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CHAPEL HILL — Still grieving about Monday’s tragic campus shooting and processing the week’s events, the No. 4 North Carolina women’s soccer team tried to find joy on the pitch the evening after classes resumed. If only for two hours, Thursday night’s match against Gardner-Webb offered the Tar Heels players a distraction from the mental fatigue of what happened. Most of the players wore black wristbands in memory of professor Zijie Yan.
Anybody who has watched North Carolina’s women’s soccer team this season knows that the Tar Heels, who fell one spot in the United Soccer Coaches national poll to No. 4, have performed as well as any team in the country defensively, and it’s showing in the weekly ACC awards. UNC (2–0–2), which has only allowed one goal in four games, slipped in the poll after playing Wisconsin to a scoreless draw on Thursday before blowing out USC 4–0 Sunday. The Trojans moved up five spots to No. 19.
CHAPEL HILL — No. 3 Carolina continued its unyielding defensive ways and turned up the offense to match Sunday, thanks to one of the heralded members of the Tar Heels’ No. 1-ranked freshman class. Midfielder Evelyn Shores, playing in only her second game since recovering from an injury, came off the bench to earn a brace with two second-half goals in less than 2½ minutes and spark the Tar Heels’ 4–0 rout of No. 24 USC on a hot afternoon at Dorrance Field.
CHAPEL HILL — The scoring chances kept coming for No. 3 Carolina down the stretch. But a player wearing light blue denied the Tar Heels repeatedly. The Tar Heels played well and were unrelenting on defense. But Wisconsin fifth-year goalkeeper Erin McKinney, clad in shorts and a jersey that were light blue, made terrific saves all afternoon as the teams played to a scoreless draw on a steamy Thursday afternoon at Dorrance Field.
North Carolina fell one spot to No. 3 in the latest United Soccer Coaches women’s Top 25 on Tuesday, but star freshman center back Savy King in ACC Defensive Player of the Week. The Tar Heels (1–0–1) played Penn State (1–0–1) to a scoreless draw Thursday before knocking off Cal 3–1 in their home opener on Sunday. The Nittany Lions moved up two spots to No. 8.
No. 2-ranked North Carolina couldn’t create enough quality chances, but the Tar Heels’ defense and goalkeeping stood tall in an opening-game 0–0 draw against No. 10 Penn State at State College, Pa., on a soggy field. While the Tar Heels held a 19–5 shot advantage, they only got two shots on goal compared to three for Penn State.
CHAPEL HILL — When Anson Dorrance knows his Carolina women’s soccer team is one of the best in the country, he has a history of putting together a schedule that challenges his players. He took that to extremes 31 years ago for a team that included Mia Hamm and Christine Lilly, stacking four games in four days on the West Coast.
CHAPEL HILL — After last season ended in heartbreak, the No. 2-ranked Carolina women’s soccer team reloaded with the nation’s top freshman class, and the Tar Heels are poised to make another College Cup run with an “extra chip” on their shoulders. You won’t have to convince East Carolina, which could never get much going Saturday night at Dorrance Field. ACC favorite Carolina coasted to a 2–0 win in both teams’ second and final exhibition match, outshooting the Pirates 20–3.
After making the ACC tournament and NCAA tournament championship games a year ago, No. 2-ranked North Carolina is the favorite to win the ACC women’s soccer title and has three players on the preseason All-ACC team.
Six Tar Heels are playing in the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand; a seventh is a head coach. Group play has already produced a huge win for Katie Bowen.
By R.L. Bynum CARY — Sixteen seconds away from ending a 10-year national championship drought, it was heartbreak for North … More
North Carolina was surprised when the NCAA women’s soccer selection committee gave the No. 4-ranked Notre Dame a No. 1 seed and the No. 2-ranked Tar Heels a No. 2 seed. That meant that their quarterfinals meeting was in South Bend, Ind. But UNC proved that the seeding was flawed Saturday night by ousting the Irish 2–0 in the NCAA tournament quarterfinals to earn a record 31st trip to the College Cup and end their 12-game unbeaten streak.
CHAPEL HILL — No. 15 Brigham Young held off No. 2 North Carolina’s offensive firepower for one half, but the Cougars withered against the Tar Heels’ constant pressure early in the second half. Junior midfielder Avery Patterson assisted freshman forward Maddie Dahlien on two decisive second-half goals during that dominant stretch. The Tar Heels fired the first 10 second-half shots in the 13 minutes after halftime, then held on for a 3–2 victory Saturday in the third round of the NCAA women’s soccer tournament.
HAPEL HILL — Many Carolina players wore gloves on a night in the mid-30s, but the gloves were off when it came to throwing down the Tar Heels’ new, more aggressive approach. Redshirt freshman forward Ally Sentnor, scoring twice for the second consecutive NCAA tournament game, was the main catalyst as No. 2-ranked UNC coasted to a 3–1 victory Thursday over No. 7-seed and unranked Georgia in the second round at Dorrance Field.
CARY — Carolina has the women’s soccer tradition, but Florida State again showed that it continues to be the team to beat for now. The No. 5-ranked and No. 2-seed Seminoles rallied from a goal down early to beat the No. 2-ranked and No. 1-seed Tar Heels 2–1 Sunday for their third consecutive ACC tournament title before 3,876 fans.
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