By R.L. Bynum

CHAPEL HILL — It’s hard to beat top-ranked North Carolina in women’s soccer this season, but unranked teams have no shot.

There are many reasons, but it all starts with a defense that barely allows any shots.

When Miami finally got off a shot in the 71st minute on a free kick during the unbeaten Tar Heels’ 1–0 win Thursday at Dorrance Field, that ended a streak of 152 minutes, 15 seconds without an opponent getting off a shot. And it was the Hurricanes’ only shot of the night.

“The girls have a standard,” UNC associate head coach Damon Nahas said. “Some games, we might get multiple goals, or it might be just one, and we’ve got to take a lot of pride in not conceding opportunities and protecting our goal.”

The Tar Heels (9–0–4, 4–0–1 ACC) did it all with their best defender, redshirt senior Maycee Bell, out for the game with an injury, holding opponents shotless in consecutive halves after doing it Saturday night in the second half of their 4–0 victory at N.C. State.

“Defending is not necessarily what happens just in the back,” Nahas said. “Our front runners in keeping possession, you keep the ball, and the other team doesn’t have it. You’re actually protecting the goal without even giving opportunities, just by possession. So, it’s a full team effort.”

UNC has held six opponents without a shot in a half, all in shutouts: Wisconsin (first half, 0–0 Aug. 24), USC (currently ranked No. 15; first half, 4–0 Aug. 27), Gardner-Webb (first half, 5–0, Aug. 31), Virginia Tech (second half, 1–0 Sept. 15), N.C. State (second half, 4–0 Saturday) and the Hurricanes (first half Thursday).

“It’s a major credit to our defense,” said junior midfielder Emily Colton, who scored the only goal. “We wouldn’t be able to do what we do on offense if it weren’t for our defense.”

The Tar Heels, who outshot the Hurricanes 20–1, have held 12 of the last 13 opponents to 10 shots or fewer, six of those to five or fewer.

Carolina is off to its longest unbeaten streak to start a season since the 2015 team started 11–0–1 before its first loss in a 15–5–1 season, and has won 12 in a row against Miami.

The odds were stacked against the Hurricanes (3–5–3, 2–2) from the beginning, considering that UNC has more goals this season (28) than Miami has shots on goal (27).

The concern offensively, though, is the Tar Heels’ failure to convert with nine shots on goal and 12 corners.

“Service is really everything,” Nahas said of corners, “and the wants. Service determines it, but I think a lot of times it’s the second-phase ball that is the goal that occurs. Sometimes we’re a little bit hesitant, assuming that somebody else might get that goal or someone else is gonna win it, as opposed to expecting them to come to us.”

Colton took a left-footed cross from Avery Patterson, turned, and — after a couple of taps of the ball — fired in a shot to the right of Miami goaltender Melissa Dagenais for her first goal of the season and eighth of her career.

“Knowing the player Avery is, I knew she was going to be the player and get the ball in the box,” Colton said. “So, I sprinted in, and she crossed it. I just remember doing a little turn, and then the ball kind of fell to my feet, and I just shot it.”

Redshirt goalkeeper Nona Reason got her second start, giving Emmie Allen the night off. After needing only one save to shut out Gardner-Webb, Miami didn’t put a shot on goal against Reason as she recorded a second shoutout. Allen is expected to start Sunday at Duke.

“Nona earned it,” Nahas said. “It wasn’t necessarily anything Emmie did.”

NOTES — UNC visits No. 22 Duke at 4 p.m. Sunday (ACC Network). The Blue Devils (5–4–2, 1–2–2) are on a four-game winless streak after Thursday’s 2–1 loss at Pittsburgh. … UNC is the only Division I school with its men’s and women’s soccer teams undefeated. … Carolina is one of eight undefeated women’s teams. … It was the 100th career game for fifth-year forward Isabel Cox, a graduate student, which is the most among active Division I players. … Freshman forward Olivia Thomas missed her fifth consecutive game (calf injury), and UNC is hopeful that she will return by the end of the season. … Redshirt freshman Kayleigh Herr started in place of Bell (who sprained her left MCL in the second half against State). Nahas said that he expects Bell to be available against Duke. … Carolina has outscored 61–9 Miami over 20 games, including 32–4 at home. … Twirler Julia Arciola, a UNC student, put on quite the halftime show, tossing batons with fire on both ends. … Carolina leads the all-time series with Miami 18–2, including 9–0 in Chapel Hill. The Hurricanes haven’t won since beating UNC 1–0 at Coral Gables, Fla., in 2009.

No. 1 UNC 1, Miami 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