-6 mark in the ACC.

The odds are that we will be seeing another match-up of  the top offensive team and the top defensive team in the nation in the ACC Finals, and possibly again in the College Cup. If the offense vs. defense story line wasn’t enough, UNC will be playing in defense of a national title should the teams meet for a third time in the NCAA Tournament. The Tarheels won it all in Carlos Somoano’s first season as head coach last season.

Maryland and UNC close out their conference schedules on Thursday with match-ups against Wake Forest and Boston College, the two teams which are currently in a dead heap for third place. The matches will have no significance in the standings for Maryland and UNC, but for Wake Forest and Boston College it means a world of difference.

The final games may depend on how Somoano and Maryland coach Sasho Cirovski decide to approach how they manage their teams.