University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Miami
September 24, 2006 | Women's Soccer
Sept. 24, 2006
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CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - The North Carolina women's soccer team fell behind for only the third time this season, but head coach Anson Dorrance's No. 4-ranked Tar Heels answered with six successive goals to beat Miami 6-1 Sunday afternoon at Fetzer Field. The win was the 10th in a row for UNC which improved to 10-1 overall and 2-0 in the ACC. Miami, which led Carolina in a game for the first time in its history, fell to 6-3 overall and 0-2 in the ACC.
Reserve forward Jaime Gilbert had the game-winning goal for Carolina in the game's 38th minute, snapping a 1-1 tie. UNC went on to outscore the Hurricanes 4-0 in the second half with UNC outshooting Miami 27-4 while also enjoying a 10-0 advantage in corner kicks.
It was Miami, however, which struck first in the match at 23:02 as Rachel Rigamat scored her second goal of the season off an assist by Miami goalkeeper Lauren McAdam. McAdam punted the ball downfield and it cleared the UNC defense with Rigamat running by the Tar Heel defenders to pounce on the ball and beat UNC keeper Anna Rodenbough into the lower right 90 of the net. The shot would be Miami's only of the first half.
Miami's lead was short-lived, however, as the Hurricanes' goal seemed to wake up the listless Tar Heels. Just 1:51 after the Miami tally, UNC freshman midfielder Nikki Washington scored the first goal of her career, assisted by fellow freshman Whitney Engen. Washington took a pass that Engen launched into the box from the left side of the field and shot from the right edge of the box into the left side of the net.
Carolina took the lead for good less than 13 minutes later as Jaime Gilbert and Yael Averbuch hooked up on a give-and-go to put the Heels up 2-1. Gilbert fed Averbuch who then crossed the ball to Gilbert in the middle of the box and the junior forward finished into the lower left corner for her second goal of the year and first game-winner of the season.
McAdam finished the first half with seven saves on 13 Carolina shots and she went on to make five more saves in the second half to end with 12 for the game.
Despite McAdam's performance, UNC exploded for four goals in the second half, scoring its most goals since beating Pepperdine 6-0 in the third round of the 2005 NCAA Tournament.
At 51:21, senior Heather O'Reilly scored her fourth goal in the past three games as she dribbled past a defender on the left side and sent a shot from outside the penalty area past McAdam into the upper right corner.
North Carolina padded the lead to 4-1 at 58:40 on freshman striker Whitney Engen's third goal of the season. Junior defender Jessica Maxwell served a ball forward to Engen who was just a few steps on Carolina's side of midfield. She dribbled right up the middle of the pitch, beating four defenders along the way to score on a breakaway.
At 63:53 the Heels made it 5-1 as freshman midfielder Tobin Heath tallied her second goal of the campaign off an assist by senior striker Elizabeth Guess. Guess passed the ball to Heath from the middle of the field and Heath dribbled into the box and beat McAdam to the lower left corner of the goal.
Carolina finished off the scoring at 74:12 as it scored its first goal off a corner kick this season. Freshman Melissa Hayes sent a corner kick from the right side that went far post where Katie Brooks outleaped everyone and headed in her second goal of the season.
Both teams substituted freely with the Tar Heels playing 22 players, all of whom played at least 16 minutes, and Miami playing 21 players.
UNC finished its short homestand 2-0 and will be back on the road again this week as the Tar Heels play at Clemson Thursday night at 7 p.m. North Carolina will be back at home again next Sunday at 1 p.m. to face Maryland at Fetzer Field.
