Akron knew it would need to beat two teams from the ACC to win its first national title. The Zips moved one step closer Friday night.

Top-ranked Akron eliminated North Carolina on penalty kicks in the men's College Cup semifinals, advancing to play No. 2 seed Virginia in Sunday's championship game.

The Cavaliers defeated Wake Forest 2-1 in overtime.

"This team doesn't feel inferior to anybody," Akron coach Caleb Porter said. "And yet we respect the ACC, North Carolina, Virginia and Wake. They're tremendous teams, top programs in the country. But this team has believed all year long that they're as good as anybody."

Akron and North Carolina played to a scoreless draw through regulation and two 10-minute overtime periods before Blair Gavin's shot into the lower left-hand corner of the net allowed the Zips to advance.

"I believed in myself that I was going to make the PK," Gavin said. "There was no way I was going to let my team down."

North Carolina's Jordan Graye, leading off the third round of penalty kicks, sailed his shot over the crossbar to give Akron an opening.

The fifth-seeded Tar Heels (16-2-4) played overtime and the final 20:12 of regulation down a man. Defender Brett King received his second yellow card of the match and was sent off when he took down Darlington Nagbe on a long ball outside the box.

"We worked as hard as we could today, and I give the team all the credit," North Carolina goalkeeper Brooks Haggerty said. "We busted it to get to the penalty kicks."

The result goes down as a tie, leaving Akron (23-0-1) deadlocked with Indiana's 1997 team for the NCAA record for most consecutive wins in a season.

Ownby made sure Virginia wouldn't need penalty kicks to beat Wake Forest. He entered the game late in the second half and scored in the third minute of overtime to lift the Cavaliers to their first College Cup final since 1997.

"I couldn't feel the cold," said Ownby, who ripped off his jersey after scoring to start a wild celebration in temperatures dipping below 30 degrees. "It was just the energy and the excitement and everything."

Ownby didn't appear bothered by a sports hernia injury that will require surgery, running down the middle of the field to control a long feed from Jonathan Villanueva. Ownby split a pair of Wake Forest defenders and popped the ball over goalkeeper Akira Fitzgerald.

Ownby said he could have played 20 or 30 minutes if needed, and nearly scored with 2:10 remaining in regulation, when Fitzgerald's sliding save sent the game to overtime.