By R.L. Bynum

CHAPEL HILL — After navigating opponents packing in defenders behind the ball most of the young season, the No. 4 North Carolina women’s soccer team dealt with a contrasting — and more entertaining — challenge against No. 8 Arkansas.

The physical Razorbacks pressed, challenging the Tar Heels over the entire field. It was a refreshing change of pace for UNC, which rallied from a goal down early to win 3–1 on a brutally hot day at Dorrance Field to give Arkansas its first loss.

“Thrilled to be picking ourselves off the grass every five minutes,” UNC coach Anson Dorrance said after a game that left right back Maycee Bell with an ice pack around one side. “I’m just glad she’s alive after that game, where she’s surviving collision after collision after collision. It’s a rough game. When she went up in the air, she was hit on almost every head ball.”

Unfortunately for the Tar Heels (4–0–2), the game corresponded to the absence of Sam Meza, last week’s ACC Defensive Player of the Week. The 10 Arkansas shots and five shots on goal were both season-high against UNC, which gave up 14 shots in the first five games. The Razorbacks had a decisive 7–1 edge in corners.

Dorrance wouldn’t say what kept Meza out but hopes she’ll be ready for the next game.

But Carolina overcame her absence, thanks to a pair of rocket shots for goals from midfielders — in the first half from freshman Mia Oliaro (top photo) and in the second half from redshirt sophomore Ally Sentnor — and a transition score by senior forward Avery Patterson.

“They were a really high pressing team and that causes a lot of problems sometimes and we definitely got caught on the ball a couple of times,” Sentnor said. “When we do break the lines, it does give us a lot more space to combine and to go to the goal.”

Dorrance was happy to face Arkansas’ style and knew to expect physical play.

“They would have been impossible to score against if they had their line of confrontation on the midstripe,” Dorrance said. “But they created their first goal because they do press. So I give them and their style absolutely full credit.”

Arkansas (3–1–1) drew a yellow card in the first half and two in the second half of a physical match that could have legitimately led to a few more cards.

“We haven’t played a ton of overly physical teams,” Sentnor said. “So, I think I was just really proud of everyone for getting up and winning those headers and really getting into those tackles.”

Oliaro welcomed the sort of defense the Tar Heels saw Sunday.

“We want every team to give us a challenge and to step up and try to play our style and try to press us,” Oliaro said. “I think, for us, it’s really fun when we’re tested like that.”

Arkansas forced a turnover and scored in transition when forward Anna Podojil took a long midfield pass. As fast as a Razorbacks fan can yell “woo pig sooie,” it was 1–0 Arkansas after she surged by UNC center back Savy Bell. Carolina goaltender Emmie Allen challenged Podojil’s shot several yards from the goal and got a hand on it, but the ball bounced into the goal in the 23rd minute.

Bell made a slide tackle on a similar play six minutes later, and Allen got a massive save to avoid going down by two goals early.

“That wasn’t the only one,” Dorrance said of that Allen save. “A lot of times, she’s catching the ball in the crowd. And right after she catches it, she’s hitting the ribs by a challenging striker on the other team. And so I give her full credit for her bravery.”

After two quick passes, the last from midfielder Bella Sember, Oliaro turned and launched a powerful strike from 22 yards out into the left side of the goal in the 41st minute to tie it. Arkansas goaltender Sierra Cota-Yarde dove to her right but couldn’t make the save, and Oliaro had her first career goal.

“Anson keeps telling me in practice to take your shots and he wants us to hit the frame,” Oliaro said. “So I just made sure that I shot it right where I didn’t see the keeper and it just went in. It was awesome.”

Sentnor gave UNC its first lead in the 66th minute. She gained possession at midfield, dribbled up the left side, juked with her right foot and then scored on a forceful left-footed strike from 18 yards out.

“Honestly, all of the goals today were team goals, and I’m just super-proud of our team and when we came back after being one nothing down,” Sentnor said. “I was happy to put one away, but I got a great ball played to me and space for me to dribble.”

Patterson put the game away in the 82nd minute after a beautiful play on a counter at midfield from freshman midfielder Evelyn Shores, who got the assist.

NOTES — The Tar Heels go on the road against two more SEC teams this week. UNC visits No. 13 South Carolina at 7 p.m. Thursday (ESPNU), then is at No. 5 Alabama at 7 p.m. Sunday (ESPNU). The Gamecocks (5–0–1) beat Coastal Carolina 5–0 at home Sunday night. The Crimson Tide (4–0–2) played Samford to a scoreless draw in a road match Sunday night. Both played scoreless draws against ACC teams, South Carolina against Clemson and Alabama against Miami. … There was a lengthy first-half review after Bea Franklin took down Sember with an aggressive tackle and Sember stepped on Franklin’s leg in the aftermath. The referees didn’t issue a card. … The kickoff temperature was 90°, with a heat index of 93°, and it was 91° and 94° by halftime. … The previous high for shots against UNC was five by Penn State and USC.The Nittany Lions had three shots on goal and were the only previous opponent with more than one. … UNC leads the all-time series with Razorbacks 4–1, with the only loss coming at Arkansas 2–0 in 2019. The Tar Heels have won all four meetings in Chapel Hill.

No. 4 UNC 3, No. 8 Arkansas 1

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