The History of Carolina Women's Soccer
August 5, 2000 | Women's Soccer
Aug. 5, 2000
By Dave Lohse
Director of Media Relations for Olympic Sports
The University of North Carolina women's soccer program is one of the most successful sport programs in the history of college athletics. In its first 21 years, Carolina has won 16 national championships and played in 20 national Final Fours.
Under coach Anson Dorrance, who began the varsity program in 1979, the Tar Heels have staked a claim as one of the great dynasties in intercollegiate athletics history.
Heading into the 2000 season, the Tar Heels have posted a 466-19-11 record. Carolina won its first national championship, the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) title, in 1981 and has since won NCAA championships in 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997 and 1999. The only four years since 1980 in which the Tar Heels did not win the national crown were in 1980 when they finished fourth, in 1985 when they finished second, in 1995 when they finished third and in 1998 when they finished second.
Carolina's women's soccer program has won 15 NCAA titles, more NCAA Division I women's national championships than any other Division I women's athletic sport program in the nation.
The Tar Heels' 15 national championships are more than any other sports program has won, men's or women's, in Atlantic Coast Conference history. In addition, UNC women's soccer teams have won 12 of the 13 Atlantic Coast Conference championships decided since league play started in 1987.
The Amazing Numbers
Sixty-two different players in the past 19 years have earned the distinction of being named All-America a total of 131 times as either first-, second- or third-team choices or honorable mention selections. Ten players--April Heinrichs, Shannon Higgins, Kristine Lilly, Mia Hamm, Tisha Venturini, Debbie Keller, Staci Wilson, Cindy Parlow, Robin Confer and Lorrie Fair--have been named the National Player of the Year. Lori Henry, Shannon Higgins, Kristine Lilly, Mia Hamm, Tisha Venturini, Cindy Parlow and Lorrie Fair have been saluted as the Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year. Carolina has had a total of 84 selections to the first- or second-team All-Atlantic Coast Conference squads since the league began sponsorship of the sport in 1987. UNC has also boasted the Most Valuable Player of the ACC Tournament in 11 of the 12 tournaments held since 1988.
The numbers continue to boggle the mind.. Four Tar Heels have been named ACC Rookie of the Year and five have been named National Freshman Player of the Year. Anson Dorrance has been named national coach of the year on three occasions and ACC coach of the year five times.
Still more numbers to illustrate the dominance of this program show that six Carolina women's soccer players have won the Patterson Medal as Carolina's outstanding senior athlete, the latest being Cindy Parlow in 1999. The recipient of the Mary Garber Award as the Female Athlete of the Year in the Atlantic Coast Conference has been a Tar Heel women's soccer player five times. UNC has had 102 players named as All-Tournament selections at the AIAW or NCAA national tourneys. The Tar Heels have boasted the offensive, defensive or overall Most Valuable Player at the NCAA Tournament 23 times. Forty-two Tar Heels have been tapped as All-ACC Tournament selections since that honor team was started in 1991.
A Legacy of Excellence
As anyone can easily see, the numbers simply do not lie. Carolina's women's soccer is all about the pursuit excellence and it is all about dominance.
Many Carolina players have continued their playing careers as members of the United States National Team. Since the founding of that National Team program by the United States Soccer Federation, a total of 37 different Carolina players have earned spots on the National Team at one time or another. And several other former Tar Heels have gone on to play for foreign national teams, including those of Canada, Denmark, The Netherlands, Norway and Iceland. Dorrance is not only the coach of the most successful women's collegiate program in the United States, he is also the chief architect behind the success of the United States National Team, having coached that squad from its second year in 1986 until he stepped down in 1994 to concentrate solely on his duties at North Carolina.
The World Cup Connection
Under Dorrance's brilliant coaching guidance, the United States won the first-ever Women's World Cup Championship in China in November of 1991. Half of the 1991 USA roster, nine of the 18 players, played collegiately in Chapel Hill. Seven players who toiled collegiately at Chapel Hill were on the 1995 USA Team which captured third place at the World Cup Championships. During the summer of 1996, at the Centennial Olympic Games in Athens, Ga., the U.S. roster was filled with Tar Heel connections as the Americans captured the gold medal. Both of the team's assistant coaches, seven of the 16 active players and three of the alternates were all Tar Heels, giving that gold medal a pronounced Carolina Blue tint. In the summer of 1999, eight more UNC players competed for the United States team which recaptured the Women's World Cup title by beating China on penalty kicks in the Rose Bowl.
Having players compete in the World Cup Championship and the Olympics was hardly a thought when the program first began in 1979. The Tar Heels played their first game, a 12-0 win over Duke, on September 20, 1979. The first season saw Carolina compile a 10-2 overall record, losing only twice to a club team, the McLean Grasshoppers.
Janet Rayfield, still the Tar Heels' third all-time leading scorer with an amazing 223 points and 93 goals, was the first Carolina superstar. She scored 30 goals in just 12 games in that initial season.
In 1980, the Tar Heels won 21 of 26 games and were again led in scoring by Rayfield, who had 25 goals. Midfielder Nancy Clary became the first Tar Heel player to earn first-team All-America honors during that season. Carolina played in the first AIAW National Tournament at the end of that campaign and finished fourth in the eight-team postseason field.
The 1981 season was an exciting year for the women's game at Carolina as the national champion was crowned during a 12-team tournament in Chapel Hill. The Tar Heels provided many exciting moments during the course of the season, scoring a school record 172 goals. Carolina, led by 36-goal scorer Stephanie Zeh and getting 30 more tallies from Rayfield and 18 scores from Wendy Greenberg, averaged an astounding 7.48 goals per game. Goalkeepers Marianne Johnson and Beth Huber allowed just eight goals in 23 games.
Following a 19-0 regular season and a win over Virginia in the AIAW regionals, the Tar Heels swept through the 12-team field at the AIAW National Tournament, which was held at both Kenan Stadium and Fetzer Field in Chapel Hill.
Carolina defeated Massachusetts 6-0, Connecticut 5-0 and Central Florida 1-0 to take the championship. In the title game, the Tar Heels outshot the Knights 30-8, but could score just once, on a Diane Beatty goal off a Kathy Kelly corner kick with 19:36 left in the first half.
The First NCAA Title
The NCAA became the sport's governing body in 1982 and the Tar Heels celebrated by winning their second national championship in a row. Carolina opened the season with 10 consecutive victories to run its winning streak to 33 games, but then it dropped two decisions in a row to the University of Missouri at St. Louis and Cortland State. Following that second loss, the Tar Heels won their next nine games, culminating in an NCAA title with a 2-0 win over Central Florida in Orlando, Fla. in the title game.
Amy Machin's 22 goals and 59 points led the team in scoring and she scored one of the two goals in the championship game victory. Betsy Johnson came off the bench to score off a rebound late in the first half for the title-winning goal.
The 1983 campaign brought the arrival of April Heinrichs to the Carolina campus. One of the greatest women's soccer players ever and now coach of the U.S. Women's National Team, Heinrichs was the most dominant player of the mid-1980s in collegiate soccer. In her freshman season, Heinrichs led the Tar Heels to their third straight national title as she scored 18 goals and totaled 47 points on the season. Machin was again amongst the team's leaders in scoring with 19 goals and she added seven assists as well. Only a loss at Connecticut in the opening game of the season prevented UNC from having another perfect season. Carolina claimed its third national title in a row as Heinrichs scored two goals in a convincing 4-0 win over George Mason in Orlando, Fla.
In 1984, the Tar Heels were the #1-ranked team in the nation from season's start to finish and they capped their fourth straight national title campaign with a 2-0 win over Connecticut at Fetzer Field. It was the first of seven times when UNC would play host to the NCAA Final Four at Fetzer Field. Heinrichs, the Intercollegiate Soccer Association of America (ISAA) National Player of the Year, led the team with 23 goals and 13 assists and Joan Dunlap was second on the squad with 21 goals and 10 assists. Carolina went 24-0-1 in 1984 and won its first 17 games to run its consecutive game win streak to a then NCAA record 36 games. That mark of excellence stood until the 1992 season.
George Mason, which would stop a streak of a different kind the following year, ended the 36-game winning streak by forcing a 1-1 tie. The Tar Heels were again taken to overtime in the national semifinals by California, but a Machin goal with 9:05 left in the second extra period propelled the Heels into the NCAA finals against Connecticut. There, in front of 3,500 fans at Fetzer Field, Heinrichs and Dunlap scored late second half goals to provide the Tar Heels with a 2-0 victory and a fourth straight national title.
A One Year Blip in the Record
The dynasty that is Carolina women's soccer took a one-year hiatus in 1985 as the Tar Heels lost the national championship game to host George Mason 2-0. Despite a 50-point season from Heinrichs and a team-leading 19 goals from Carrie Serwetnyk, the Tar Heels were "only" 18-2-1 during the course of the season. It was one of the five seasons out of 21 campaigns in which Carolina actually failed to win 20 games in a season. Ironically, Carolina still won the national championship in three of the five seasons in which it hasn't reached the 20-win plateau.
After opening the 1985 season with a 3-3 draw against George Mason, Carolina ran off 12 straight wins and raised its record unbeaten streak to 57 games. Massachusetts ended the streak with a 2-0 win in Amherst, Mass.
Carolina rebounded from that defeat with six consecutive wins and it advanced to the NCAA final to meet George Mason in Fairfax, Va. The Patriots scored a goal in each half and sent the Heels home without the first-place trophy for the first time since 1980.
At the time no one suspected that Carolina would not lose another game for five years and over 100 games. In fact, the Tar Heels would never taste defeat again in the 1980s after that title game loss to George Mason.
The 1986 campaign proved to be a season of redemption for the Tar Heels as seniors April Heinrichs and Marcia McDermott were determined to go out as winners. Heinrichs again was named National Player of the Year, scoring a career-best 28 goals and totaling 69 points. McDermott set what was then the Carolina single-season record with 23 assists.
The Tar Heels avenged both of their 1985 defeats by shutting out Massachusetts 4-0 in the season opener in Chapel Hill and then defeating George Mason 4-2 in a September meeting. The Heels and the Patriots met again in the national semifinal, again in Fairfax, Va., and this time Carolina came out on top, 3-2 in overtime. Wendy Gebauer had two goals for Carolina and Heinrichs tallied the winner 5:50 into the first overtime. Gebauer and Tracey Bates scored a goal apiece in the title game the next day, a 2-0 victory over Colorado College. The Tar Heels found themselves back in familiar territory--atop the victory stand at the NCAA championship.
A Defensive Stand for the Ages
The 1987 campaign was the year of the defense--a stifling Carolina unit which allowed only two goals during the entire season and posted an NCAA record 22 shutouts. Defensive leader and Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year Lori Henry, sweeper Carla Werden and goalkeeper Anne Sherow anchored a defense which allowed only 52 shots on goal and two scores in 24 games en route to posting a 23-0-1 record. Only a tie with William & Mary marred the perfect record. Midfielder Wendy Gebauer's 15 goals and 40 points led the Tar Heel offense in 1987, but it was a second-half goal by sophomore midfielder Shannon Higgins which proved to be the margin of victory in a 1-0 win over Massachusetts in the NCAA final. That game and the semifinal win over California, were played in near-Arctic weather conditions at Amherst, Mass., making it one of the most memorable NCAA Tournaments to date. The wind was so strong that it made attacking offensively against the gusts a futile proposition. Fortunately for Carolina the Tar Heels went against the wind in the first half of championships game and they were able to play the Minutewomen to a standstill. UNC received the benefit of the wind in the second half, scored the crucial goal and then hung on for dear life to capture yet another NCAA championship.
The 1988 season proved to be a challenging one for the Tar Heels as Atlantic Coast Conference rival N.C. State threatened to steal the glory and relocate the championship down I-40 to Raleigh. The teams battled to a pair of dramatic 1-1 ties, one in the regular season game at Raleigh and another in the ACC Tournament championship game on the Wolfpack's home field. State actually won the ACC title on penalty kicks, but the game was officially recorded as a tie. It is the only time in history that the Tar Heels have failed to win the Atlantic Coast Conference title.
In mid-season, Carolina set NCAA records for collegiate soccer unbeaten streaks. First, the Tar Heels topped their own women's record of 57 games without a loss and then it bettered the Penn State men's team's 65-game record unbeaten streak for all of college soccer.
The 1988 Soccer America National Player of the Year Shannon Higgins was a dominant force on the squad, directing plays and setting up goals from her attacking center midfield position. In the national championship game versus N.C. State, Higgins scored three goals in a 4-1 Carolina victory. That match was played in front of 4,500 fans at Fetzer Field, the largest collegiate women's soccer crowd to that date.
Higgins, Hamm and Lilly
In 1989, Higgins again was the number one player in the nation and she led the Tar Heels to yet another unbeaten finish and national title. Higgins was named the National Player of the Year by Soccer America. She won the Hermann Trophy and the Honda Award, was the ACC Player of the Year and she became the first-ever recipient of the Mary Garber Award as the Atlantic Coast Conference Female Athlete of the Year. She also led the team in scoring with 48 points. Incredibly, she scored the game-winning goal in the NCAA championship game for the third consecutive year against Colorado College.
Freshmen Mia Hamm and Kristine Lilly scored 21 and 20 goals, respectively, for Carolina, although at that time it was a mere glimpse of that duo's future greatness in the world of women's soccer. Seniors Shannon Higgins, Julie Guarnotta, Ava Hyatt and Carla Werden closed out their four-year careers with a stunning 89-0-6 record and a quartet of NCAA championship rings.
In 1990, Carolina again won the national championship, but did so with a mark in the loss column for the first time since November 24, 1985. On September 22, 1990, Connecticut ended the Tar Heels' national record unbeaten streak at 103 games by defeating the Tar Heels 3-2 in overtime at Storrs, Conn. Ironically, the Tar Heels would go on to avenge that defeat by routing the same Huskies 6-0 in the NCAA championship game at newly renovated Fetzer Field later in the year.
Following the loss at Connecticut, the Tar Heels fell out of the number one spot in the ISAA poll for the first time since the second week of the 1986 season. Carolina regained the top spot, however, by knocking off #1-ranked Virginia 3-0 late in the regular season at Chapel Hill and then beating the Cavaliers again 2-0 in the ACC Tournament title game at Charlottesville, Va.
The 1990 national quarterfinals matched the Tar Heels against old nemesis N.C. State in what would be one of the most exciting and dramatic games ever played in the sport's history. The Wolfpack held one-goal leads late in regulation time and again in the first overtime period, but both times the Tar Heels came back to tie the game on goals by Kristine Lilly. Finally, with just over two minutes left before penalty kicks would have been called upon to decide the outcome of the game, Hamm lofted a curving corner kick which forward Rita Tower redirected with her head for the game-winning goal.
After that dramatic game, which Soccer America called the "Greatest Game in Women's Soccer History," the NCAA Final Four seemed almost like an emotional letdown. Tower and Lilly each scored in the 2-0 semifinal round win over Colorado College and six different Tar Heels scored in the championship game rout of Connecticut. The Tar Heels finished that season with a 20-1-1 record, having also tied a game with Central Florida four games after the loss at UConn.
A 1991 Season of Challenges
In 1991, the Tar Heels had to defend their title minus a host of spectacular players and its head coach. The top four leading scorers from the year before were not available to the team for much of the season. Kristine Lilly played the first 19 games of the season but departed prior to the ACC and NCAA Tournaments to play in the 1991 Women's World Cup in China. Mia Hamm, also on the World Cup Team, decided to claim a red-shirt year in 1991 and did not play at all. Forward Rita Tower and midfielder Jill Jakowich were rehabilitating knee injuries and neither of them ever stepped on the field during the 1991 season.
Nevertheless, led by freshman midfield sensation Tisha Venturini and senior forward Pam Kalinoski, who herself had battled back from a serious knee injury, Carolina prevailed once again. UNC won 24 consecutive games, including the last 10 of the campaign with assistant coach Bill Palladino at the controls after Dorrance left to coach the U.S. National Team in the World Cup in China. The Tar Heels swept to the ACC regular-season title as well as the conference tournament championship. Lilly was the consensus National Player of the Year and ACC Player of the Year. Venturini was the National Freshman of the Year and ACC Tournament Most Valuable Player. Venturini and Kalinoski split MVP honors in the NCAA Tournament. Kalinoski set what was then the national record for assists in a season with 28 and Venturini led the nation in scoring with 21 goals and 58 total points.
The 1992 Tar Heels were what many observers have called the best team in the history of collegiate women's soccer. It would be extremely difficult to argue to the contrary. Carolina rolled to a 25-0 record, a seventh consecutive NCAA title and established the NCAA record for consecutive wins at 58 games by season's end. The Tar Heels outscored their opposition 132-11 and trailed on just two occasions, once in the regular season at N.C. State and again in the NCAA final versus Duke. Both opponents' leads were very short-lived.
Hamm led the nation with a school record 97 points on 32 goals and 33 assists, the latter which was yet another school record. She was the unanimous choice as National Player of the Year and she also was the ACC Player of the Year as well as the Most Valuable Players of both the ACC and NCAA Tournaments. Lilly and Venturini added 65 and 46 points, respectively, and joined Hamm as first-team All-Americas.
The Tar Heels won the NCAA championship during a surreal 9-1 victory over Duke at rain-soaked and muddy Fetzer Field as Hamm became only the second player to ever score three goals in an NCAA final. But the most remarkable feat of the season may have been a mid-season West Coast road trip in which Carolina won four games in as many days by a combined margin of 22-2, including wins over three ranked opponents. The Tar Heel victims were UC-Santa Barbara 5-1, Portland 6-1, Saint Mary's 6-0 and Stanford 5-0.
In 1993, Hamm was again a unanimous selection as the National Player of the Year as she led the country in scoring with 68 points on 26 goals and 16 assists. She helped lead the Tar Heels to a 23-0 record as Carolina outscored the opposition, 92-15. Carolina hosted the NCAA Final Four at Fetzer Field for the fourth successive year.
The Amazing Mia Hamm
Hamm finished her career with 103 goals, 72 assists and 278 points, each a school record. She also set NCAA Tournament scoring records for career and single season points and in 1994 she was named the recipient of the Mary Garber Award as the ACC's Top Female Athlete for the second consecutive year.
Tisha Venturini missed several weeks at midseason with a broken bone in her foot but returned in time to reap Most Valuable Player honors at the ACC Tournament. The Tar Heels claimed their fifth straight league crown by virtue of a 4-1 win over Duke. Venturini was named first-team All-America for the third time.
Chapel Hill played host to the NCAA Final Four for the fourth year in a row and a overflow, then NCAA record crowd of 5,721 saw UNC dismantle George Mason 6-0 in the final after the Tar Heels had whipped Massachusetts 4-1 in the semifinal.
The 1994 season was another remarkable and triumphant campaign as the Tar Heels went 25-1-1 and won the NCAA championship for an amazing ninth straight year. Venturini was the game's most dominant attraction as she reaped virtually every major award possible. She was unanimously selected the National Player of the Year by seven different organizations and received first-team All-America honors for the fourth time in her career. Venturini and Lilly are the only two players in college women's soccer history to be named first-team All-Americas all four years of their collegiate careers.
Venturini, who led the Tar Heels with 21 goals and 13 assists for 55 points, was the ACC Player of the Year, MVP of the ACC Tournament and Most Outstanding Offensive Player of the NCAA Tournament. It was the third time in her career in which she was named the ACC Tournament MVP and the second time she earned MVP honors in the NCAA Tournament.
Freshman Staci Wilson earned first-team All-America honors, was the National Freshman of the Year and the Most Outstanding Defensive Player in the NCAA Tournament. Senior Angela Kelly was named first-team All-America and senior Danielle Egan and sophomore Debbie Keller were named second-team All-Americas. The Tar Heels had two incredible streaks of consistency and excellence snapped in the regular season. An NCAA record consecutive game winning streak hit 92 contests before Carolina and Notre Dame battled to a 0-0 tie in St. Louis on October 2, 1994.
On October 19, 1994, Duke handed the Tar Heels a 3-2 defeat at Fetzer Field. That loss snapped a 101-game unbeaten streak for the Tar Heels dating back to September 22, 1990 when the Tar Heels lost at Connecticut, 3-2 in overtime. The setback was also Carolina's first home loss at Fetzer Field since 1980. The Tar Heels and Blue Devils met twice more during the 1994 campaign, however, and Carolina came away with a 4-2 win in the ACC Tournament championship game and a 3-1 win in the NCAA Tournament South Regional title match.
Venturini had three goals in the ACC final, the first hat trick in the seven-year history of the Tournament, and Kelly netted a pair of goals in the regional final. The national semifinals and final were held in Portland, Ore., where Venturini stole the show in the final two games of her career. She capped her brilliant four years at Carolina by leading the Tar Heels to a 3-0 win over Connecticut in the semifinal and a 5-0 triumph over top-seeded Notre Dame in the final. Venturini scored twice in the championship game as Carolina outshot the Fighting Irish 25-8.
The senior class of Tisha Venturini, Danielle Egan, Angela Kelly, Keri Sanchez, Roz Santana, Shelley Finger, Dawn Crow, Susie Green, Alison Brooks and Jenn Eames finished its career with a record of 97 wins, one loss, one tie and four national championships.
The Bitter Taste of Defeat
The 1995 season saw the Tar Heels' national championship streak end at nine seasons in a row. It's regretful that the 1995 season ended that way since it marred one of Dorrance's finest coaching jobs of his 21-year tenure at Carolina. The previous year's senior class of 10 individuals was one of the most dominant in the history of the game. Carolina entered the 1995 campaign an extremely inexperienced team with only three senior players and with a host of new starters on the field.
Dorrance molded the young players into a cohesive unit very quickly, however, and somehow the Heels reeled off 25 successive wins while playing the nation's toughest schedule. Carolina won its eighth ACC title in nine years by sweeping through the tournament field and outscoring their opponents 16-0 in the three games. UNC quickly dispatched Vanderbilt 4-0 in the NCAA second round after getting a bye in the first round as the tournament's top seed. Seventh-ranked Santa Clara fell victim to the Tar Heels 2-0 in the quarterfinals at Fetzer Field before UNC was beaten in the semifinals by its own goal in a 1-0 loss to fourth-ranked Notre Dame. What was then a women's soccer record crowd of 7,212 watched that Tar Heel loss, only the sixth loss at home in school history dating back to 1979.
Standout performances abounded during the 1995 campaign. Four Tar Heels earned first-team All-America honors--forward Debbie Keller, forward Cindy Parlow, defender Staci Wilson and goalkeeper Tracy Noonan. Forward Robin Confer and defender Nel Fettig were second-team All-America selections, while midfielder Tiffany Roberts was an honorable mention choice. Keller and Wilson were named co-National Players of the Year by Soccer Digest.
During the summer of 1996, Carolina's soccer fame grew during the Olympic Games with the women's soccer competition being held at the University of Georgia's Sanford Stadium in Athens, Ga. The U.S. won the gold medal, beating China 2-1 in the gold medal match with the help of a cast that had a pronounced Carolina Blue hue. Both assistant coaches for the team, Lauren Gregg and April Heinrichs, were Carolina graduates. Seven of the 16 players on the active roster were either Carolina alumnae or Tar Heel players returning for the 1996 season. This cadre included Mia Hamm, Tisha Venturini, Carla Werden Overbeck, Kristine Lilly, Cindy Parlow, Staci Wilson and Tiffany Roberts. Three of the alternates were also Tar Heels--Debbie Keller, Lorrie Fair and Tracy Noonan.
Retaking the Throne
L]ed by the play of co-National Players of the Year Debbie Keller and Cindy Parlow, UNC returned to the pinacle of the collegiate women's soccer world during the 1996 campaign. After a painfully slow start which saw the Tar Heels struggle through their first eight games yet somehow escape unscathed, Carolina fell to Notre Dame in the season's ninth game, 2-1 in overtime. The Fighting Irish thus became the first collegiate team in history to beat Carolina two times in a row.
Concerned about Carolina's lackluster play to that point of the season, Dorrance made some bold moves with his lineup. He reconfigured his defensive strategy and moved a handful of key players to new positions on the field. The ploy worked with complete and total success. Ever since that time Carolina has played a flat back three defensive system and it has worked magnificently.
Carolina steamrolled through the final 17 games of the campaign to finish with a 25-1-0 record, while winning its 14th national championship in 16 years. UNC had spirited opposition in the ACC Tournament as Carolina claimed its eighth league crown in a row with wins over Florida State 7-1, Virginia 5-2 and Clemson 4-1. Junior forward Robin Confer was named the Most Valuable Player of the ACC Tournament.
The Tar Heels then were the surprise pick as the #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament despite the fact that Notre Dame had beaten Carolina during the regular season and both teams had only one loss heading into postseason play. Carolina shut out its first three opponents in the NCAA Tournament and then received a stiff challenge from homestanding Santa Clara in the semifinals. Goals late in the second half by Cindy Parlow and Laurie Schwoy gave the Tar Heels a tense 2-1 victory. Two days later, Carolina avenged its last two defeats to Notre Dame by beating the second-seeded Fighting Irish 1-0 in overtime in the NCAA title match. Senior forward Debbie Keller ended her career on a splendid note by scoring the game-winning goal on a header in the match's 111th minute.
Carolina was again the best team in the country in 1997, led by co-national players of the year Cindy Parlow and Robin Confer. The Tar Heels ended the season at 27-0-1 with only a regular-season tie against Notre Dame marring the perfect mark. UNC allowed a paltry eight goals in 28 games and tied the NCAA record for shutouts in a season with 22. That mark had originally been established by the 1987 NCAA championship team at UNC.
Carolina's toughest matches of the year came in the final three rounds of the NCAA Tournament as the Tar Heels outlasted pesky Harvard 1-0 in the quarterfinals, came from behind to defeat Santa Clara 2-1 in the semifinals as Confer scored the game winner and blanked Connecticut 2-0 in the championship game on goals by Parlow and Confer.
The 1998 team was an outstanding one which will unfortunately be known for not winning a national championship. Led by seniors Cindy Parlow, Siri Mullinix and Tiffany Roberts the Tar Heel won the first 24 games of the season heading into the NCAA Final Four at Greensboro. Carolina defeated Portland 1-0 in the semifinals on Meredith Florance's goal in the 150th minute of play. In the championship game, Florida scored in the first 10 minutes of play and Carolina was unable to produce the equalizer despite outshooting the Gators 21-6.
Fair and Stoecker Lead Carolina Back to the Promised Land
The 1999 campaign started in unsettling fashion as Carolina lost two games in September and stood 6-2 just eight games into the season. It was the first time Carolina had even lost two games in the same season in 1985.
ut a strong senior class led by National Player of the Year Lorrie Fair as well as Rebekah McDowell, Lindsay Stoecker and Beth Sheppard rallied the troops. Over the final 18 games of the season Carolina allowed only five goals, including only one in the final 13 games. The signature Tar Heel defense, keyed by Fair and Stoecker, and featuring first-team All-America Danielle Borgman and sensational freshman goalkeeper Jenni Branam just refused to led Carolina lose down the season's stretch. En route Carolina won its 11 straight ACC championship and it capped the season with brilliant play in the NCAA Final Four, beating Penn State 2-0 in the semifinals and Notre Dame 2-0 in the championship game.
As Carolina prepares for the 2000 season the challenge for Dorrance and his charges will be to try to improve upon numbers which are already staggering in nature. These include a 466-19-11 overall record and a 199-6-2 record in the history of Fetzer Field, UNC's beloved home turf. It includes 348 defensive shutouts in the previous 496 games. It includes a 1,056-90 scoring margin in the 195 games played at Fetzer Field. It includes a record where UNC has been shutout in only 12 of 496 games. The numbers are simply amazing and they do not lie!
