University of North Carolina Athletics
1998 Women's Soccer Season Preview
June 21, 1999 | Women's Soccer
October 1, 1998
In 1997, the Tar Heel dynasty in the world of collegiate women's soccer continued. The big question as the Tar Heels prepare for the 1998 season is this: How long is it reasonable to think that this dynasty can last?
The record compiled by the North Carolina women's soccer program in its 19 years as a varsity soccer program staggers the imagination. Over that 19-year period, UNC has compiled a 417-16-11 record. That's correct. It is not a misprint. 417-16-11. An all-time winning percentage of 96.0 percent.
The Tar Heels have reached the Final Four of the national tournament every year since the first Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) tourney in 1980. The ledger includes 18 Final Fours in 18 efforts, one AIAW Tournament title in two tries and 14 NCAA Tournament crowns in 16 attempts.
Since the Atlantic Coast Conference began league play in women's soccer in 1987, the Tar Heels have won 10 of the 11 conference titles, including the last nine in a row. The only ACC championship the team has lost was in a penalty-kick tiebreaker in 1988. Carolina has never lost an ACC Tournament game and in 52 ACC regular-season contests, the Tar Heels have lost once and been tied once.
When you look at these numbers, logic dictates when is this all going to end? How can one team, particularly in a team sport where there are not only changes in personnel on a regular basis but in team chemistry each and every year, remain so dominant for so long?
Tar Heel head coach Anson Dorrance, who has been the guiding force behind this tale of Tar Heel success for all 19 seasons, knows that Carolina's performance at this high a level will not last forever. He just hopes that the change comes sooner rather than later. And when the playing field finally does become level, which is inevitably will, he hopes that the Carolina faithful who have become so used to UNC winning a national championship in women's soccer every year will be understanding.
UNC will eventually be the victim of its own success and Dorrance knows that better than anyone. It was Carolina that jumped on top of the women's game early, elevating its program to varsity status in the long ago days of the 1970s, fully funding the team with scholarships and publicizing the sport with ardor. UNC's early success was stunning and overpowering. For almost two decades now the Tar Heels have sucked the marrow from the bone of the college soccer world for all it is worth. And countless young girls around the country fell in love with the sport in the process, watching the Tar Heels win championship after championship and dreaming of way day being like one of the many star players Carolina's program has spit out over the years.
Gradually those young girls grew up and came of college age. And the sport boomed in popularity with age group programs sprouting up all over the landscape. While UNC still gets more than its fair share of the best players entering the college ranks each year, the Tar Heels can no longer sign all the good ones. The playing field becomes more and more even each season.
There is a good chance that 1998 will be the year all that catches up with the Tar Heels. While the cupboard is scarcely bare, Carolina did lose a lot to graduation from its 1997 NCAA championship team. Top rivals Santa Clara and Notre Dame return their teams virtually intact and the Broncos enjoyed the best recruiting year in the nation in 1998. Despite the loss of Sara Whalen to graduation, 1997 NCAA finalist Connecticut will again be strong. And other strong and improving programs like Florida and Virginia on lurking on the very near horizon.
So if 1998 proves to be the year that the Tar Heels fail to reach the top of the mountain rather than asking what's wrong with Carolina, people mind be just as mindful to ask, why did it take so long?
Now those who know the Carolina program well are also quite aware of the fact that no matter how much rebuilding must be done, the Tar Heels have no intention of going gently into that good night. All in all, Dorrance has at his disposal seven returning starters and 19 letter winners overall from the 1997 team which finished 27-0-1.
Because of those numbers Carolina retained a #1 preseason ranking in the 1998 National Soccer Coaches Association of America poll. Soccer Buzz internet magazine placed the Tar Heels second behind Santa Clara as the new season approaches.
While Dorrance will still have an outstanding returning cast to work with while welcoming what is generally considered to be the second best freshman class in the nation, it would be foolish to think that Carolina will be unaffected by the loss of four starters and seven letter winners overall from the incredible 1997 team.
For starters Dorrance must look to replace 1997 Soccer News and Soccer Buzz National Player of the Year Robin Confer in the lineup. One of the most dynamic scorers in UNC history, the Clearwater, Fla. forward finished fourth on the UNC career chart in points with 209, fifth in goals with 77 and third in assists with 55. Last year she set an NCAA record for games played in a career with 107. She is also UNC's career leader in game-winning goals with 27. As a senior in 1997, Confer led the team in goals with 20, assists with 22, points with 62 and game-winning goals with seven. She scored the game-winning goal in the NCAA semifinals against Santa Clara and the insurance goal in the NCAA final against Connecticut.
The Tar Heels also lost the corps of their veteran defense to graduation after last season. The reality of losing 1997 first-team All-America defenders Nel Fettig (Fort Wayne, Ind.) and Staci Wilson (Herndon, Va.) must be keeping Dorrance up at night. The duo was the bedrock of a nearly impenetrable Carolina defense over the past four seasons. A year ago they helped Carolina tie the school record for shutouts in a season with 22. All in all, UNC allowed only eight goals and 95 shots on goal in 28 games.
Also lost to graduation was starting midfielder Aubrey Falk (Cincinnati, Ohio), one of the team's fastest athletes and a tremendous role player the past four years who started all 28 games her senior year. She scored the only goal in Carolina's NCAA quarterfinal win over Harvard last season.
Carolina will also miss the experience and the team chemistry contributions of another pair of seniors on the 1997 team--reserve midfielder and co-captain Meg Uritus of Columbus, Ohio and goalkeeper Gretchen Overgaard of Danville, Calif., who started 13 of the 28 games last season.
LOOKING BACK AT 1997: In looking ahead to this coming season, it would certainly be inappropriate to not take time and praise the accomplishments of the 1997 team. Playing against a schedule which included 16 NSCAA-ranked teams in 28 games, the Tar Heels barely flinched in finishing 27-0-1, 7-0-0 in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
The Tar Heels swept through the NCAA Tournament winning five games by a cumulative margin of 16-1. UNC won the ACC regular-season championship by one full game over Duke and then went on to beat Florida State, Clemson and Maryland to claim its ninth straight ACC Tournament title.
Limiting its opponents to only eight goals and 95 shots on goal in 28 games, the Tar Heel defense was likened by Dorrance to that of the 1987 team which won the national title while allowing only two goals all season.
In short, the 1997 team had to rank with the very best of Carolina teams from the past two decades. And the squad lived up to the high expectations of the program.
FORWARDS: Carolina enters the 1998 season with a strong corps of seven forwards led by 1997 National Player of the Year Cindy Parlow, a senior from Memphis, Tenn. Last year Parlow won the Hermann Trophy, the Missouri Athletic Club Sports Foundation Player of the Year Award and national player of the year honors from Soccer Times.
A member of the U.S. National Team, Parlow was Carolina's second-leading scorer last season with 44 points on 13 goals and 18 assists. She scored the game-winning goal in UNC's 2-0 triumph over Connecticut in the 1997 NCAA championship game. Parlow earned first-team All-America honors from all five teams used to determine consensus All-America accolades in the world of women's soccer. She is also widely considered as the best defensive presence amongst all forwards in the women's college ranks.
Joining Parlow on the front line this year will be red-shirt sophomore Raven McDonald (Benson, N.C.) who was one of the teams most pleasant surprises last season. McDonald was named a first-team freshman All-America last year by both Soccer News and Soccer Buzz. She started 26 of the 28 games and was tireless in her work ethic on the field. She finished the year as Carolina's fourth-leading scorer with 31 points on 11 goals and nine assists.
With the loss of Confer to graduation, there will be tremendous competition for the third starting front runner spot. The top two candidates are senior super substitute Rakel Karvelsson (Peachtree City, Ga.) and sophomore Meredith Florance (Dallas, Texas), who showed flashes of brilliance as a rookie last year. Not to be discounted in this battle for playing time are sophomore Amy Whittier (Fairfield, Conn.) who impressed as a first-year player last year and incoming freshman Anne Remy (Norman, Okla.) whose two older sisters were both outstanding players at Duke University.
The winner of the starting role will probably be the player who most impresses Dorrance in the preseason with her defensive work ethic. Regardless of who starts all four players are sure to seeing a lot of field time. Because of the demands that the Carolina system puts on its front runners, quality playing time is always assured for the team's reserves at the position.
Karvelsson has been a steady and consistent offensive presence for the Tar Heels over the past three seasons. Last year, she tied for fifth on the team in scoring with 25 points on seven goals and 11 assists. Her three-year totals are an impressive 30 goals, 21 assists and 81 points, particularly for a player who has started only four games in three years. She ranks 20th in UNC history in goal scoring and is 25th in points.
As first year players last year Florance and Whittier both had their moments. Florance was the team's seventh-leading scorer with 24 points on an output of 10 goals and four assists. Whittier saw more and more playing time as the season progressed. She finished with three goals and three assists for nine points.
Also on the Tar Heel roster at the forward position is junior Helen Lawler, one of the team's most popular players. The Jupiter, Fla. native had three goals and two assists last year.
MIDFIELDERS: Despite losing starter Flak and top reserve Uritus to graduation, Carolina returns three tremendous starters in the midfield. In addition, with 11 players on the roster at this position Carolina has considerable quality depth at this spot.
Leading the UNC midfield corps are three-year senior starter Tiffany Roberts (San Ramon, Calif.) and two-year junior starters Laurie Schwoy (Baltimore, Md.) and Rebekah McDowell (Lakewood, Colo.). Both Roberts and Schwoy were first-team All-Atlantic Coast Conference selections last year while McDowell ranks as one of the most underrated players in the nation. Dorrance ranks McDowell's work ethic second to none in the collegiate ranks.
A longtime veteran of the U.S. National Team, Roberts was a Soccer Times second-team All-America last year. She tied for fifth on the team in scoring with 25 points on seven goals and 11 assists. She scored two spectacular first-half goals in leading Carolina to a 4-0 whitewashing of Maryland in the 1997 ACC Tournament championship game.
The national freshman player of the year in 1996, Schwoy was handicapped by a pulled hamstring last year which limited her to action in 22 games. Still she was the team's third-leading scorer with 36 points on 13 goals (tied for second on the team) and 10 assists. She was second on the team with six game-winning goals in 1997. Despite her injury problem, Schwoy was still named a first-team All-America last year by the NSCAA, Soccer Times and Soccer Buzz. After playing for the U.S. under-20 national team this past summer, Schwoy is primed to showcase her talents as the nation's top attacking midfielder again in 1998.
The third returning starter in the Tar Heel midfield is the indefatigable McDowell whose icy nerves and steady presence on the field have shaped her into one of the nation's most improved players over the past two seasons. Quarterbacking the team from her playmaking midfield post, McDowell is not expected to big up big numbers in the scoring column. Still she added six goals and nine assists for 21 points to the Tar Heel cause last season.
The remaining starting spot in the midfield will be fought for by red-shirt junior Beth Sheppard (Cypress, Texas), junior Lindsay Stoecker (Raleigh, N.C.) and freshman Jena Kluegel (Mahtomedi, Minn.).
Sheppard was a starter on the 1995 team and then played in 23 more games as a sophomore in 1996. She missed all of last season due to a knee injury but returns revitalized for the coming campaign.
After seeing limited playing time as a freshman, Stoecker stepped up her game last season and earned seven starts after Schwoy went down with the hamstring injury. She played in 28 games overall and scored three goals and had seven assists for 13 points. She assisted on Cindy Parlow's game-winning goal in the NCAA championship game against Connecticut.
Kluegel is one of three freshman players who will have a chance to earn a starting position this year. One of the nation's top recruits, she brings her considerable talents to UNC as a member of the United States' under-17 national team.
Adding depth to the midfielder corps will be junior Josina Anderson (Silver Spring, Md.), who will join the Tar Heel soccer squad this year after running track for two years at UNC, sophomore letter winners Julia Marslender (Raleigh, N.C.) , Mandy Morrison (Raleigh, N.C.) and Meghan Pastiglione (Niskayuna, N.Y.) and freshman Johanna Costa (Chapel Hill, N.C.). Pastiglione has the most experience of this group after playing in 12 games as a freshman.
DEFENDERS: There is no doubt that with the loss of Fettig and Wilson to graduation, Dorrance does not relish the task of rebuilding the Tar Heel defense in 1998.
The good news is that the one returning starter on defense for Carolina is a special one, junior Lorrie Fair of Los Altos, Calif. Having developed into one of the most dependable starting defensive presences on the U.S. National Team over the past two years, Fair was nothing short of magnificent during her sophomore year in college. She started all 28 games for Carolina last season and earned first-team All-America honors from Soccer News and first-team All-Atlantic Coast Conference honors.
She was Carolina's top scorer out of the backfield last season, totaling 23 points on eight goals and seven assists. She scored game-winning goals in one-goal wins over California and Duke and her key tally early in the second half forged a tie in the NCAA semifinals against Santa Clara as the Tar Heels eventually went on to win 2-1 on a Robin Confer goal.
Two freshmen headed into the season with an outstanding chance to join the starting equation on defense for the Tar Heels. One, Danielle Borgman, is likely to man one of the open spots. A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Borgman is a member of the United States under-17 National Team. Incoming freshman Leslie Gaston from Montgomery, Ala. was also given a good opportunity to start for the Tar Heels this coming season. But UNC received a major blow this summer when Gaston, a member of the U.S. under-18 National Team, was sidelined with a torn anterior cruciate ligament. She will miss the entirety of the 1998 campaign while red-shirting, thus retaining four years of eligibility.
The loss of Gaston leaves the Tar Heels very thin in the backfield. The third starting spot will probably now be filled either by red-shirt sophomore Tina Murphy (Putnam Valley, N.Y.) or junior Nancy Hackett (Tracy, Calif.). Murphy played in nine games last seasons, starting twice. Hackett, who played at Fresno State University one year before transferring to Carolina prior to last season, saw action in 10 games last season. Another possibility for increased playing time is two-year letter winner Charlotte Mitchell, a junior from Houston, Texas who played in eight games last season.
Further depth in the backfield will be provided by junior letter winner Erika Dempsey (Raleigh, N.C.) and freshman Megan Parker (Apex, N.C.).
GOALKEEPERS: With UNC's defensive corps being as inexperienced as it has ever been this coming season, Carolina will be looking to its four-person goalkeeping contingent to step up big for the Tar Heels.
Gone from these ranks are Gretchen Overgaard, who started about half of the games over the past two years after transferring to Carolina from UCLA. Reserve Melissa Jennings also chose to retire from soccer instead of returning for her junior year.
The unquestioned leader of the goalkeeping corps is gifted senior Siri Mullinix (Greensboro, N.C.) who enters the coming campaign with the second best goals against average in UNC history at 0.26 goals per game. A Soccer Times first-team All-America last season, Mullinix was named the most valuable defensive player of the 1997 NCAA Tournament Final Four which was played in her hometown of Greensboro, N.C.
Mullinix led all college goalkeepers last season with her stingy 0.19 goals against average. She played in 26 matches last season, starting 15 times. In 1,400 minutes played, she had 27 saves while allowing only three goals. She was credited with 12.5 shutouts last season.
For her career, Mullinix had played in 64 games, including 40 starts. In 3,467 minutes in the goal she has made 72 saves and allowed only 10 goals. Her 0.26 GAA is the second-best in school history. She has 27.5 shutouts in her career at UNC.
Backing up Mullinix are three players who have never played even one second of goal for the Tar Heels. Nevertheless, Dorrance is excited about the competition he expects from these three individuals to earn the backup role to Mullinix in goal. Junior Jamie Kinney from Dallas, Texas comes to Carolina after playing two years at Brevard College. Red-shirt freshman Shanna Caldwell of Raleigh, N.C. had the opportunity to practice with the Tar Heels last year while still retaining four years of eligibility.
The third backup goalie candidate is freshman Kristin DePlatchett of Harborcreek, Pa. who graduated from high school one year early to join the Tar Heel program. She is in good company in that regard. Amongst other Tar Heels who have graduated a year early to join the UNC program were the likes of Mia Hamm, Cindy Parlow and Siri Mullinix, all first-team All-America performers.
1998 SCHEDULE: As is common practice with the Tar Heels, Carolina's regular season schedule should go far in preparing Dorrance's rebuilding team for the challenges it will meet in the post-season ACC and NCAA Tournaments.
Carolina's regular-season docket reads like a Who's Who of the preseason NSCAA Top 25 rankings. Highlighting the schedule as always is the demanding Atlantic Coast Conference slate. As the country's top women's soccer conference, the NSCAA Top 25 features sixth-ranked Virginia, 10th-ranked Duke, 14th-ranked Clemson and 18th-ranked Maryland in addition to the #1-rated Tar Heels.
Another highlight of the campaign should be UNC's own Nike/Carolina Classic to be held at Fetzer Field September 11 and 13. It is most likely the top regular-season tournament of the 1998 season and it wouldn't be a stretch to think of it as a potential preview of the 1998 NCAA Final Four. In Friday's games, second-ranked Notre Dame, a 1997 NCAA semifinalist, will play #10 Duke at 5 p.m. and UNC will meet ninth-ranked Hartford at 7 p.m. The opponents will flip-flop on Sunday with #9 Hartford and #10 Duke squaring off at 12:30 p.m. and #1 Carolina jousting with #2 Notre Dame at 2:30 p.m. It is expected that Carolina's Fetzer Field will be sold out both days of the tournament. Fans are encouraged to buy their tickets in advance to avoid long lines at the gate on game day.
Carolina will also play in tournaments at the University of Colorado, Duke University, the University of Tennessee and Saint Mary's College of California.
Traveling to Boulder, Colo. to open the season, UNC will meet the host Golden Buffaloes and Colorado College on the weekend of September 4 and 6.
The Duke adidas Women's Soccer Classic will be held in Durham, N.C. September 25 and 27. Top-10 ranked Carolina and Duke will square off against Baylor and San Francisco in the tournament.
The Lady Vol Soccer Classic in Knoxville, Tenn. October 2 and 4 will match ACC members North Carolina and Virginia against Southeastern Conference foes Vanderbilt and Tennessee. The Commodores are ranked #23 in the preseason NSCAA poll.
Carolina will also make its annual trek to Moraga, Calif. to take part in the Saint Mary's Fall Soccer Classic October 16 and 18. Besides taking on the host Gaels, UNC will also match up with seventh-ranked Portland there. Colorado College is the tournament's fourth team.
Another great matchup on the UNC schedule will be a regular-season game at preseason #5-ranked Florida on October 11. Carolina has eliminated the Gators from the NCAA Tournament each of the past two seasons.
The 11th annual ACC Tournament will be held at Orlando, Fla.'s Disney World Sports Complex November 5, 6 and 8. UNC will be seeking its 10th ACC title in a row.
