Opening Weekend Closes With Rutgers Sunday Night

CARY, North Carolina - The opening weekend of the 2017 season continues Sunday night when the No. 4 North Carolina men's soccer team hosts Rutgers at WakeMed Soccer Park beginning at 7:30 p.m.

BROADCAST
The match will be carried live on ACC Network Extra beginning at 7:30 p.m. ACC Network Extra is streamed live on WatchESPN and the ESPN app.

FREE ADMISSION
All games hosted this season by North Carolina will not require an admission price. The Tar Heels will not play on campus this season in Chapel Hill while the new soccer and lacrosse field is currently under construction.

OFF AND RUNNING
Four different goal scorers - John Nelson, Cam Lindley, Jelani Pieters and David October - opened their goal-scoring accounts on Friday night in a 4-2 victory over BIG EAST preseason favorite and 12th ranked Providence on Friday night.

ACC PRESEASON FAVORITES
North Carolina is the ACC preseason favorite to win the league championship, according to a vote of the league's 12 head coaches. The Tar Heels were named by five coaches as this year's team to beat for the ACC Championship. Wake Forest received three votes, followed by Clemson with two. Notre Dame and Virginia each received one vote.

Carolina, with 69 points, was also named the favorite to win the Coastal Division and received nine first place votes in the division. The Tar Heels have won the Coastal each of the last two years in 2015 and 2016.

Virginia was picked second with 58 points and received two first place votes. Notre Dame was picked third with 51 points, followed by Virginia Tech (31), Duke (28) and Pitt (15).

Wake Forest, the runner-up at the 2016 NCAA College Cup, was picked as the Atlantic Division favorite, receiving 62 points and eight first place votes. Clemson received three first place votes for the division and was picked second with 60 points. Louisville was picked third with 52 points and one first place vote, followed by Syracuse (41), Boston College (20) and NC State (17).

SERIES WITH RUTGERS
Sunday marks the first meeting between Carolina and Rutgers in men's soccer. The Scarlet Knights were upended 5-1 at No. 2 Wake Forest on Friday night.

NEXT UP
Carolina hits the road for its next three matches. First up, is a Labor Day weekend double against in-state foes UNCW on Friday and at UNCG on Monday. Both kick at 7 p.m.

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Players Mentioned

Cam Lindley

John Nelson

David October

Jelani Pieters