Tar Heels Finish Weekend 2-0 With Shutout Win

Sunday, September 3

Durham, N.C.

11:00 a.m.

North Carolina

4-1-0

UNCW

2-4-0

UNCW

North Carolina

Sydney Spruill's first career goal was the game-winner against UNCW.

Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati

September 3, 2017 | Women's Soccer

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Spruill & Andrzejewski score first goals of season.

By: Dave Lohse

DURHAM, N.C. – The ninth-ranked University of North Carolina women's soccer team emerged from the Duke Nike Classic with a second successive shutout victory, beating the UNCW Seahawks 2-0 at Koskinen Stadium Sunday morning.

Carolina scored both of its goals on nifty passing combinations with double assists credited on both tallies. Sydney Spruill scored her first career goal at 9:11 off assists by Emily Fox and Julia Ashley while Bridgette Andrzejewski notched her first goal of the season at 48:14 with assists by Alessia Russo and Megan Buckingham.

In beating Auburn 5-0 Friday and UNC 2-0 Sunday, Carolina combined to outshoot its opponents 46-4 on the weekend while taking all six corner kicks in the two games.

Samantha Leshnak went the full 90 minutes in both games, garnering the first two solo shutouts of her Tar Heel career. UNC outshot the Seahawks 23-2 Sunday and had a 6-0 edge in corner kicks.

Carolina is now 4-1 on the season while UNCW fell to 2-4.

The Tar Heels outshot the Seahawks 14-0 in the first half and took all three corner kicks in the opening 45 minutes. Three minutes into the match, Bridgette Andrzejewski had a shot for Carolina right on the doorstep but Seahawks' goalkeeper Sydney Schneider was able to parry it away at the last second.

Carolina went up 1-0 six minutes later as freshman Sydney Spruill scored her first career goal with 35:52 left in the first half. Julia Ashley carried the ball up the right side of the field and fed Tar Heel freshman midfielder Emily Fox who crossed to an unmarked Spruill who was unmarked inside the six-yard box for the easy put away.

Andrzejewski kept putting on the pressure throughout the half and Schneider had to make two more impressive saves on shots by the UNC sophomore forward with 31:26 left in the half and again with 9:55 to play. UNC's other shot on goal in the first half came with 27:24 to play when Alessia Russo's shot from the top of the box was saved by Schneider.

Carolina went on to outshoot the Seahawks 9-2 after intermission. The Tar Heels got the insurance goal they needed at 48:14 of the match in the fourth minute of the second half. Bridgette Andrzejewski scored her first goal of the season heading home a ball from inside the six-yard box on the right side. Alessia Russo had the primary assist on the goal, lofting a pass from the left corner perfectly to the head of Andrzejewski. Megan Buckingham also assisted on the goal.

The next best opportunity to score in the second half came with 21:13 to play when freshman Alea Hyatt's shot from in close was saved off the line of UNCW's Schneider.
Schneider finished with seven saves for UNCW while Leshnak made one save for Carolina.

Carolina will be back in action on Thursday when it travels to University Park, Pa. to take on #4-ranked Penn State at Jeffrey Field. The Nittany Lions are a veteran team coming off a 2015 season two years ago in which it won its first national championship. The game will be telecast nationally on the Big 10 Network.