Tar Heels Announce Women's Soccer Recruiting Class

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - The University of North Carolina has signed five prospective student-athletes to National Letters-Of-Intent for the Tar Heel women's soccer program. Tar Heel head coach, beginning his 40^th year as UNC women's soccer coach this fall, announced the signings this week.

Claudia Dickey – Goalkeeper – Charlotte, N.C. – Charlotte Latin School
Rachael Dorwart – Midfielder – Mechanicsburg, Pa. – Cumberland Valley High School
Rachel Jones – Forward – Lawrenceville, Ga. – Collins Hill High School
Mary Elliott McCabe – Forward – Charlotte, N.C. – Charlotte Latin School
Brianna Pinto – Midfielder – Durham, N.C. – Charles E. Jordan High School

In the Top Drawer Soccer Girls IMG Academy Class of 2018 rankings, Pinto is the No. 3-ranked recruit, Dorwart is the No. 8-ranked recruit, Jones is the No. 9-ranked recruit, Dickey is the No. 24-ranked recruit and McCabe is the No. 124-ranked recruit.

Top Drawer Soccer ranks the Tar Heels' 2018 recruiting class as the nation's third best, even with just five student-athletes in the class. USC has the No. 1-ranked recruiting class and Stanford has the No, 2-rated class.

Dickey is the daughter of Alex and Christa Dickey. She will be a two-sport athlete at Carolina, also playing basketball. Dickey was a member of the U18 and U20 National Women's Soccer Teams in 2016 and 2017. As a junior, she was an All-America and All-State soccer player at Charlotte Latin and the North Carolina Soccer Coaches Player of the Year. She also made All-State in soccer as a sophomore when she was a second-team All-America selection. She was named the Greater Charlotte Goalkeeper of the Year three straight years from 2015-17. She was also named All-State in soccer as a freshman in 2015. In her career at Charlotte Latin, she has played 3,276 minutes in goal, allowing just 16 goals and making 260 saves. Her career goals against average was .391.

Dorwart, the daughter of Chuck and Shannon Dorwart, graduated early from Cumberland Valley High School and enrolled at Carolina in January 2018. She played four years of high school soccer, but was limited to 50 games played as an attacking center midfielder due to national team commitments and injuries but nevertheless scored 76 goals and 36 assists in those 50 games. She set a school record with 47 goals as a sophomore. Dorwart was named an NSCAA high school All-America as a sophomore and junior and a three-year All-State selection. She was the 2016 Pennsylvania State Gatorade Player of the Year. She has been a member of the U.S. National Teams at the U14, U15, U17, U18 and U19 levels. She played her club soccer for Penn Fusion Soccer Academy.

Jones is the daughter of Stephen and Elizabeth Jones. She will graduate this spring from Collins Hill High School. Jones has been on U.S. youth national teams for four years and is currently a member of the U18 women's national team. As a junior in 2017, she was named Georgia Gatorade Player of the Year, Atlanta Journal Constitution Player of the Year and a USAA All-America. She was also 2017 NSCAA high school state player of the year and the 2017 Top Drawer Soccer National Player of the Year. She broke Collins Hill's single season scoring record with 41 goals in 2017.

McCabe is the daughter of Elliott and Jennifer McCabe. She will graduate from Charlotte Latin School this spring where she has led her high school soccer team to 3A NCISAA state titles her freshman through junior seasons. She has played club soccer for Charlotte Soccer Academy on the ECNL level since age 13. At Charlotte Latin, she earned All-State, All-Region and All-Conference honors her freshman through junior years. With Charlotte Soccer Academy, she has been a team captain since the U16 level and led the team in scoring for each of the past four years. Through her junior year at Charlotte Latin, she has 185 career points on 74 goals and 37 assists, leading a team which has gone 54-3-8 in points three times and goals three times as well.

Pinto is a dynamic midfielder and the daughter of a pair of Tar Heel alumni and former student-athletes. Her father, Hassan, played soccer at Carolina, and her mother, Meleata, was a softball player. Both of her brothers play soccer, including Hassan, who starts at right back for Elon. She played her freshman year at Jordan High School and since has concentrated on her club and national team commitments. She was a member of CASL ECNL from 2014-17 and NTH Tophat Development Academy beginning in 2018. She has been a U14, U17, U19, U20 and U23 national team member already in her young career. She is the youngest player in the modern era to make a tournament roster for the senior women's national team at the March 2017 She Believes Cup. She competed for the 2016 US U20 CONCACAF and 2018 US U20 CONCACAF teams which qualified for the World Cups in both of those years. She was the 2015 Gatorade High School Player of the Year in N.C. as a freshman when she scored 24 goals and added eight assists for Jordan. She is ranked as the #1 midfielder in the Class of 2018 by Top Drawer Soccer.

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