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CHAPEL HILL — In Carolina’s 400th home women’s soccer victory in program history, the Tar Heels’ scoring chances didn’t number that high, but it almost felt like it as they kept coming. With UNC dominating possession and keeping N.C. State’s chances to a minimum, only the outstanding goaltending from Wolfpack goalkeeper Maria Echezarreta kept it close. The Heels still came away with an impressive 2–0 victory Sunday before 3,683 fans at Dorrance Field.
CHAPEL HILL — Coming off a frustrating road loss and facing a No. 13 Pittsburgh team off to the best start in program history, No. 5 Carolina showed that it’s still one of the country’s most dangerous women’s soccer teams. UNC’s performance in a 4–0 win Thursday night at Dorrance Field to snap a five-game Panthers win streak was as dominating as Saturday night’s 2–1 loss at Virginia Tech was surprising.
Carolina fell two spots to No. 5 in the United Soccer Coaches Top 25 women’s poll after losing Saturday night at Virginia Tech 2–1. The Tar Heels (9–3–0, 2–2–0 ACC), were top-ranked before losing 2–1 to UCLA on Sept. 4, and the Bruins have remained No. 1 since then. Carolina lost to Virginia 3–2 on Sept. 17 and the Cavaliers (10–1–1, 3–1) remain No. 2.
CHAPEL HILL — After a tough two-match stretch and a frustrating first 43 minutes against Boston College on Sunday, No. 3 North Carolina showed why it’s one of the best women’s soccer teams in the country. At the wrong end of that, as is usually the case in this series, were the Eagles. The Tar Heels scored late in the first half and turned up the heat in the second half on their way to a 3–0 victory at Dorrance Field to shut out BC for the ninth time in the last 11 meetings.
While the unstoppable Carolina field hockey team held on to its No. 2 ranking, the UNC women’s soccer team fell a spot, and both cross country teams moved up in their polls. Coach Karen Shelton’s field hockey team is 7–0 after blanking No. 4 Louisville 3–0 Friday in its ACC opener. The Tar Heels, who have won their last four games by a combined score of 20–0, face No. 15 Wake Forest in their league home opener at 4 p.m. Friday (ACC Network Extra/ESPN3).
CHAPEL HILL — When No. 2 North Carolina lost defenders Maycee Bell and Kaleigh Herr for the season to knee injuries, the elite women’s soccer teams figured to challenge the Tar Heels’ thin backline. After UNC controlled the first half, No. 7 Virginia made the most of its chances with three goals on six shots. Talented junior midfielder Lia Godfrey rallied the Cavaliers from a two-goal halftime deficit for a 3–2 victory at Dorrance Field in the ACC opener for both teams.
DURHAM — After a blip in Carolina’s domination of Duke in women’s soccer, Tori Hansen gave the Blue Devils a heads-up that the Tar Heels still own the rivalry. No. 2 UNC (6–1–0) seized control with the senior defender’s first-half header, and goalkeeper Emmie Allen earned her first career shutout in a dominant 3–0 victory Thursday night over No. 3 Duke in a non-conference game.
UCLA leapfrogged Carolina and Duke to take the No. 1 spot in the latest United Soccer Coaches women’s soccer Top 25 after winning on the road 2–1 last week against the Tar Heels and the Blue Devils, who meet Thursday. The Bruins (5–0–0), No. 3 last week, got all eight first-place votes, with UNC (5–1–0) and Duke (5–1–0) each slipping one spot, the Tar Heels to No. 2 and the Blue Devils to No. 3.
CHAPEL HILL — Soccer can be an unforgiving, frustrating game some days, and that was the case Sunday for top-ranked North Carolina, which had nothing to show from a dominant effort. The Tar Heels got the better of the physical, high-level women’s soccer match, but No. 3 UCLA scored on two counters, one after the goal scorer appeared to knock over a UNC defender, to earn a 2–1 victory at Dorrance Field in what might have been a College Cup preview.
UNC remained the unanimous No. 1 team in the United Soccer Coaches women’s poll Tuesday and face challenging upcoming matches, while Carolina jumped 11 spots to No. 13 in the men’s poll. Coach Anson Dorrance’s women (4–0–0) got all eight first-place votes for the second consecutive season. The Tar Heels have outscored their opponents 13–0 in four games after outscoring its two exhibition opponents 7–0.
National observers may not have been that impressed with Carolina’s women’s soccer team before the season began, but that has quickly changed. The Tar Heels were ranked No. 10 in the preseason United Soccer Coaches poll, but after defeating a pair of teams ranked in the top 11 of the preseason poll, they zoomed all the way to No. 1 in the latest poll Tuesday while some other ACC teams dropped. UNC got all eight first-place votes.
CHAPEL HILL — More than a year after enduring heartbreak against UNC Wilmington, Ally Sentnor added to what already has been a big summer with an emotional career debut against the Seahawks. The redshirt freshman, just back from playing for the U.S. U20 World Cup team in Costa Rica, tore her right ACL at UNCW in the first 10 minutes of UNC’s first exhibition game last season. She made an immediate impact in No. 10 Carolina’s dominant 2–0 women’s soccer victory with a 23–2 shot advantage on a sometimes rainy Sunday afternoon.
CHAPEL HILL — A North Carolina program that has won more than half of the NCAA women’s soccer titles is ready to reassert its dominance on the national stage. After a 12-win total a year ago that was their lowest since 2011, the No. 10 Tar Heels took the first step Thursday night by knocking off No. 11 and SEC favorite Tennessee 3–0 at Dorrance Field before a nice opening-night crowd of 4,028. UNC’s eighth consecutive opening-game win came five days after a 2–0 exhibition win over No. 3 BYU.
Highlighted by the field hockey battle against fellow national power Iowa, North Carolina teams will appear on ACC Network this fall several times. There will be 12 Tar Heels games involving football, men’s soccer, women’s soccer, field hockey and volleyball on the network. That total will likely rise, with the football opener at 8 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 27 unlikely to be the only ACCN appearance for Coach Mack Brown’s team.
When it’s UNC’s turn during ACC Network School Takeovers on Tuesday, you’ll see 10 memorable victories in nine sports from the last school year that aired on an ESPN channel. You won’t see the Tar Heels’ Final Four victory over Duke because that aired on TBS, but you’ll get a chance to relive their 94–81 victory in Durham to ruin Coach Mike Krzyzewski’s last home game (6 p.m.), a softball no-hitter, an amazing football comeback and three ACC Tournament championship wins.
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