By R.L. Bynum

No. 3 Carolina and No. 12 Alabama waged a physical battle that didn’t include many good scoring chances until the second half, and the Crimson Tide’s press got the best of the Tar Heels for much of the night.

The Tide drew 12 fouls and three yellow cards, making it tough for UNC as the teams played to a 1–1 draw Sunday night in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

In the 82nd minute, Alabama head coach Wes Hart walked over near the UNC bench and exchanged heated words with UNC associate head coach Damon Nahas, drawing yellow cards for both. It was that kind of night, as both undefeated teams moved to 5–0–3.

Carolina outshot Alabama 18–11, but the Tide’s shot total was the most against the Tar Heels this season after No. 6 Penn State and No. 7 Arkansas each got off 10. UNC had a 7–3 edge in shots on goal.

After giving ranked SEC teams their first losses in the previous two games — beating Arkansas in Chapel Hill 3–1 on Sept. 3 and No. 10 South Carolina 2–1 on Thursday — it looked like Alabama would be the third such victim after UNC senior midfielder Avery Patterson’s amazing play that gave the Tar Heels the momentum for a few minutes.

In the 59th minute, Patterson quickly dribbled nearly three-quarters of the field before juking an Alabama defender, pushing a left-footed strike to the right side of the goal and past Tide goalkeeper Coralie Lallier for the game’s first goal. It marked the third consecutive game with a goal for Patterson.

Alabama’s Gianna Paul got the equalizer in the 79th minute, though. She took a long pass behind UNC left back Maycee Bell, pushed past goaltender Emmie Allen, then center back Savy King for the score from close range.

Lallier tipped an Ally Sentnor shot wide right in the 86th minute.

NOTES — The Tar Heels return home at 3:30 Friday (ESPN3) for their ACC opener against Virginia Tech (3–2–3). Both Hokies losses have come against ranked teams, 1–0 on Aug. 27 against No. 13 Georgetown and 3–2 Sunday against No. 20 Northwestern. … Alabama was the fourth top-12 opponent UNC has faced after meeting (current ranks) No. 6 Penn State, Arkansas and South Carolina. … UNC and Alabama both lost to eventual national champion UCLA in last season’s College Cup, the Heels in the championship game and the Tide in the semifinals. … Alabama’s goal was the first against UNC in three meetings after UNC outscored the Tide by a combined score of 14–0 in two wins. … In the previous meeting with Alabama, UNC won 6–0 in Durham in 1997 for Coach Anson Dorrance’s 400th victory. … King and Bell both played all 90 minutes.

No. 3 UNC 1, No. 12 Alabama 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