Ranked No. 1 in the nation, Pitt’s men’s soccer team reached another milestone Wednesday night, earning its first berth in the ACC Championship Final with a 3-1 semifinal victory against Notre Dame.
The Panthers will meet Clemson for the championship at noon Sunday at WakeMed Park in Cary, N.C.
The game will be broadcast on ESPNU.
Two sophomores gave Pitt all the scoring it needed to improve its record to 7-0.
Veljko Petkovic scored twice and Valentin Noel stretched his scoring streak to five games in a row with his seventh goal of the season, which is tied for first in the nation.
Petkovic scored first on a free kick, 23 yards from the net. Pitt has scored the first goal in every game this season.
Notre Dame (5-4) countered, but goalkeeper Nico Campuzano, a graduate student, made a diving save — one of six in the game — and deflected the ball over the cross bar.
Noel made it 2-0 with an assist from sophomore Raphael Crivello.
Petkovic netted his second goal of the game — marking the second multi-goal game of his career — to give the Panthers a 3-0 lead late in the first half. Jasper Loeffelsend recorded the assist to move into first place in the nation with six.
Notre Dame’s Jack Lynn broke the shutout with a goal in the 87th minute.
Pitt is 4-1-1 in the past three seasons in ACC Tournament play while coach Jay Vidovich improved his postseason record to 4-3-1.
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