University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Clemson
O'Reilly, Guess Power Tar Heels Into 19th Straight ACC Tournament Final
November 3, 2006 | Women's Soccer
Nov. 3, 2006
CARY, N.C. - Senior forwards Heather O'Reilly and Elizabeth Guess each scored a goal and had an assist as No. 1-ranked North Carolina defeated No. 25-ranked Clemson 3-0 Friday night in the Atlantic Coast Conference Women's Soccer Tournament semifinals at SAS Soccer Stadium. The Tar Heels advance to their 19th successive ACC Tournament championship game since the event was first played in 1988 and will meet No. 2 seed Florida State Sunday at 3:35 p.m. in a regionally televised game.
The win was the 20th in a row for Carolina as the Tar Heels improved to 20-1 on the season. This marks the 18th successive season that Coach Anson Dorrance's squad has won 20 or more matches in a season. Clemson, which was unbeaten in its last six games, fell for the first time since October 8 when it lost to Virginia 1-0. The Tigers are 11-7-2 but are expected to receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament Monday.
Carolina struck for its first goal in the second minute of play and held the 1-0 lead into the 81st minute but then scored twice exactly five minutes apart to pull away for the 3-0 victory. The Tar Heels ended up with a 26-2 edge in shots and had a 6-0 advantage in corner kicks. However, the Tar Heels put only 10 of their 26 shots on frame Friday night, allowing the Tigers to stay with the Heels until the late stages of play.
The Tar Heels struck in the second minute of the game to go up 1-0 over the Tigers. The play was generated off a corner kick by Nikki Washington from the right corner flag. Washington's corner kick found Jaime Gilbert at the top of the 18-yard box. Gilbert sent it with her foot to Heather O'Reilly at the four-yard line to the right of the goal. O'Reilly headed the ball across the face of the goal to Elizabeth Guess who ran on to the pass and one-timed the ball into the back of the net. The goal by Guess was her second of the season and her first since she scored the game-winner in the come-from-behind 3-2 win over Connecticut on September 1.
The Tar Heels ended up outshooting the Tigers 14-0 in the first half. The Tar Heels put six of their 14 shots on goal with Clemson's Ashley Phillips making five saves.
Carolina continued to pepper the Clemson goal with shots in the second half but the score was still 1-0 when the Tigers had an outstanding opportunity to score in the 73th minute of play. The UNC defense and goalkeeper Anna Rodenbough were unable to successfully clear a ball just outside of the box on the right side. The ball squirted to Clemson's Fraser Gerth at the top of the 18-yard box and she had a shot at an open Carolina goal but the ball bounced wide to the left.
With the reprieve and still possessing the lead, the Tar Heels then put the game away with a pair of scores at 80:28 and 85:28 of the match.
The first insurance goal was set up with pressure defense in the Clemson end forcing a turnover claimed by Yael Averbuch. Averbuch fed Nikki Washington who centered the ball to Whitney Engen. Engen sent a through ball into the right side of the penalty area. Robyn Gayle ran on to the ball and buried a shot past Phillips that went inside the far post. It was Gayle's second goal of the year.
Carolina salted away the win at 85:28 on a splendid finishing piece off the head of Heather O'Reilly, her eighth tally of the year. Elizabeth Guess sent a ball from the right side of the pitch to the far post that was headed by Whitney Engen back to O'Reilly in the middle of the box at three-yard line. O'Reilly outjumped her defender and sent the ball over Phillips for the goal that provided UNC with its final margin.
Anna Rodenbough played all 90 minutes in goal for UNC and recorded her 15th solo shutout of the campaign. Phillips went all 90 minutes for Clemson, finishing with seven saves and three goals allowed.
