By R.L. Bynum
CHAPEL HILL — Thunder from the back line ignited No. 8 Carolina to an impressive opening-night victory.
Two sophomores delivered braces and nearly hat tricks as the Tar Heels cruised to a 4–0 women’s soccer victory Thursday over Fairfield at Dorrance Field in the opener for both teams.
On a toasty summer evening, UNC outshot the Stags 24–3 and scored the most opening-match goals in six seasons.
With two starters missing the first two games for USA soccer duty, Hope Munson, usually a defender, was a forward for this match and scored her two goals in the first half. Then, in the second half, sophomore midfielder Bella Devey buried two scores after several first-half chances. The two rotated positions a couple of times.
It marked new territory for Munson, who had four assists as an ACC All-Freshman pick last season but no goals.
“Obviously, she’s really hungry and ambitious,” UNC coach Damon Nahas said. “Sometimes you want to get players in spots to try different things. For us, the versatility is really important, and in this game we just tried it, and she got a goal off of it. Obviously, Devey is seamless. She played there last year too, so we feel comfortable with it. So now Hope is going to knock on my door to play the nine [center forward] half of the game now, I believe.”
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The Tar Heels dominated possession time from the start. After three UNC corners in the first 2:40, Munson kept the pressure on.
She made a quick move to her left and weaved a left-footed shot by three defenders and past Stags goaltender Alyssa Gluting shortside from the right of the goal. It took less than five minutes for her to score Carolina’s first goal of the season.
Munson made it two in the 33rd minute when she took a pass from senior midfielder Lilliah Blum. With Gluting charging for the ball, Munson lightly tapped it past the keeper and just inside the right edge of the goal.
The second goal was initially waved off because of an offside call. It was restored, thanks to a new system in college soccer this season that allows each team two challenges. You lose one of the challenges whether it’s successful or not.
Nahas consulted with his program’s assistant director of operations, Corey Emerick, before challenging.
“I had them look at it. They showed it to me, and it was close enough to do the old twirl, as they say. So thankfully, it worked out for us,” Nahas said. “You have to do it after the next stoppage. If that girl had taken that kick before I did that, it would not have been able to be reviewed.”
Munson had several chances to bag the hat trick before halftime, including in the final seconds, and had personally outshot Fairfield 8–1 in the first half.
“I think whenever we look at those opportunities, it’s about what those shots were like. I thought, of those seven shots, probably five of them were probably good choices, and then maybe the decision on how I want to finish those, those are the things we’ll talk about,” Nahas said. “And then the other things we’ll just talk and say what are some other options we could look at, not specific to Hope, but in general.”
It turned into a rout in the second half with Devey’s two goals. She took a pass from junior midfielder Ashley Pennie and tapped it past Gluting in the 57th minute. Eight minutes later, graduate Georgia transfer midfielder Summer Denigan delivered a pass from the end line that Devey buried, and she nearly had a hat trick minutes later.
“The first half, I had a lot of chances on goal, but it maybe wasn’t the right choice in the moment,” Devey said. “The second half, I just found my calm in the box and found my instincts, knowing when to pass, knowing when to shoot and knowing when to combine.”
Denigan described a natural chemistry behind the second assist.
“We just have that intuition, I guess,” she said. “We worked on it in practice, being able to combine and make good runs in the box and find each other.”
It was a fitting moment for the newcomer, who is happy to be in Chapel Hill.
“It’s just an honor to be able to wear the Carolina jersey and play for this amazing team and program,” Denigan said. “I could not wait for this first game to be able to play with specifically Hope and Devey, being able to combine with such talented players. I was really looking forward to getting the season started.”
Freshman Peyton Trayer started in goal for the Tar Heels and made one save on three shots in 81½ minutes. Junior German keeper Hannah Johann played the last 8½ minutes and saw no shots.
“You look at a young player to have that much confidence in her; you can just see she wants to be in that moment,” Nahas said of Trayer. “Her distribution was phenomenal with her feet, her range, and when you watch her, her deception. When you watch her, her deception to be able to freeze people and then be able to ping a ball 30–40 yards is pretty remarkable for a young player. And today, that was what was demanded of her.”
Nahas was happy with the effort to get the season started, bemoaning that the coaches and players had been waiting 30 days for the opener, and was happy that the day finally came.
“The games are going to come fast and furious now,” he said. “So to get the first win is obviously always important. To get a shutout was great.”
Denigan and Devey said the difference between the effort in a 1–0 exhibition victory over South Carolina and the performance in the opener was obvious.
“I think the first game of the official season, there’s just this feeling of anxious excitement,” Denigan said. “Being able to get out there and get the first game out of the way, execute what we want to execute and learn from here and move on to the next game is really important.”
Devey agreed. “The first game is always really nerve-wracking, so just getting our footing, and we’re all really excited for this game too,” she said. “You can feel the energy before the game, and just really excited for the season.”
Notes
— UNC is at home again at 1 p.m. Sunday (ACC Network Extra) against Quinnipiac, which played Holy Cross to a 2–2 draw in its season opener on the road Wednesday. The Bobcats went 8–3–6 last season.
— It was Carolina’s 12th consecutive win in its home opener, with the most goals in a season opener since a 4–1 victory over Wake Forest in 2020. The last time UNC scored more goals in an opener was in the 2009 national championship season, which began with a 7–2 victory over UCLA.
— This was the first meeting between UNC and Fairfield, which is the Metro Conference favorite after going 15–2–2 last season.
— Freshmen Amari Manning and Deus Stanislaus missed the opener and will also miss Sunday’s match because they are at the U17 United States team training camp.
No. 8 UNC 4, Fairfield 0
| Date | Month/day | Time/ score | Opponent | Record/ TV |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August | ||||
| 5 | Wednesday | W, 1–0 | vs. South Carolina | Exhib. |
| 13 | Thursday | W, 4–0 | vs. Fairfield | 1–0 |
| 16 | Sunday | 1 p.m. | vs. Quinnipiac | ACCNE |
| 20 | Thursday | 7:30 ET | at Arkansas | ESPNU |
| 23 | Sunday | 1 p.m. | vs. Michigan State | ACCN |
| 28 | Friday | 2 p.m. ET | at Shebourne FC (Dublin, Ireland, exhibition) | |
| September | ||||
| 3 | Thursday | 10 p.m. ET | at Arizona | ESPN+ |
| 6 | Sunday | 1 p.m. ET | at Arizona State | ESPN+ |
| 10 | Thursday | 7 p.m. | vs. California | |
| 13 | Sunday | 1 p.m. | vs. NJIT | |
| 17 | Thursday | 8 p.m. | vs. Duke | ACCN |
| 20 | Sunday | 1 p.m. | vs. Alcorn State | |
| 25 | Friday | 7 p.m. | at Virginia | |
| October | ||||
| 2 | Friday | 6 p.m. | vs. Notre Dame | ACCN |
| 9 | Friday | 7 p.m. | at Florida State | ESPNU |
| 15 | Thursday | 8 p.m. | at Clemson | ACCN |
| 18 | Sunday | 3:30 | at Wake Forest | ACCN |
| 23 | Friday | 6 p.m. | vs. Stanford | ACCN |
| 29 | Thursday | 7 p.m. | vs. SMU | |
| November | ||||
| 5 | Thursday | 7 p.m. | at Louisville | |
| 8, 12, 15 | Sunday, Thur., Sun. | ACC tournament | Semifinals, final in Cary | |
| NCAA tournament | (first four rounds at campus sites) | |||
| 20-22 | Fri.-Sun | First round | ||
| 26 | Thursday | Second round | ||
| 29 | Sunday | Third round | ||
| December | ||||
| 4, 5 | Fri., Sat. | Quarterfinals | ||
| 10, 13 | Thur., Sun. | Women’s College Cup Cary |
Photo by Jackson Gerding
