Meredith Florance (2001) - Patterson Medal Winners - University of North Carolina Athletics

Meredith Florance

Induction:
2001
Class:
2001

2001— Meredith Florance: Women's Soccer (Dallas, Texas)
Florance won the Honda Award as the National Soccer Player of the Year in 2000 when she was the MVP in four different tournaments and led the Tar Heels to an NCAA championship. She scored five game-winning goals as a senior, including NCAA Tournament wins over Connecticut and Virginia.

Her biggest goal may have tied the NCAA championship game against UCLA. Florance tied the game at 1-1 with 15 minutes to play and the Tar Heels went on to win, 2-1.

A member of the United States National Team, Florance was fourth in the nation as a senior with 26 goals, at the time the sixth-highest single-season total by a Tar Heel. She led the ACC in goals and points, was a consensus first-team All-America and All-ACC selection and was named the Most Outstanding Player in the 2000 ACC and NCAA Tournaments.

In her career, the Dallas native scored 59 goals and 32 assists for 150 points. She netted 10 game-winning goals. As a junior, Florance scored the game-winning goal in the 2-0 win over Notre Dame in the NCAA final. In 1998, she scored the only goal in the fourth overtime in Carolina’s 1-0 win over Portland in the NCAA semifinal.

She played three seasons of professional soccer in the WUSA.