By R.L. Bynum

CHAPEL HILL — After last season ended in heartbreak, the No. 2-ranked Carolina women’s soccer team reloaded with the nation’s top freshman class, and the Tar Heels are poised to make another College Cup run with an “extra chip” on their shoulders.

You won’t have to convince East Carolina, which could never get much going Saturday night at Dorrance Field. ACC favorite Carolina coasted to a 2–0 win in both teams’ second and final exhibition match, outshooting the Pirates 20–3.

The Tar Heels went 20–5–1 last season and led the NCAA championship game before UCLA scored the controversial tying goal with 16 seconds left in regulation. The Bruins won 3–2 in double overtime, and the 25 returnees and Coach Anson Dorrance had the offseason to ponder what might have been.

“Last season was obviously a devastating one,” said redshirt sophomore Ally Sentnor, who has shifted from forward to midfield. “I was proud of the way our team played throughout the whole season. So, I wouldn’t call the season a failure at all. But I think we just have that extra chip on our shoulder going into this year. It’s really nice to have that kind of mantra and that powerful saying that everyone — our fans, our coaches, our team — can really get behind to try to compel us to win a natty this year.”

Sentnor said that the frustrating end to last season led to a lot of sports psychology team meetings as they tried to process coming so close to their goal and falling short.

“I really think it’s going to bring us closer and really give us that edge and that competitiveness in this season,” said Sentnor, who made the Preseason All-ACC Team along with redshirt senior defender Maycee Bell and senior midfielder Sam Meza. “Soccer, that’s the game; it’s full of ups and downs. It can change on a dime, any team can win any day.”

While frustrated that the referees didn’t call an obvious goaltender interference on the Bruins’ tying goal, Dorrance says he’s moved on.

“I haven’t lost much sleep over it,” Dorrance said. “I was very proud of what happened last year, because of the kids we lost and where we ended up.”

Most of the players he lost were on defense.

Carolina made it to the NCAA final despite losing Bell, one of the best defenders in the country, to a season-ending injury in the opening game. A week later, defender Kayleigh Herr suffered a season-ending injury. Midfielders Meza and Talia Dellaperuta battled injuries all season.

All are back and healthy this season.

Bell had surgery to repair her left meniscus in the fall. Complications forced her to have a second surgery in December.

“Honestly, it was very, very difficult,” said Bell, who played right back. “I just had a lot of things planned out on how I wanted my season to go, and then everything was just kind of taken away from me. Got through it and I’m ready to have a great season.

Despite losing defensive stalwart Tori Hansen to graduation, one of 12 letter winners lost from last season, the Tar Heels have a solid corps of defenders. That showed with the Pirates’ inability to get anything going offensively as UNC had 72% of the possession time.

“The other team didn’t really have too many chances,” said Dorrance, who also noted that the competition will ramp up significantly with a regular-season schedule ranked the toughest in the country. “Didn’t really play the ball into our box much. That’s a credit to the defense. … Everyone works for us defensively. And everyone knows to get on the field for us, you they have to defend.”

Freshman Savy King has stepped in at center back, with redshirt sophomore Emerson Elgin and sophomore Tessa Dellarose sharing time at right back.

Dorrance says that not only has his team come into the season with plenty of high goals, the players have backed up that mindset with the physical fitness to do it. Twenty of his players passed what he calls the teams’ “Draconian fitness standard.”

“I’m proud of the team because this is the fittest collection of players we’ve ever brought in,” said Dorrance, remembering that no more than eight or 12 players passed it when his program won nine consecutive national championships from 1986 to 1994. “Part of that was the pressure that all of them knew is going to be on them to get on the field with the amount of talent that we have.”

Carolina welcomes seven true freshmen who make up a class that Top Drawer Soccer ranks No. 1 in the country: forward Melina Rebimbas (No. 3 overall), defender/forward Evelyn Shores (No. 6), King (No. 10, who started), forward Olivia Thomas (No. 12) forward Mia Oliaro (No. 18), goalkeeper Abby Gundry (No. 24) and forward Ella Smith. Rebimbas, King and Gundry all have experience playing for the U.S. national team.

Shores is recovering from a surgery to repair torn hip labrum last spring and Dorrance hopes she can begin practicing fully in a couple of weeks.

Forward Bella Sember scored on a rebound in the 11th minute for UNC. Tori Dellaperuta appeared to touch Tessa Dellarose’s free kick on the way to the back of the net to get credited for the second goal in the 32nd minute.

Although, the Tar Heels got more aggressive in the second half with four more shots, they couldn’t add to the goal total after halftime

None of UNC’s three goalkeepers had to make a save. Returning starting goalkeeper Emmie Allen played the first half, redshirt freshman Nona Reason the first 11:15 of the second half and Gundry went the rest of the way.

NOTES — Carolina opens the season at 7 p.m. Thursday at No. 10 Penn State (Big Ten Network). The Nittany Lions went 15–5–3 last season, losing to Virginia 3–2 in the third round of the NCAA tournament. The reigning Big Ten champion, Penn State played Georgetown in a Saturday exhibition match (no results were made public). … UNC sophomore forward Maddie Dahlien didn’t play and was in a walking boot after tweaking an ankle in the 8–1 exhibition win Monday over College of Charleston. … Forward Emily Murphy, an All-ACC Freshman pick, transferred to Wake Forest and forward Ruby Grant turned pro, joining the Swedish team Häcken. … Carolina’s only non-freshman newcomer is Villanova graduate midfielder/defender transfer Alexa Wojnovich, who is from Chapel Hill. … ECU, which went 8–8–3 last season and won only one of its last eight games, beat Elon in a 2–1 home exhibition game Monday.

No. 2 UNC 2, ECU 0

Date	Month/day	Time/score	Event/opponent (current rank)	Location	TV/ record
	August
7	Monday	W, 8–1	College of Charleston	Home	Exhibition
12	Saturday	W, 2–0	East Carolina	Home	Exhibition
17	Thursday	T, 0–0	No. 5 Penn State	University Park, Pa.	0–0–1
20	Sunday	W, 3–1	Cal	Home	1–0–1
24	Thursday	T, 0–0	No. 12 Wisconsin	Home	1–0–2
27	Sunday	W, 4–0	No. 22 USC	Home	2–0–2
31	Thursday	W, 5–0	Gardner-Webb	Home	3–0–2
	September
3	Sunday	W, 3–1	No. 10 Arkansas	Home	4–0–2
7	Thursday	W, 2–1	No. 16 South Carolina	Columbia, S.C.	5–0–2
10	Sunday	T, 1–1	No. 24 Alabama	Tuscaloosa, Ala.	5–0–3
15	Friday	W, 1–0	Virginia Tech	Home	6–0–3, 1–0 ACC
21	Thursday	W, 1–0	Virginia	Charlottesville, Va.	7–0–3, 2–0 ACC
24	Sunday	T, 3–3	No. 1 Florida State	Home	7–0–4, 2–0–1 ACC
30	Saturday	W, 4–0	N.C. State	Raleigh	8–0–4, 3–0–1 ACC
	October
5	Thursday	W, 1–0	Miami	Home	9–0–4, 4–0–1 ACC
8	Sunday	T, 1–1	No. 25 Duke	Durham	9–0–5, 4–0–2 ACC
13	Friday	T, 1–1	No. 25 Wake Forest	Winston-Salem	9–0–6, 4–0–3 ACC
19	Thursday	T, 1–1	No. 9 Notre Dame	Home	9–0–7, 4–0–4 ACC
22	Sunday	W, 6–1	Syracuse	Home	10–0–7, 5–0–4 ACC
26	Thursday	T, 1–1	Boston College	Newton, Mass.	10–0–8, 5–0–5 ACC
			ACC tournament
29	Sunday	L, 2–1 (2 OTs)	No. 11 Pittsburgh	Chapel Hill	10–1–8
	November		NCAA tournament Link to bracket
10	Friday	W, 3–1	First round: Towson	Chapel Hill	11–1–8
17	Friday	W, 1–0	Second round: No. 24 Alabama	Lubbock, Texas	12–1–8
19	Sunday	W, 1–0	Third round: No. 4 Texas Tech	Lubbock, Texas	13–1–8
24	Friday	L, 4–3	Quarterfinals: No. 6 Brigham Young	Provo, Utah	13–2–8