Carolina Team National Championships

1924 Men's Basketball
The first of Carolina's national championships came long before the term "March Madness" became an annual rite of spring. In fact, when Carolina won the 1924 national championship with a 26-0 record, there wasn't even an NCAA Tournament.
The Helms Foundation voted the Tar Heels as national champions after their perfect season, as there was no post-season tournament. Carolina defeated Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Mississippi State and Alabama en route to the Southern Conference championship.
Cartwright Carmichael, Jack Cobb, Bill Dodderer and Monk McDonald led the Tar Heel squad directed by first-year coach Norman Shepard. Carolina played its home games in the Indoor Athletic Center, also known as the Tin Can.
The championship season was also Shepard's last at the helm of the Tar Heels, as McDonald took over as head coach the following season. McDonald was the only former UNC player to coach the Tar Heels until Matt Doherty returned to Chapel Hill to take over in 2000-01.

1957 Men's Basketball
North Carolina's march toward the NCAA championship in the 1957 Final Four provided legendary head coach Frank McGuire with the defining moment of his career and the Tar Heel faithful with more than a few tense moments.
attle-torn and weary, the Tar Heels faced a seemingly insurmountable challenge as they headed into the third overtime period against Kansas in the national championship game.
Having already taken three overtime periods to defeat Michigan State in the semifinals, the Tar Heels found themselves without national player of the year Lennie Rosenbluth, who had fouled out in the waning moments of regulation. They were playing a Kansas team led by Hall of Famer Wilt Chamberlain in the not so friendly confines of Kansas City, Mo.
The Tar Heels fought on without Rosenbluth and found themselves behind by one point in the final seconds of the third overtime. After a missed shot, the ball landed in the hands of junior center Joe Quigg near the top of the key. All that stood between him and the national championship was Chamberlain.
Quigg drove the lane, drawing a foul from Chamberlain with six seconds remaining. After a Carolina time out, Quigg, a 72 percent free throw shooter, calmly stepped to the line and drained both shots, securing a 54-53 victory and Carolina's second national championship. Carolina finished the season a perfect 32-0 en route to the Tar Heels' first NCAA championship.
Rosenbluth had 20 points and five rebounds in the championship game and Quigg scored 10 points and garnered nine rebounds.
Carolina had its fair share of over-time experience entering the Final Four, securing an overtime victory over South Carolina and a double overtime victory over Maryland in the regular season.
That experience may have been the difference as the Tar Heels continually came through with clutch plays throughout the Final Four. In the semifinal, neither team was able to open more than a six-point lead as Michigan State tested Carolina's mettle throughout the game.
Junior forward Pete Brennan kept Carolina's championship hopes alive when he nailed a baseline jumper with three seconds remaining in the first overtime to extend the game to another period. Both teams struggled in the second overtime, scoring only one bucket each. Carolina finally pulled away in the third overtime period scoring the first six points and holding on to a 74-70 victory.
Rosenbluth was the star of the 1957 squad. His 27 points and 8.6 rebounds a game in regular season play led the Tar Heels to the ACC championship and the NCAA tournament berth. Three of the victories came over fellow Big Four and ACC team Wake Forest, with whom Carolina had developed an intense rivalry.
At the end of his senior season, Rosenbluth held on to every major Carolina basketball record except for free-throw percentage and total rebounds in a season.
The championship season was Carolina's only trip to the Final Four under the tutelage of Frank McGuire, who left in 1961 to coach in the NBA. He later went on to coach at South Carolina. In nine years, McGuire led the Tar Heels to three Top 10 finishes and six Top 20 finishes.
The next Final Four appearance for the Tar Heels came under McGuire's replacement, Dean Smith, who began his Final Four legacy in 1967.

1982 Men's Basketball
Every Carolina Basketball fan remembers The Shot. It is the most famous play in Tar Heel history and one of the most famous in college athletics. It won Dean Smith his first national championship and launched Michael Jordan as the greatest player in the sport's history.
Eric "Sleepy" Floyd had just hit a jumper in the lane to give Georgetown a 62-61 lead as 61,612 fans looked on at the New Orleans Superdome. Carolina called a timeout with 32 seconds remaining. Smith instructed point guard Jimmy Black to draw the Hoya zone defense to one side of the court and look to get the ball inside to James Worthy. But Black couldn't get the ball to Worthy. Smith had designed the play so that if that happened, Black could swing the ball to an open man on the far side of the court. Black found that open man, freshman Michael Jordan.
Jordan stood 16 feet to the left of the basket. Catch-jump-shoot. No hesitation. The ball found the bottom of the net. Carolina 63, Georgetown 62. Fifteen seconds remained on the clock.
Georgetown's Fred Brown got the ball near mid-court and looked for an open teammate. He passed the ball in F l o y d 's direction, but instead found Worthy, who raced downcourt with the ball to seal the victory. It was appropriate that Worthy clinched the win, since he had already muscled and finessed his way through the Hoya defense en route to five dunks and 28 points.
Worthy was not intimidated by the tenacious defense of Hoya freshman center Patrick Ewing, who logged two blocked shots and three steals to go with his 23 points and 11 rebounds. Throughout the game, Worthy challenged the Hoyas frontline and hit 13 of his 17 field goal attempts.
Carolina advanced to the title game with a 68-63 semifinal victory over Houston. Sam Perkins had 25 points and 10 rebounds.
UNC began and finished the year ranked No. 1 in the country in the Associated Press poll. In fact, Carolina held the No. 1 ranking for all but five weeks in 1981-82.
The Tar Heels posted a 32-2 record, losing only to Wake Forest at home when Perkins was sick and did not play and at Virginia. Carolina did beat the Cavaliers, 47-45, in the ACC Tournament championship game in Greensboro. Worthy had 16 points and Matt Doherty had 11 points and four assists. Carolina led 34-31 at the half, but the game is most remembered for the Tar Heels using a delay game in the second half. Leading 44-43 with 7:34 to play, Carolina held the ball. Doherty hit three free throws in the last 28 seconds to win the game.
Top-ranked and top-seeded Carolina then survived a scare from James Madison in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, beating the Dukes, 52-50, in Charlotte. A 74-69 win over Alabama and a 70-60 triumph over Villanova in Raleigh's Reynolds Coliseum sent the Tar Heels to New Orleans for the Final Four.
Senior guard Jimmy Black was one of five starters in double figures in the regional final win over Villanova. Black had 11 points and 10 assists.

1993 Men's Basketball
Dean Smith had been there before. The last time his Tar Heels walked on the Superdome floor, they walked off as NCAA champions.
Now, after a grueling ACC season that included five other Top 25 teams; after a tough road through the East Regional bracket that required an overtime victory to escape the final; after defeating a Roy Williams-coached Kansas squad that had beaten the Tar Heels just two years prior in the national semifinal-- Carolina was back on the Superdome floor playing for the national championship.
The 1993 Tar Heels were ready. Center Eric Montross and senior forward George Lynch anchored the team and shooting guard Donald Williams provided the spark from the outside. Point guard Derrick Phelps ran the offense and a handful of role players brought everything together in typical Dean Smith fashion.
Michigan was ready too, though. The raucous Wolverines, led by vocal center Chris Webber and the rest of the "Fab Five," had lost the championship game in 1992 and were hungry to redeem themselves. They won a hard-fought overtime battle against Jamal Mashburn and the Kentucky Wildcats in the national semifinal, 81-78, and were confident they would return to Ann Arbor with a championship.
The styles of the two teams couldn't have been any farther apart. The Tar Heels were a traditional Dean Smith team -- talented, disciplined and focused. The Wolverines had brought a brash, new feel to the game, famous for their black shoes, baggy shorts and playground style of play. The teams battled back and forth throughout the game. Michigan led by 10 in the first half, but Carolina rallied for a 42-36 lead at intermission. The Wolverines built a 67-63 lead with 4:30 left to play, but the Tar Heels scored nine unanswered points to take a 72- 67 lead with 1:03 to play.
Trailing by four, Williams began the 9-0 run with a three-pointer, then Phelps hit a fastbreak layup to give UNC the lead with 3:07 to play. Baskets by Lynch and Montross upped the lead to five with a minute to go.
Michigan responded with a Ray Jackson jump shot and a Chris Webber put-back to bring the Wolverines back to within 72-71 with 36 seconds to play.
Carolina junior forward Pat Sullivan was fouled with 20 seconds left and went to the line for a one-and-one. Sullivan connected on the first, but missed the second and Webber got the rebound with the Wolverines trailing 73-71.
Webber stumbled and appeared to travel, but the officials made no call. He then dribbled past halfcourt and found himself surrounded by the Tar Heels and called a timeout. However, Michigan did not have any timeouts remaining and the officials called a technical foul on the Michigan bench.
Williams hit two free throws and Carolina marched on to a 77-71 victory. It was only appropriate that Williams stood at the line at the end of the game, as he dominated the Final Four en route to Most Outstanding Player honors. Williams made five of seven three pointers and scored 25 points in both the national semifinal and championship games.
The Tar Heels finished the season 34-4, winning 18 consecutive games at one point. Carolina had even faced Michigan early on in the season at the Rainbow Classic and lost, 79-78, courtesy a last-second shot from Wolverine point guard Jalen Rose.
The 18-game win streak was snapped by a 77-75 loss to Georgia Tech in the ACC Tournament championship game. The Tar Heels played that game without Phelps, who injured his back when he was fouled from behind on a layup attempt in the ACC semi-final against Virginia.
Despite the loss to the Yellow Jackets, Carolina was No. 1 in the East Regional. Wins over East Carolina, Rhode Island and Arkansas setup a regional championship against Cincinnati in the Meadowlands. The Bearcats had played in the Final Four in 1992.
Nick Van Exel hit six three-pointers in the first half and the Bearcats built a 29-14 lead with 7:08 left in the opening half, but the Tar Heels rallied to pull within one at halftime. In the second half, Phelps clamped down on Van Exel, limiting him to just one field goal.
Carolina led late in regulation, but Tarrance Gibson's driving layup with 35 seconds to play tied the game. The Tar Heels had a chance to win at the buzzer, but Brian Reese's dunk attempt after an out-of-bounds play with 0.8 seconds left ricocheted off the back iron.
Williams starred in overtime, hitting back-to-back three-pointers and the Tar Heels hung on for a 75-68 win. Lynch was the heart and soul of the team and recorded double-doubles in each of the last four NCAA Tournament victories.

1994 Women's Basketball
Charlotte Smith had to wait for the replay to watch the biggest shot in North Carolina women's basketball history fall through the net. She was the one who released it, just before time expired in the 1994 NCAA Championship game, but ultimately her line of vision was blocked.
"I didn't look at it," Smith said. "And the mob got me before I knew it had gone in."
That mob, made of her teammates, had good reason to be excited. Just three years earlier, when the seniors on the team were freshman, North Carolina had finished at the bottom of the Atlantic Coast Conference. So to have hit those heights, earning the program's- and the conference's- first NCAA title, was almost too much to be believed.
That success had been building steadily. Since the 1991 season, when UNC finished 12-16 for its fourth consecutive losing season, the Tar Heels had put together back- to- back 20-win campaigns. Sylvia Hatchell's team headed into the 1993-94 season with five returning starters and an outstanding freshman point guard named Marion Jones, who would go on to gain fame on the track.
First, however, Jones made an indelible mark at UNC in basketball. By the fourth game of the season, Jones was a starter, and she went on to set an ACC record for steals by a freshman. Joining her in Carolina's regular lineup were four experienced players; seniors Sylvia Crawley and Tonya Sampson, and juniors Stephanie Lawrence and Smith.
The Tar Heels opened the 1993-94 season with 11 consecutive wins and climbed to No. 4 in the country before falling at home to Virginia, 77-75 on Jan. 12. The Cavaliers would prove to be the only team to defeat UNC that season, winning again in Charlottesville on Feb. 9, 83-74.
There were a few other close calls, though. At the ACC Tournament in Rock Hill, S.C., the defense stiffened to defeat Clemson 65-64 and advance to the final. Having survived that scare, Carolina finally got the better of Virginia, 77-60 in the championship game, to claim its first conference crown since 1984.
After advancing to through the first and second-round NCAA tournament games in Chapel Hill, UNC traveled to the East Regional at Rutgers. There, the Tar Heels beat Vanderbilt 73-69, despite playing without Smith, who served a one-game suspension for fighting during the second round win against Old Dominion. Crawley picked up the slack with a season-high 22 points. An 81-69 victory against Connecticut put North Carolina in its first final four.
In Richmond, Va., UNC enjoyed its trip but didn't forget it was there to take care of business. The Tar Heels put on a dunking display at practice, then got serious and won easily in the national semifinal against Purdue, 89-74, to advance to the NCAA Championship game.
On April 3, Louisiana Tech led through most of the first half, but never by more than five. The Tar Heels trailed by two when they got the ball out of bounds on a possession arrow with a mere 00:00.7 showing on the clock. After two timeouts, Lawrence inbounded the ball to Smith on the right wing. The rest, as they say, is history.
"It makes it even more special to know that we came from the bottom to the top," Crawley said after the game. "This is the way I've always dreamed about it, and my dreams have finally come true."

1989 Field Hockey Championship
After waiting through eight consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, seven consecutive Atlantic Coast Conference championships and two straight trips to the final four, it's almost no surprise the 1989 University of North Carolina Field Hockey team took 100 minutes of playing time, three overtimes and penalty strokes to capture the program's first national championship.
The initial title in the storied Tar Heel program came against Old Dominion, a 2-1 marathon victory in Springfield, Massachusetts. Carolina scored first when junior Peggy Anthon, one of four Tar Heels to be named to the all tournament team, broke the scoreless tie with 10:56 remaining. Old Dominion came back to tie the score with just over six minutes to play.
The one all tie lasted through three overtimes, the last two of which were played under sudden death rules, setting up the first ever game in NCAA tournament play where penalty strokes were required to decide the championship. Leading two scores to one, Tar Heel goalie Evelien Spee clinched the victory and championship for the Heels by scoring on Carolina's fifth and final attempt. The score ended the game a full three hours and 41 minutes after the opening whistle.
The win capped a 20-2 season that included an undefeated ACC season, in addition to a seventh ACC tournament championship. Old Dominion's only two blemishes on the season were both to the Heels, who bested the Monarchs 5-2 during the regular season in Chapel Hill.
North Carolina Head Coach Karen Shelton said that she suspected this team possessed something special. "We had more talent on previous teams, but this squad is the most cohesive," she said. "You put all that together and you win a national championship." Shelton was named to the Tar Heel coaching position in 1981, and had been named ACC coach of the year in the previous three seasons as well as the 1989 campaign.

1995 Field Hockey Championship
The University of North Carolina field hockey team completed the finest season in Tar Heel history in 1995, capturing the program's first national championship since 1989 with an overpowering 5-1 victory over the University of Maryland in Winston-Salem, N.C. The victory capped a dominant season that saw Carolina go 24-0, 8-0 in the ACC.
Maryland had been a familiar opponent during the 1995 campaign, as the two teams faced off four times throughout the season. The first three meetings went down to the wire, with Carolina prevailing in overtime in each. But in front of a partisan crowd of over 3,000, the Tar Heels proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that they were the nations number one team.
Using an outstanding penalty corner and a superb second half performance Carolina rolled their way to a four goal victory. Susannah Schott led the way with a hat trick, with the team's lone senior, captain Kim Schroll, adding four assists. The two were joined on the all tournament team by Nancy Pelligreen, Kate Barber, Christy Utter and Jana Withrow.
The Heels reached the final after dismissing Princeton at home in Chapel Hill, shutting the Tigers out 6-0. The win put Carolina in its seventh consecutive national final four. The semifinals saw UNC knock out the team that had defeated them in the previous year's final, James Madison. The Dukes defeated Carolina 2-1 in penalty strokes for the 1994 crown, but in 1995 the Tar Heels exacted their revenge with a 3-0 victory.
The 24 win season broke several records, surpassing the school and ACC records for consecutive victories. The perfect season also served to highlight many long standing Carolina streaks. It was Carolina's third straight appearance in the championship game, and its seventh consecutive trip to the national semifinals. The Tar Heels were also making their 13 consecutive trip to the NCAA tournament.

1996 Field Hockey Championship
The 1996 version of Tar Heel lacrosse entered the season with great expectations. The team had lost only one senior off of a dominant, undefeated national championship squad that ripped through the NCAA tournament the previous year, yielding only one goal on their miraculous run. When the dust cleared on the 1996 season the Heels had met every expectation, capturing their second consecutive NCAA crown with a 3-0 victory over Princeton.
Carolina welcomed back Cindy Werley in 1996, the junior had missed the previous year's championship run while playing for the United States in the Olympics. With Werley back in the fold Carolina would start the year in style, winning their first five games by a total of 26-0. The fifth consecutive shutout victory was a 4-0 statement against then number one ranked Virginia.
The Tar Heels would lose the next day 3-2 in double overtime to Old Dominion, a heated rival against whom Carolina had played many classic contests, including three NCAA finals. The loss would be Carolina's only blemish on the season, as the Tar Heels won their next 18 games on their way to the program's third NCAA title.
The championship game pitted the upstart Princeton Tigers against the Heels, Princeton having upset ODU to prevent a third contest on the year between the two schools. The Tar Heels dominated play throughout the contest, as the Carolina attack powered its way to a 3-0 victory. The scoring opened when Susannah Schott blasted home one of her patented penalty corners. The Heels never looked back, scoring two more goals, the first by Nancy Pelligreen and the second by Ashley Hanson to cap the victory.
The title game performance was led by Werley, who ended the season as not just the ACC player of the year, but the nation's most outstanding player by virtue of winning the Honda award. The junior played big for the Heels all season, including an amazing ACC tournament final win over Duke that saw her score three goals in the second half to bring Carolina back after a 2-0 halftime deficit for a stirring 3-2 win.
The UNC team of 1996 was truly the best of the best. Fifteen of the teams 23 victories came against ranked opponents, including five wins over top ten programs. The Heels outscored opponents 101-21 on the year, giving up more than two goals in a single game only once all season.

1997 Field Hockey Championship
After winning back to back championships in the previous two seasons the Carolina Field Hockey program was in a position to call itself a true dynasty. The 1997 national championship edition of the Tar Heels cemented that fact by defeating Old Dominion for the championship, the 43rd meeting between the two perennial Field Hockey powers.
The game was the third meeting on the season between the two teams, with each team owning a one-goal victory on the other team's home field. The final began with ODU taking a 1-0 lead. Senior Cindy Werley even the score, and junior Nancy Pelligreen added a goal before halftime to give the Tar Heels a 2-1 lead heading into halftime.
In the second half Carolina recorded the last of three unanswered goals when Joy Driscoll scored to give Carolina a 3-1 lead. Old Dominion would score once more in an attempted comeback, but the Heels would hold on to win their third consecutive NCAA championship 3-2.
The victory over Old Dominion was only one of two close games UNC would have to play in the final four, held in Storrs, Connecticut. After rolling to a 4-0 win over Connecticut in Chapel Hill on the strength of two Pelligreen goals as well as Werley's record setting 82 tally, Carolina headed to the final four to face Princeton, the team they had defeated in the Championship in 1996. The Tigers took Carolina to the limit before finally succumbing to the Heels 4-3 on a goal by freshman Kristen McCann.
Carolina entered the NCAA tournament as the ACC Champion and the number one ranked team in the country. For the season Carolina would go 20-3, with two losses to Virginia in addition to the Old Dominion loss.
The Cavaliers beat UNC by scores of 2-0 and 2-1, but Carolina won the most important meeting between the two schools, winning the ACC tournament title game 2-0. At the time of the meeting Virginia was the top ranked team in the nation, and Carolina was forced to play without senior Jennifer DiCullo, who had broken her right thumb in the semifinals the day before. With DiCullo's number 15 affixed to their sticks, the Tar Heels toppled UVA, with the freshman McCann scoring both goals.
Cindy Werley's 36 goals during the Heels 23 game season set a single season goal scoring mark for Carolina. Se would be named ACC tournament MVP as well as ACC Player of the Year. Werley's 212 points throughout her career still stand as a Carolina record, and her 44 assists are second only to teammate Joy Driscoll, who amassed an astounding 58. The 1997 squad had three first team All America selections, with seniors Werley, Kate Barber and Jana Withrow all receiving the honor.

1981 Men's Lacrosse National Championship
With just over a quarter remaining in the 1981 NCAA men's lacrosse championship, the University of North Carolina Lacrosse team trailed by three against the undefeated, number one ranked and three time defending NCAA champion Johns Hopkins Blue Jays. But just as it had done in the two rounds leading to the championship, the Tar Heels poured it on and captured the victory, securing the program's first ever national championship.
efore a crowd of 13,943 at Princeton's Palmer Stadium UNC scored six straight goals in the third and fourth quarters en route to a 14-13 victory. The Tar Heels were lead in the game by four goals from sophomore attackman Michael Burnett, whose 31 assists on the year rank him fourth all-time at Carolina. The Tar Heels come from behind victory snapped a three-year winning streak by Johns Hopkins.
The Tar Heels used a similar formula to cruise to victories in the semi and quarterfinals. In the semifinals North Carolina outscored Navy nine to two in the fourth quarter to turn an eight-six contest into a 17-9 triumph. In the quarterfinals UNC rode a five to nothing fourth quarter to turn another two-point advantage into a 13-6 win over the Syracuse Orangemen.
Heading into the tournament the Tar Heels were ranked #2 behind Johns Hopkins following an undefeated regular season that included an ACC championship after wins over Virginia, Duke, Maryland and North Carolina State. The perfect regular season included a two goal victory versus NC State and a double overtime victory at Maryland.
The championship was a crowning achievement for a program on the rise since 1978, when UNC hired longtime Johns Hopkins assistant Willie Scroggs as the program's new head coach. Scroggs was named USILA National Coach-of-the-year. The decision to pursue Scroggs was made by then athletic director Bill Cobey, whose philosophy was that you go to the best program in the game and recruit a top assistant to build your program around.
For the season Carolina was lead by first team All America selections Michael Burnett and goalkeeper Tom Sears. Sears' single season save percentage of .675 is good for fourth all-time at Carolina. Midfielder Peter Voelkel was awarded the program's Turnbull trophy as the team's most valuable player.

1982 Men's Lacrosse National Championship
Under the direction of head coach Willie Scroggs the North Carolina Tar Heels returned to the NCAA championship in 1982 after completing a second consecutive undefeated season. The title game would be a rematch of the 1981 championship final against Johns Hopkins.
It may have been the same two teams competing in front of 10,283 at Virginia, but unlike the previous year when Carolina came from behind in a game where the two teams combined for 27 goals, this championship would be dominated by defense.
The Tar Heels jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first quarter, and behind five goals from junior attackman David Wingate, who lead the team in goals for the season with 40, the Tar Heels defeated the Blue Jays 7-5. Pete Voelkel and Jeff Homire scored the other two goals as North Carolina completed back to back championships.
Carolina cruised to victory in the quarterfinals against Navy by a score of 16-2. UNC out shot the Midshipmen 55-20 in the win. The semifinals saw the Heels defeat Cornell 15-8. In the three games of the NCAA tournament Carolina was paced by 11 points apiece by Dave Wingate and Mike Burnett. Wingate scored 11 goals for the tournament, while Burnett chipped in with three goals and eight assists. The 11 points were the most scored by any player in the tournament that year.
North Carolina goalkeeper Tom Sears was named the most outstanding player for the tournament. Sears made 18 saves to preserve the Tar Heel lead in the final. Sears graces the UNC record books as one of its most decorated players between the pipes in the school's history. Sears was named Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year, and his career save percentage of .645 is good for fourth best all-time at Carolina.
The 14-0 1982 Tar Heels were one of the schools most decorated squads. Five members of the team were named as first team All Americans. Attackman Michael Burnett earned the honor for the second consecutive year. He was joined by midfielders Jeff Homire and Peter Voelkel, as well as defenseman John Haus and goalkeeper Tom Sears.

1986 Men's Lacrosse National Championship
The North Carolina men's lacrosse team powered its way to two undefeated national championships in 1981 and 1982. Despite these dominating seasons many Carolina supporters view 1986 as the Tar Heels sweetest, if not its most dramatic, NCAA title run.
The Tar Heels entered the NCAA tournament seeded fifth, carrying a record of 8-3. The three losses came at the hands of first Maryland, followed by Johns Hopkins, and finally Virginia. En route to winning the NCAA title UNC would avenge all three of those losses... and they would do it in the very same order they lost to them in the regular season.
The Heels were seeded fifth going into the tournament. No team seeded lower than fourth had ever made it to the championship game, and no team lower than third had ever won the title.
Carolina opened their previously unprecedented run with a 12-10 quarterfinal victory against Maryland, a team that had defeated the Tar Heels at home early in the season. The win propelled Carolina to Delaware, site of the first ever true NCAA Lacrosse Final Four. Never previously had four teams competed at the same location on the same weekend to crown a national champion.
The Heels semifinal opponent would be the two-time defending National Champions, Johns Hopkins University. Carolina had been on the losing end of a lopsided 16-4 score at Johns Hopkins earlier in the season, but this time the Heels would not be denied. The Tar Heels broke a nine all regulation tie with senior Mike Tummillio's goal off a Gary Seivold assist two minutes into the extra session.
Fittingly, the title game two days later provided the drama indicative of the Tar Heel title run. UNC and Virginia traded the lead throughout the contest, with neither team establishing more than a two-goal advantage at any time. Another overtime period was required to settle the issue and Gary Seivold, the tournament's most outstanding player, came through for the Heels with a score 1:50 into the extra session.
The win earned Carolina and Head Coach Willie Scroggs a third national championship, at the same time avenging Carolina's most recent regular seasons loss, an 11-9 defeat to close the regular season.

1991 Men's Lacrosse National Championship
The University of North Carolina Lacrosse program had made themselves a national power under Willie Scruggs throughout the 1980's. The 1990 season saw a change in head coach for the Heels, but the end result was a similar looking Carolina championship run.
When Scroggs announced his retirement in May of 1990, the University turned to Dave Klarmann, who had been the top assistant to Scroggs for 11 seasons. The move paid off in instant results as Klarmann's first season the at the helm for the Tar Heels saw the squad go 16-0 on their way to both the ACC and NCAA championships.
Carolina took the title with an impressive 18-13 victory over surprise finals opponent Towson University, which was making its first trip to the finals. The Tar Heels opened up an 11-4 lead at the half, and went on to win the game after holding off a furious second half rally by the Tigers.
National Player of the Year and tournament most outstanding player Dennis Goldstein led UNC to the championship. The senior attackman posted four points in the final game, part of the tournament leading 16 points he would amass in the competition. On the season Goldstein scored 47 times, the most times one man has found the back of the net in one season in Carolina history.
To make it to the championship the Tar Heels first defeated a tough Loyal squad 11-9 at a rain soaked Fetzer Field. Less than a week later UNC took on and defeated the Orangemen of Syracuse 19-13 at the Carrier Dome, Syracuse's home field. The loss stands as Syracuse's only NCAA home playoff defeat in the school's rich lacrosse history.
On the season only Virginia would come within a goal of the undefeated Tar Heels, an 11-10 UNC victory at the home of the ACC rival. During the regular season Carolina tallied the second most goals in school history with a 29-4 drubbing of Radford that was the first of 16 victories that now stand as the most victories in the history of the program.
Defenseman Graham Harden's 95 takeaways for the season was the most in school history, a statistic indicative of his play, which would earn him ACC player of the year honors as well as a selection to the All America first team alongside teammates Goldstein and goalkeeper Andy Piazza.

2001 Men's Soccer Championship
The 2001 North Carolina Tar Heels notched the men's first national title in the programs first ever appearance in a national title game. After a rousing late game comeback to reach the finals, the Tar Heels faced and defeated five-time champion Indiana, who entered the tournament having given up just six goals all season in addition to being the team that had knocked UNC out in the quarterfinals the year before.
The Tar Heels used an early goal 12 minutes in off a header by junior Ryan Kneipper to set the tone for the game and establish an early 1-0 lead. Kneipper beat an Indiana defender and goalkeeper Colin Rogers to a long cross from Matt Crawford and headed a shot from six yards out just inside the right post.
The Tar Heels then turned to their defense, led by senior captains Danny Jackson and Chris Leitch, senior goalkeeper Michael Ueltschey, and sophomore David Stokes, who was assigned to Indiana all-everything player Pat Noonan for most of the game. Indiana put pressure on the Heels, but could not find a way to even the score against the stalwart Carolina defense.
At the 75 minute mark freshman Marcus Storey was fouled in the box, leading to a penalty kick by Jackson into the top left of the net, giving Carolina a 2-0 lead. The score would hold up as Carolina claimed its first ever national title.
Carolina's chances of even reaching the finals looked bleak with less than ten minutes on the clock in their NCAA semifinal versus Stanford. Carolina trailed 2-0 at the time, when forward David Testo bent a left-footed shot from 25 yards out just inside the far post to breathe life back into the Tar Heel attack. Less than two minutes later the Tar Heels found the back of the net again, as Matt Crawford knocked in a rebound to tie the score at two with around eight minutes remaining.
The two teams would go at it for the final eight minutes of regulation and through four overtime periods until Carolina finally broke the deadlock when Mike Gell took a long pass from UNC keeper Michael Ueltschey and chipped a shot over onrushing goalkeeper Andrew Terris in the 136th minute. The goal gave Carolina the 3-2 victory and a place in the title game.
Drama was no stranger to the Heels in the 2001 NCAA tournament. Carolina needed and received overtime goals to defeat both American and Farleigh Dickinson along their march to the championship. For the season Carolina finished with 22 wins against only four defeats.

1981 Women's Soccer Championship
The University of North Carolina won its first national championship with a dominating 23-0 season that culminated in a 1-0 victory over Central Florida in the tournaments final weekend, where the Heels went three games in three days without giving up a single goal. The 1981 women's soccer championship was sponsored by the AIAW, and featured a 12 team National Tournament.
The tournament's final game saw UNC outshoot the Golden Knights of Central Florida 30-8. Despite the large shooting disparity the game stayed close, as Carolina only managed one goal on the day. The decisive score came when Diane Beatty knocked one home off of a Kathy Kelly corner kick with 19:36 left on the clock before halftime. The goal lifted the Heels to their first national title and capped a weekend of impressive soccer by from Carolina.
The team kicked off their dominating three day performance by defeating Massachusetts 6-0, one of 17 shutouts goalkeepers Marianne Johnson and Beth Huber would collect on the year. The two combined to yield only eight goals over Carolina's 23 game season. The day after the Massachusetts game the Heels faced Connecticut in the national semifinals. The game would be another shutout, with Carolina claiming victory by a score of 5-0 to advance to their finals shutout of Central Florida.
Winning three games in three days by a combined score of 12-0 was just one example of the many astounding things the 1981 team did that year. The Tar Heels asserted their dominance throughout the season, averaging 7.48 goals per contest. For the season Carolina scored a total of 172 goals, a mark which still stands as the school record.
On the season Carolina would score multiple goals in every game that they played, with the exception of the AIAW final against Central Florida. Central Florida would also be the only team to come within a point of Carolina on the year, their next closest decisions being a 2-0 victory at Connecticut during the regular season.
The potent Carolina offense was led by 36-goal scorer Stephanie Zeh, a single season plateau that no other Tar Heel has ever reached. Zeh managed to find the back of the net in 14 of Carolina's 23 contests. But Zeh was not alone, getting 30 scores from teammate Janet Rayfield and 18 from Wendy Greenberg.

1982 Women's Soccer National Championship
1982 was exciting in that it was the first year the NCAA served as the governing body for women's soccer, and North Carolina celebrated the fact by winning their second national championship in a row. Just like the year before, the Tar Heels faced and defeated the University of Central Florida for the championship, this time held in Orlando, Florida.
UNC defeated the Golden Knights by a score of 2-0, with reserve Betsy Johnson coming off the bench to score on a rebound late in the first half to break the scoreless tie. The goal would be all the Heels would need on the day, but Carolina later added an insurance goal from Amy Machin, whose 22 goals and 59 points led the Tar Heels on the season.
To get to the finals, the Tar Heels had to avenge one of their two losses on the season. On October 16th at the University of Central Florida Invitational the Heels dropped a game 1-2 against Missouri-St. Louis. But in the NCAA semifinals the Tar Heels would not be denied, reversing the score from the two teams earlier contest to claim a 2-1 win of their own.
Prior to the first game against Missouri-St. Louis the Tar Heels were cruising through their schedule, with early season victories over Virginia, Duke and Boston College helping Carolina to win its own Tar Heel invitational.
In all, Carolina ripped off 10 consecutive wins to start the 1982 season, running their winning streak to 33 games counting the previous year's 23-0 mark. The streak ended with the Missouri-St, Louis loss. Carolina's only two losses on the year would end up being back to back, after a loss the next night to Cortland State.
Following the two losses in the UCF Invitational in Orlando Carolina began another impressive streak, finishing the year with nine consecutive victories. During the nine game span the Tar Heels allowed only one goal and outscored their opponents 51-1. The last two wins, in the NCAA semifinal and final, would come in Orlando, redemption for the two losses in the same city that proved to be the only losses the Heels would suffer during their 19-2 championship season.

1983 Women's Soccer Championship
Carolina would claim its third consecutive national championship in 1983 with a convincing victory in the NCAA finals over George Mason. In addition to being an impressive 19-1 championship season, 1983 will also be remembered as the first year for Carolina standout April Heinrichs.
The freshman would lead the Heels in scoring, tallying 18 goals and amassing 47 total points to pace the Carolina offense. Amy Machin would join Heinrichs at the forefront of the Carolina offense, netting 19 goals of her own. Heinrichs opened the scoring in the final against George Mason, adding a second goal later in the game as the Heels rolled past the Patriots 4-0. Carolina would wind up defeating George Mason three times on the year, giving up only one goal in the 270 minutes that they played against the Patriots.
The NCAA tournament began at home for the Heels, as Carolina defeated California 5-2 on their home field to advance yet again to the NCAA semifinals. There they would defeat Massachusetts 2-0.
As impressive as the end of the season was, the year began in quite inauspicious fashion, with Carolina on the losing end of a 1-3 decision at Connecticut in the Heels season opener. But the game would be the only one the Heels would lose, as they bounced back in their second game by defeating Boston College, beginning a streak of 19 consecutive wins on their way to the title.
During the season Heinrichs collected five assists in a game against Warren Wilson, a standard that has never been bested by any Tar Heel before or since. The Heels defense would also be strong for UNC all year, anchored by All America selection Suzy Cobb, who was named NCAA tournament Most Valuable Player. Heinrichs and Cobb would be joined by five Carolina teammates as All-NCAA Tournament selections.

1984 Women's Soccer Championship
In 1984 the University of North Carolina women's soccer team had one of the most dominant years in the history of soccer's most powerful programs. When the Tar Heels defeated the University of Connecticut 2-0 on Fetzer Field to win the NCAA championship, it capped a season that saw the Heels spend every week of the season as the nation's number one team on their way to an undefeated record.
The title game was the first NCAA championship decided on Fetzer Field, the home of the Tar Heels and a stadium originally built in 1935. In front of 3,500 fans April Heinrichs found the back of the net late in the second half, scoring what would ultimately be the championship game winning goal for the second consecutive year. Carolina would add another goal from Joan Dunlap-Seivold and complete the shutout behind keeper Beth Huber for a 2-0 victory and the Heels third consecutive NCAA title.
The Tar Heels chances of winning an NCAA title on their home field were almost dashed before even reaching the championship game thanks to a more than game California team. After taking care of Central Florida 4-1 in the quarterfinals, the Heels faced the Golden Bears in the semifinals the second time the two programs had faced off in the two school's collective histories.
The first had been the previous year, when UNC eliminated Cal from the NCAA's in the quarterfinal round 5-2. This time the score would be much closer, with Carolina taking the victory 2-1 in overtime via an Amy Machin score, in what happened to be the first overtime win in Carolina soccer history.
The Heels offense was once again paced by All-American April Heinrichs, who was named the Intercollegiate Soccer Association of America National Player of the Year. The ISAA gave Heinrichs the award after tallying 23 goals and 13 assists on the season. Joan Dunlap-Seivold was second on the squad with a total of 21 goals to go along with 13 assists of her own.
ut for all the Heels did on offense, their defense was equally spectacular. The Heels allowed only one goal through the first 17 games of the season, an ultimately meaningless score during a 6-1 win over Virginia. The only game on the season that Carolina would walk away from without a victory was a 1-1 tie at George Mason. The tie ended a 36 game winning streak for the Heels. For the regular season the Heels would get shutouts in 18 of 22 games, 21 of which they won on their way to a 24-0-1 record.

1986 Women's Soccer Championship
The 1986 season provided North Carolina with a challenge that they had never before had to face, the task of reclaiming the title of National Champion after losing in the national championship game the previous year to host George Mason. A hungry Carolina team did just that, with seniors April Heinrichs and Marcia McDermott making sure their Carolina careers ended in triumph.
The Heels avenged both of their losses from the previous year, first beating Massachusetts, the team that had ended UNC's 57 game winning streak. The 4-0 victory came in the season opener, and was followed a few weeks later by a 4-2 defeat of George Mason that gave Carolina some redemption for the loss in the previous year's championship. But that size of that win would pale in comparison to the next Tar Heel victory over George Mason.
After ripping through UC Santa Barbara 8-0 in the NCAA quarterfinals the Heels once again met up with rival George Mason in the semi's. Wendy Gebauer scored twice, but the game stayed tight and eventually went to overtime. In the extra session Carolina's standout senior stepped up and made sure George Mason would not knock the Tar Heels out again. Once again named National Player of the Year, April Heinrichs found the back of the net 5:50 into overtime to send UNC to the final.
Tracey Bates opened the scoring in the championship final against Colorado College. Heinrichs would later score the third time in her four-year career in which she had a goal in the NCAA final. The two goals would be the only ones scored on the day, as the Heels defeated Colorado College and reclaimed their status at the top of the mountain.
On the season North Carolina went 24-0-1, the tie coming in a 1-1 stalemate against Central Florida in the second game of the season. From there Carolina would fight their way to 23 consecutive wins, beginning an unbeaten streak that would continue for over 100 games and span the rest of the 80's.
1986 marked the end of the exceptional career of April Heinrichs, who amassed 225 points in her career. She scored 87 goals and was named a first team All-America forward her final three years. She was NCAA all tournament all four years and ranks second in points and third in career goals all time at North Carolina.

1987 Women's Soccer Championship
It's difficult to decide what was the top story of the Carolina's 1987 championship season, the stifling defense that anchored UNC throughout the year, or the brutal cold it weathered in winning the final four. Either way 1987 was an extremely memorable season for the Tar Heels.
Of the first five NCAA Final Four's, none had been held north of the Mason Dixon line. But that streak ended in 1987, as Amherst, Massachusetts played host to the women's soccer semifinals and championship game. Carolina survived the weather and a tough California team to advance to the finals against host team Massachusetts.
The game was played in seemingly arctic weather conditions, the wind being so strong that that it made attacking going into the gusts a practical impossibility. Carolina went into the wind for the first half, putting the pressure on its record-breaking defense to hold off Massachusetts and keep the score knotted at zero. As it had been all year the defense was up to the challenge, and the Heels entered halftime knowing the wind would be at their backs in the second half of a till then scoreless match.
In the second half Carolina received the crucial goal it was looking for as sophomore midfielder Shannon Higgins found the back of the net. Massachusetts did everything it could to try and even the score, but Carolina held on for the 1-0 victory, an undefeated 23-0-1 season and another NCAA title.
It could be considered apropos that the final ended in a Carolina shutout, because defense was the Heel's forte in 1987. Carolina allowed only two goals during the entire season and posted an unprecedented NCAA record 22 shutouts. Defensive leader and Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year Lori Henry, sweeper Carla Werden Overbeck and goalkeeper Anne Sherow anchored a defense that allowed only 52 shots on goal all year.
The only goals Carolina allowed on the season were to George Mason in a 4-1 victory and N.C. Weslyan in a 10-1 blowout. Sherow would only personally give up one of the goals while playing over 1700 minutes in the net, finishing the year with an unbelievable .05 goals against average. Carolina's only non-win was a scoreless tie against William & Mary halfway through the year.

1988 Women's Soccer Championship
Carolina faced one of the stiffest challenges it had ever known in 1988, and it came from a school just a few miles down I-40. The Tar Heels battled against the North Carolina State Wolfpack three times in 1988, including a contest for the NCAA championship.
Carolina stood at an impressive 5-0 when they traveled to Raleigh to face conference rival NC State. The Heels had bested the Wolfpack 3-0 the year before to claim the first ACC championship. This game would prove to be a sign of things to come, as the Wolfpack battled UNC and was able to emerge with a 1-1 tie against the Tar Heels.
The teams would meet again in the ACC finals, also held in Raleigh. Once again the game would officially end in a 1-1 tie. While the game officially ended as a tie, penalty kicks were employed to determine an ACC champion, and State would edge the Tar Heels to win the only ACC championship ever to be wrestled from Carolina.
After defeating first Central Florida in the quarterfinals and then Wisconsin in the semifinals, by scores of 2-1 and 3-0 respectively, Carolina geared up for a third meeting with NC State. But this game would be unlike the previous two. Firstly it would be for the NCAA championship, and secondly this game would be held not in Raleigh, but in Chapel Hill.
The final would not hold the same drama as the two 1-1 ties earlier in the season. Carolina would put four goals past the NC State defense, with the game winner coming from junior center midfielder Shannon Higgins, who scored three times on the day. Higgins would be named Soccer America National Player of the Year after leading the Heels in points with 13 goals and 17 assists on the season. When the final whistle sounded Carolina had secured a 4-1 victory and its sixth NCAA title.
During the regular season Carolina set NCAA records for collegiate soccer unbeaten streaks. First the team broke their own NCAA women's record of 57 consecutive games without a loss. Eight games later the record of 65 in a row held by the Penn State men's team also fell to the Tar Heels.

1989 Women's Soccer Championship
The 1989 season saw the Tar Heels continue their unmatched streak of victories, as the Heels claimed yet another National Championship by streaking to a 24-0-1 record. Seniors Shannon Higgins, Julie Guarnota, Ava Hyatt and Carla Werden Overbeck provided Carolina soccer with one of its most impressive statistics by closing out their four year careers with a staggering undefeated record of 89-0-6, in addition to a quartet of championship rings.
The championship came on the home field of rival NC State, who the Tar Heels faced down and defeated in the semifinals 2-0 after first disposing of Hartford by a score of 9-0. The win put Carolina in the finals against a familiar opponent, Colorado College, the school Carolina defeated in 1986 for the NCAA championship.
The result in 1989 would be the same as it was in 1986, with the Tar Heels winning the match 2-0. The game winner was scored by Shannon Higgins, amazingly the third consecutive year the goal that gave Carolina the NCAA title had come from the Carolina midfielder, who wound up winning just about every piece of hardware available that season.
Higgins led the Tar Heels in scoring with 48 points. She was named National Player of the Year once again by Soccer America, in addition to taking home the Hermann Trophy and the Honda Award. The heady midfielder was named ACC Player of the Year and became the first-ever recipient of the Mary Garber Award, given to commemorate the ACC Female Athlete of the Year.
On the year Carolina claimed the ACC championship via a 4-0 shutout win over Duke and a 5-3 victory versus NC State at the ACC tournament held in Durham. The Heels only stumble for the year came in their last regular season game, a 0-0 overtime game at Stanford.
In addition to the impressive accomplishments and statistics compiled by the 1989 seniors, the year will also be remembered as the freshman efforts of future Tar Heel stars Mia Hamm and Kristine Lilly, who scored 21 and 20 goals respectively in their first seasons in Chapel Hill.

1990 Women's Soccer Championship
Jill Jakowich was the first Tar Heel to find the back of the net in Carolina's 6-0 rout of Connecticut in the finals of the 1990 NCAA women's championship. Five other Tar Heels joined her in the scoring column, as UNC ran away with its eighth national championship in front of 3,200 on a newly renovated Fetzer Field. The win was sweet, but at the same time almost anticlimactic considering the dramatic game North Carolina played just to reach the title match.
North Carolina and NC State had met in the NCAA tournament each of the previous two years and four times in all over the two seasons. Three of the games had been close, two ending in ties, but the 1990 quarterfinal game was easily the most dramatic of the series.
Late in regulation the Heels trailed State 2-1, and it looked like State might finally defeat its old ACC rival. But UNC sophomore Kristine Lilly scored without much time remaining to force overtime. In the extra session the Wolfpack took the lead once again, only to see Lilly find a way to answer once again.
Finally, with just over two minutes left before penalty kicks would have decided the game, Mia Hamm lofted a curving corner kick that forward Rita Tower redirected with her head for the game winning goal. Carolina survived 4-3 in what Soccer America would later call the "Greatest Game in Women's Soccer History."
The Tar Heels would get a few days to savor the win before facing Colorado College in the semifinals. The Heels won the match 2-1 on goals by Tower and Lilly, leading into the 6-0 finals victory over Connecticut.
The Connecticut rout was payback for a loss the Heels had suffered to the Huskies earlier that year in Storrs. The 3-2 overtime defeat was the first loss by a Carolina women's soccer team in 103 games, a seemingly unbreakable NCAA record. November 24, 1985 was the last time the heels had been outscored, and the loss dropped UNC out of the number one spot in the ISAA poll for the first time since the second week of the 1986 season.
Carolina would not wait long before ascending to the top spot in the poll once again, reclaiming the position following a 3-0 victory over first ranked Virginia late in the season. The Heels would beat the Caveliers again in the ACC tournament title game.
In all the Heels went 20-1-1 for the season, the only tie being a two all stalemate against Central Florida. Sophomore Mia Hamm led the Tar Heels in scoring with 24 goals and 19 assists.

1991 Women's Soccer Championship
In 1991 the North Carolina Tar Heels faced a stiff challenge, defending its NCAA title without many of its top players and the man who had led them to each of their nine NCAA titles, head coach Anson Dorrance. The Heels would once again be up to the task, defeating two ACC rivals and then Wisconsin 3-1 in the finals to capture the NCAA title.
The US National Team came calling to Chapel Hill in 1991, as Kristine Lilly and Mia Hamm were invited to play in the World Cup in China. Lilly would participate in the teams first 19 games, while Hamm took a redshirt and did not play at all. The National team coach would be UNC head man Anson Dorrance. In addition, forward Rita Tower and midfielder Jill Jakowich were both rehabbing knee injuries that prevented either from playing a minute that season, meaning UNC would go at it without their top four scorers from the previous season.
The Tar Heels didn't allow the absence of so many of its top names to keep them from once again reaching the programs lofty standards. And when sophomore Paige Coley found the back of the net for the game winner over Wisconsin it completed a perfect 24-0 championship season.
Carolina defeated NC State in consecutive games late in the 1991 season. The first was a 5-1 victory that gave the Heels another ACC championship. Just shy of two weeks later the two teams faced off again in Chapel Hill in the NCAA quarterfinals. This time the Heels dispatched the Wolfpack by a score of 4-1. UNC defeated another ACC rival in the semifinals, a 5-1 victory over Virginia.
For the season only two teams came within a goal of matching the Tar Heels. Southern Methodist University came within a goal of the Heels in a 2-1 contest in the SMU classic at the start of the season, and Radford played Carolina close before losing 1-0.
The Heels were led by midfield sensation Tisha Venturini and senior forward Pam Kalinoski, who herself was coming back from a serious knee injury. Venturini was the nation's leading scorer with 21 goals and 58 total points, good enough to earn her National Freshman of the Year honors. She would split MVP honors with Kalinoski in the NCAA tournament. Kalinoski's 28 assists set what was at the time a national record. UNC assistant coach Bill Palladino steered the Tar Heels through the final ten games of the undefeated campaign.

1992 Women's Soccer Championship
The 1992 Tar Heels are widely considered to be the best team in the history of NCAA soccer, and its difficult to argue to the contrary after a 25-0 season that saw Carolina trail only twice all season. Perhaps the most glaring highlight of the Heels dominance throughout the season was Carolina's 9-1 blowout of Duke in the NCAA title game.
The game would be one of the two occasions teams would lead the Tar Heels, as Duke drew first blood to jump out to a 1-0 lead on a rain-soaked and muddy Fetzer Field. But that advantage would be fleeting, as Carolina would roll off nine unanswered goals for the final margin.
The leading scorer on the day would be returning superstar Mia Hamm, who had redshirted the previous season to play for the National team in the World Cup. For the game Hamm had three goals, becoming only the second player to find the back of the net that many times in a championship final.
The Tar Heels outscored their opponents 132-11 on the season, including a four game West Coast road trip that saw the Heels win four games in four days against three ranked opponents, outscoring them 22-2. The victims included UC-Santa Barbara 5-1, Portland 6-1, Saint Mary's 6-0, and Stanford 5-0.
y the end of the season Carolina would establish a new NCAA record by totaling 58 consecutive wins dating back to October of 1990. They outscored their NCAA tournament opponents 19-1 after downing William & Mary 7-0 and Santa Clara 3-0 before the 9-1 championship win over Duke. The tournament was the third in a row held in Chapel Hill.
On the season Hamm led the nation with a school record 97 points on 32 goals and 33 assists, the latter statistic comprising yet another school record. She was the unanimous choice as National Player of the Year and also the ACC player of the year. Both the ACC and NCAA tournaments named her as tournament MVP.

1993 Women's Soccer Championship
Chapel Hill played host to the NCAA Final Four for the fourth year in a row and before an overflow and then NCAA record crowd of 5,721 the Tar Heels dismantled George Mason 6-0 to capture the championship.
The game winner came from junior Keri Sanchez, the second consecutive year she scored the goal that sent the Tar Heels to the national title. The record crowd didn't see a close game, as the undefeated Heels rode their high-octane offense to run away with the match and finish the season at 23-0. On the year Carolina scored multiple goals in every game they played, only the second time in school history that feat had been accomplished, the first being 1992.
No team really came close to challenging the Tar Heels in the 1993 NCAA tournament. The tournament expanded to include four rounds of games for the first time, and Carolina won them all by at least three goals. In the opening round the Heels took out Southern Methodist University 4-1, it was the second time that Carolina had beaten SMU by that score on the year. The next day Carolina overwhelmed Florida International 3-0 to return to the final four. The Tar Heels whipped Massachusetts by a score of 4-1 in the semifinals to advance to the championship and ultimately walk away with the title.
In 1993 Mia 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. For her career Hamm stands as the schools leader in career points with 278, goals with 103 and assists with 72. In addition, Hamm holds NCAA tournament records for career scoring, goals and assists. During her four years Hamm managed to score a total of 16 goals in 13 NCAA tournament games.
Despite breaking a bone in her foot that caused her to miss several weeks during the middle of the season Tisha Venturini returned in time to reap Most Valuable Player honors at the NCAA tournament. The Tar Heels claimed their fifth straight league crown by virtue of a 4-1 win over Duke.

1994 Women's Soccer Championship
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. After four consecutive Final Fours in Chapel Hill the finals moved to Portland, Oregon, where senior Tisha Venturini stole the show.
The NCAA final actually saw the Tar Heels enter the game as the lower seeded team, their opponent Notre Dame holding the nation's number one position. The two teams had played to a scoreless 0-0 tie earlier in the season, but this time Carolina would have little trouble finding the back of the net. Senior Angela Kelly opened the scoring for Carolina, as the Tar Heels outshot the Fighting Irish 25-8.
The story of the Final Four was UNC's Venturini, who scored twice in her final game as a Tar Heel. Carolina would add two more goals to make the Heels final margin of victory in the final 5-0 to secure the title. In the semifinals Venturini led the Tar Heels to another win as they forced their way to a shutout, this time blanking the Connecticut Huskies 3-0.
The Tar Heels had two incredible streaks of consistency 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 at the Americas Challenge Cup.
Seventeen days later the Heels would be shocked on their home field, where Duke University handed the Tar Heels a 3-2 defeat. That loss snapped a 101-game unbeaten streak for Carolina dating back to September of 1990. The setback was also Carolina's first home loss at Fetzer Field since 1980, the second year of the women's soccer program.
Carolina would see Duke twice more in the 1994 season, and on both occasions the Tar Heels gained some measure of revenge for the home loss. The first meeting was a 4-2 win in the ACC tournament championship game. In the contests Venturini would score three times, the first hat trick in the seven-year history of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament.
The third game between the two neighbors would come in the South Regional title game. After eliminating NC State the day before the Tar Heels handled Duke 3-1, with Angela Kelly netting a pair of goals.
Staci Wilson arrived in Chapel Hill and was named first team All-America in addition to National Freshman of the Year. For the season Venturini was soccer's most dominant player, collecting almost every imaginable honor that collegiate soccer has. Her senior class would finish their careers with a record of 97 wins, one loss, one tie and four national championships.

1996 Women's Soccer Championship
The University of North Carolina women's soccer team returned in 1996 looking to reclaim its stranglehold on the sport's national title. After losing in the national semifinals the year before to Notre Dame Carolina once again had something to prove, which is exactly what they did via a 1-0 overtime victory of Notre Dame in the NCAA championship.
In front of 8,800 people in Santa Clara, California the Tar Heels stood as the higher seed, but perhaps as the team with more to prove. Carolina had been the surprise pick as the top seed in the NCAA tournament after losing to Notre Dame earlier in the season 2-1 in overtime. The loss marked the first time any school had ever beaten North Carolina twice in a row.
As expected the game was extremely close, as neither team was able to find away to penetrate the opposition's defense. Regulation ended with the game at a scoreless standstill, necessitating overtime to decide a national champion. In the match's 111th minute Carolina finally broke through, as senior forward Debbie Keller put one away to end her career on the highest possible note by scoring the only goal in a national title game.
The Tar Heels had an impressive showing in the NCAA tournament, shutting out William & Mary, James Madison and Florida by a total of 19-0 to reach the Final Four. In the semifinals Carolina faced a stiff challenge from the host Santa Clara team. The two teams had played early in the year, with Carolina escaping with a 1-0 victory on a last minute goal by Keller. This game would also be decided by one goal, as second half scores by Cindy Parlow and Robin Confer gave the Heels a 2-1 victory.
That the Tar Heels reclaimed the national title and finished an impressive 25-1 is a testament to UNC Head Coach Anson Dorrance as much as his talented team. Concerned about his team's lackluster play early in the season Dorrance made some bold changes to his lineup in the wake of the Notre Dame loss.
In addition to moving a handful of players to new positions, the team began playing a flat three-woman back line defensively, a strategy that worked magnificently and the Tar Heels have employed ever since.
Following the loss to Notre Dame the Tar Heels powered their way through the final 17 games of the season, claiming their eighth ACC crown by deflating Florida State 7-1. Carolina then went on to win the program's 14th championship in 16 years.

1997 Women's Soccer Championship
North Carolina was once again the best team in the country in 1997 as the Tar Heels finished 27-0-1 on their to another national championship. The Heels faced harsh competition in the final three games of the NCAA tournament, but behind co-national players of the year Cindy Parlow and Robin Confer, Carolina was able to survive a pair of one goal games and defeat the Connecticut Huskies 2-0 to capture the NCAA championship.
In the biggest game of the season Carolina's biggest two stars combined to ensure Carolina would take home the NCAA championship trophy. Junior Cindy Parlow broke the ice by scoring the Heels first goal. Later in the game teammate Robin Confer scored to give the Tar Heels a 2-0 lead.
Those would be the only two scores of the game, as Carolina tied an NCAA record previously held by the 1987 Tar Heels with their 22 shutout of the year. In 28 games, the most any Carolina squad has played in one season, Carolina yielded a paltry eight goals.
oth the quarterfinals and the semifinals had been tough challenges for the Tar Heels. After defeating Wake Forest and Florida by scores of 6-0 and 5-0, Carolina outlasted a pesky Harvard squad 1-0.
Santa Clara would push the Heels even further in the semifinals. The Bronco's took a 1-0 lead in the first half, holding it until Carolina's Lorrie Fair found the net in the second half to even the score. The Tar Heels leading scorer on the year Robin Confer came calling to complete the comeback, 2-1. For the season Confer would rack up 20 goals and 22 assists. She also stands alone as the player having participated in the most games for North Carolina, having graced the field in 107 contests from 1994 through 1997.
The Tar Heels lone tie of the season came in a lightning shortened 2-2 affair against Notre Dame in the Notre Dame adidas Lady Footlocker Classic. It was the only mark spoiling Carolina's otherwise perfect record.
North Carolina also added another ACC championship to its lengthy list of accomplishments. The Heels defeated Florida State, Clemson and then Maryland to take the title.

1999 Women's Soccer Championship
The 1999 campaign started in unsettling fashion as North Carolina lost twice in September and stood just 6-2 after its first eight games, the first time UNC had lost twice in the same season since 1985. However ugly the season began, it ended just as beautifully as Carolina outplayed fellow powerhouse Notre Dame for the NCAA championship.
In front of the largest crowd ever to watch a Carolina women's soccer match, a total attendance of 14,410 in San Jose, California, the Tar Heels fought past Notre Dame 2-0. Junior Meredith Florance and senior midfielder Beth Sheppard scored the goals as Carolina got the shutout. Carolina's previous four NCAA titles had also come in shutout victories.
In the semifinals the Tar Heels defeated Penn State 2-0, one of the goals coming off of the booming punt of freshman goalkeeper Jenni Branam, giving the keeper her second assist of the year off one of her lengthy punts from goal. The win was at least in part redemption for a rare home loss handed to the Tar Heels by the Nittany Lions.
Penn State had defeated Carolina in Chapel Hill during the Nike/Carolina classic in mid September 3-2. Carolina's other loss during their painfully slow start to the season was a 1-0 loss against Santa Clara played in Durham.
Defense became the signature of the 1999 Carolina team. National Player of the Year Lorrie Fair, along with senior Lindsay Stoecker, keyed the defense. The two seniors also got help from first team All-America player Danielle Borgman.
Over the final 18 games of the season, Carolina allowed only five goals, including only one in the final 13 games. En route, the Tar Heels won their 11th straight ACC championship by defeating Wake Forest 3-0.
The Heels made the final after eliminating Clemson 1-0 in a game that required overtime to determine a winner. Florida State was Carolina's victim in the tournament's opening round, falling to the Tar Heels by a score of 4-1.

2000 Women's Soccer Championship
The 2000 season saw the North Carolina Tar Heels win their 12th successive ACC championship as well as the program's 17th national championship, all despite losing more games than in any season since 1980. The Tar Heels finished the campaign by outlasting UCLA to capture the NCAA championship and finish the season with an 18-3 record.
The championship came on the wings of a strong offensive performance in the final 20 minutes of the second half to defeat UCLA, 2-1. The game was extremely competitive throughout, with strong defensive plays keeping the score knotted at zero going into halftime.
Early in the second half UCLA managed to break the scoreless deadlock off a rebound to give the Bruins a 1-0 lead. Carolina relentlessly put pressure on the UCLA defense with shot after shot, but was not able to get a score. Finally with under 15 minutes left on the clock UNC scored the equalizer as a charging Meredith Florance, UNC's leading scorer on the year, blasted in a tap pass from Alyssa Ramsey to tie the score at one apiece.
With nine minutes to go a Tar Heel corner kick found its way into the net. Leslie Gaston redirected the ball in the box and it caromed off a UCLA defender for an own goal and a 2-1 Carolina lead. The own goal was only the second in women's college cup history, the first eliminating North Carolina in 1995. It would prove to be the game winner, as the game ended 2-1.
The Tar Heels had entered the tournament as the fifth seed, opening up with Wake Forest, one of the three ACC teams that had beaten the Heels, who lost three road games during the season. The Heels avenged the loss by eliminating Wake 5-0. Carolina would need rallies similar to the one used to defeat UCLA to win two of its next three tournament games.
The first was a 2-1 decision over Virginia in the third round, which Carolina followed up by rolling past Connecticut 3-0 in the quarterfinals. The win set up a date with top seeded Notre Dame in the semifinals. Carolina rallied once again, eliminating the top seed with a 2-1 victory.
Entering the 2000 season Carolina had only dropped one game in Atlantic Coast Conference history, but all three of its 2000 losses would be road games in the ACC. The first was a 2-1 defeat at Clemson, followed by a double overtime 3-2 loss against Florida State.
The third ACC defeat came at the hands of Wake Forest, who followed Carolina's Florida State loss by beating the Tar Heels 1-0, the first time Carolina had lost back to back games since 1982. Despite the three conference losses Carolina managed to win the ACC tournament, besting Duke to take the title.

University of North Carolina Athletics

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