By R.L. Bynum
Maintaining rivalries already was a challenge for Carolina when the ACC expanded to 15 schools, and it’s only going to get worse for the 2024–25 school year when the league adds Stanford, Cal and SMU.
UNC women’s soccer coach Anson Dorrance was a vocal opponent of the latest expansion and what it may mean for his program in terms of travel and scheduling.
After seeing a record crowd turnout for his top-ranked Tar Heels’ 4–0 Saturday victory at N.C. State at Dail Soccer Field in Raleigh, the veteran coach lamented the potential loss of rivalry games.
He can’t control decisions to add schools on the other side of the country, but he wants to do what he can to ensure it doesn’t spoil rivalries.
“I thought the crowd [Saturday] was exceptional, which is why I wish we could work it out so that we would play one conference game against N.C. State,” Dorrance said after his team played before 3,972 fans. “We were a part of delivering this crowd for N.C. State, but then we would love for them to deliver our crowd for us, and we’d also like to have the same relationship with Duke, especially now we’ll be flying all over the country now with the addition of Stanford SMU and Cal.”
In football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball, the ACC’s schedule structure ensures that the Tar Heels play N.C. State and Duke every season (twice in basketball). UNC has played a home-and-home football series with Wake Forest so those rivals could play when a meeting wasn’t in the league schedule.
There are only 10 league games in women’s soccer and 14 league teams (eight games and 12 teams in men’s soccer). Unlike football and basketball, the Tar Heels don’t play ACC games against their two Triangle rivals every season.
When the Blue Devils weren’t part of the league schedule in 2022, UNC won 3–0 at Duke in a non-conference game. This is the third consecutive season that UNC and N.C. State have played a league game.
“Let’s figure out a way to have consistent games, home and away, against Duke and N.C. State because rivalries build sports,” Dorrance said. “I think building a rivalry for our game against excellent teams like N.C. State and Duke will certainly help us build our name.”
Even when Carolina is scheduled to play ACC games with Duke and N.C. State, Dorrance would like to play a second game against those rivals that doesn’t count in the standings.
“Our budgets will be better because we’ll have high-RPI games with Duke and N.C. State twice a year, which will be great,” Dorrance said.
Carolina (8–0–4, 3–0–1 ACC) visits No. 17 Duke (5–3–2, 1–1–2) at 4 p.m. Sunday (ACC Network). The Blue Devils haven’t played in Chapel Hill since 2021.
| 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 |
Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics Communications
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