University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
UNC Greensboro
Tar Heels Move On In NCAA Tournament
November 18, 2007 | Women's Soccer
Nov. 18, 2007
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - North Carolina's women's soccer team built a 3-0 lead in the first 61 minutes of the game and went on to beat local rival UNC Greensboro 3-1 in the second round of the 2007 NCAA Women's Soccer Tournament at Fetzer Field Sunday afternoon. A sun-baked crowd of 1,207 on an unseasonably warm November afternoon watched as Nikki Washington and Casey Nogueira each scored a goal and assisted on a goal as Carolina improved to 19-3-1 on the season.
UNC advanced to the third round of the NCAA Tournament for the 26th successive year and will host 2006 NCAA Tournament finalist Notre Dame next Saturday at 12 noon at Fetzer Field.
UNC Greensboro finished 16-5-1 on the campaign. The Spartans had advanced by beating Memphis Friday night in the first round 1-0 while Carolina advanced with a 6-1 win over High Point Friday night.
The Tar Heels outshot the Spartans 29-5 on the afternoon but a brilliant performance by UNC Greensboro goalkeeper Katherine Ryan kept UNCG in the game until the final whistle. Ryan finished with a career high 11 saves.
UNC opened the scoring at 16:40 on Whitney Engen's sixth goal of the season and her third goal in Carolina's first two NCAA Tournament games. Casey Nogueira took a shot in the box that was blocked by the Spartans' defense and Engen pounced on the ball and finished into the lower left corner on the rebound.
The Tar Heels came out in the second half with increased intensity, forcing Ryan to make several spectacular saves to keep the Spartans into the game. But the speedy Nikki Washington made the play that gave Carolina some distance. She stole the ball at midfielder, carried it into the box and then slotted the ball into the lower left for a 2-0 lead at 54:44.
Less than six minutes later the Tar Heels increased their lead to 3-0 on Nogueira's team-leading 13th goal of the season. Washington sent a long ball from just inside the midfield strip on the right side and Nogueira seemingly came out of nowhere to touch the ball over Ryan into the open net.
UNC Greensboro did not go away, however, and scored at 74:04 as Katelynn Donovan sent a free kick past the Tar Heel defense and Karla Davis was unmarked in the box and finished the scoring chance for the Spartans. In 10 career meetings, Carolina is now 10-0 against the Spartans. The goal by Davis was their second in the series, the first since 1989.
