By R.L. Bynum

Six Tar Heels are playing in the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand; a seventh is a head coach.

Group play has already produced a huge win for Katie Bowen.

Bowen, who played at UNC from 2012 to 2015 and won a national championship in 2012, is a defender for New Zealand, which earned a stunning 1–0 victory Thursday over Norway, the country’s first Women’s World Cup victory in its history.

Former UNC wing back Crystal Dunn (2010–13) of the NWSL’s Portland Thorns and defender Emily Fox (2017–20) of the Carolina Courage played for the U.S. team in their 3–0 opening-game win over Vietnam on Saturday.

The Americans next face the Netherlands at 9 p.m. ET Wednesday (Fox).

The biggest Tar Heel contingent is with the English team, coached by Sarina Wiegman, who won an NCAA title in her only season at UNC in 1989.

Wiegman’s team includes three UNC alums: forward Alessia Russo (2017–19), right back Lucy Bronze (2009) and defender Lotte Wubben-Moy (2017–19). Russo and Wubben-Moy play for Arsenal in the Women’s Super League and Bronze plays for Barcelona in Liga F.

England beat Haiti in its opener Saturday 1–0 and next face Denmark at 4:30 a.m. ET next Friday (FS1).

Even if Bowen’s New Zealand team doesn’t win another game, it’s already been a memorable experience for her.

“It’s really hard to put into words, but absolutely surreal,” said Bowen, who plays for Melbourne City in the Australian A-League. “I mean, we made history [Thursday], but we can’t rest on that. Our goal is to get out of the group.”

Hannah Wilkinson’s second-half goal was enough for the historic victory.

It was a surreal day in Auckland after a gunman killed two people in a high-rise construction site near Norway’s team hotel earlier in the day. An early morning call from her brother, checking to see if she was OK, woke up Bowen.

“I think everyone was just pretty taken aback, because this doesn’t really happen in New Zealand,” Bowen said. “But I think, especially on a game day, down to just each individual doing what they needed to do to process it and make sure they could focus on the game at the same time.”

New Zealand next plays at 1:30 a.m. Tuesday against the Philippines (FS1).

The USA plays in Group E with the Netherlands, Portugal and Vietnam. England is in Group D with China, Haiti, and Denmark. New Zealand is in Group A with Switzerland, Norway and the Philippines.

Tar Heels in Women’s World Cup

United States (Group E)
Wing back Crystal Dunn
Defender Emily Fox
Saturday: USA 3, Vietnam 0
9 p.m. Wednesday vs. Netherlands, Fox
3 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 1 vs. Portugal, Fox
England (Group D)
Head coach Sarina Wiegman
Forward Alessia Russo
Right back Lucy Bronze
Defender Lotte Wubben-Moy
Saturday: England 1, Haiti 0
4:30 a.m. Friday, July 28 vs. Denmark, FS1
7 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 1 vs. China, Fox
New Zealand (Group A)
Defender Katie Bowen
Thursday: New Zealand 1, Norway 0
1:30 a.m. Tuesday vs. Philippines, FS1
3 a.m. Sunday, July 30 vs. Switzerland, Fox