UNC blows three-goal lead as women’s soccer season ends at BYU

R.L. Bynum,

By R.L. Bynum

North Carolina looked poised to earn another trip to the Women’s College Cup with a three-goal lead 19 minutes into the game, but aggressive Brigham Young had other ideas.

The Cougars scored four goals in the last 30 minutes to rally for a 4–3 victory on a snowy and cold evening in Provo, Utah, and end Carolina’s season.

Redshirt sophomore midfielder Ally Sentnor had two goals and an assist in the first half but the Tar Heels (13–2–8) couldn’t hold the lead against BYU (14–1–8) as it avenged a 3–2 loss to UNC in last season’s tournament.

No. 13-ranked and No. 3 UNC outshot BYU 8–5 in the first half but the Cougars had an amazing 20–6 second-half edge in shots. UNC goaltender Emmie Allen made 10 saves, but they weren’t enough.

Carolina only needed 1 minute, 51 seconds to take the lead when Maycee Bell headed in a Sentnor pass off a corner, jumping high over the defender, arcing it high, and just under the crossbar.

Sentnor goals in the ninth and 20th minutes made it 3–0. Both were right-footed shots to the right of the goal, the first off of a Tori Dellaperuta assist and the second one a rocket after a free kick.

BYU turned on the pressure in the second half and finally broke through when Bella Folio’s right-footed shot got by Allen in the 61st minute after she had saved the first six shots on goal.

Allen made one great save after another to keep the lead at two goals until Breckten Mozingo scored off a corner in the 81st minute when the shot went off Allen’s hand. Sixty-three seconds later, Folino tied it. In the 89th minute, Olivia Katoa got the game-winner for BYU.

NOTES — It was only the second time this season an opponent has scored at least three goals, with Florida State doing it in the 3–all draw on Sept. 24. … Sentnor finished with team-highs of 11 goals, seven assists and 29 points. … Allen, Bell, Emily Colton and Savy King played all 90 minutes. King ends her freshman season with a team-high 2,030 minutes. … UNC is 2–1 all-time against BYU, with all three matches in NCAA tournament play. … UNC beat the Cougars 3–2 in the third round last season in Chapel Hill. In the 2012 Elite Eight, Crystal Dunn scored the game-winning goal in double overtime. … UNC is 147–18–5 all-time in the NCAA tournament and 30–2–2 in the Elite Eight.

No. 1-seed BYU 4, No. 3-seed UNC 3

DateMonth/dayTime/scoreEvent/opponent
(current rank)		LocationTV/
record
August
7MondayW, 8–1College of
Charleston 		HomeExhibition
12SaturdayW, 2–0East CarolinaHomeExhibition
17ThursdayT, 0–0No. 5
Penn State		University
Park, Pa.		0–0–1
20SundayW, 3–1CalHome1–0–1
24ThursdayT, 0–0No. 12 WisconsinHome1–0–2
27SundayW, 4–0No. 22 USCHome2–0–2
31ThursdayW, 5–0Gardner-WebbHome3–0–2
September
3SundayW, 3–1No. 10 ArkansasHome4–0–2
7ThursdayW, 2–1No. 16 South CarolinaColumbia, S.C.5–0–2
10SundayT, 1–1No. 24 AlabamaTuscaloosa, Ala.5–0–3
15FridayW, 1–0Virginia TechHome6–0–3,
1–0 ACC
21ThursdayW, 1–0VirginiaCharlottesville, Va.7–0–3,
2–0 ACC
24SundayT, 3–3No. 1 Florida StateHome7–0–4,
2–0–1 ACC
30SaturdayW, 4–0N.C. StateRaleigh8–0–4,
3–0–1 ACC
October
5ThursdayW, 1–0MiamiHome9–0–4,
4–0–1 ACC
8SundayT, 1–1No. 25 DukeDurham9–0–5,
4–0–2 ACC
13FridayT, 1–1No. 25 Wake ForestWinston-Salem9–0–6,
4–0–3 ACC
19ThursdayT, 1–1No. 9 Notre DameHome9–0–7,
4–0–4 ACC
22SundayW, 6–1SyracuseHome10–0–7,
5–0–4 ACC
26ThursdayT, 1–1Boston CollegeNewton, Mass.10–0–8,
5–0–5 ACC
ACC tournament
29SundayL, 2–1 (2 OTs)No. 11 PittsburghChapel Hill10–1–8
NovemberNCAA tournament
Link to bracket
10FridayW, 3–1First round:
Towson		Chapel Hill11–1–8
17FridayW, 1–0Second round:
No. 24 Alabama 		Lubbock, Texas12–1–8
19SundayW, 1–0Third round:
No. 4 Texas Tech 		Lubbock, Texas13–1–8
24FridayL, 4–3Quarterfinals:
No. 6 Brigham Young		Provo, Utah13–2–8

Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics Communications

Published by R.L. Bynum

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