University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Wake Forest
Tar Heels Beat Demon Deacons Behind Nogueira's Hat Trick
October 5, 2008 | Women's Soccer
Oct. 5, 2008
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Junior forward Casey Nogueira became the third different University of North Carolina women's soccer player in the last four games to record a hat trick as her three goals and an assist powered second-ranked North Carolina to a 4-2 victory over 16th-ranked Wake Forest Sunday afternoon before a crowd of 1,309 at Spry Soccer Stadium. It was the second hat trick of Nogueira's career as she also had a three-goal performance on September 20, 2007 in a 5-0 Tar Heel win over Ohio State.
Carolina scored twice in the opening 20 minutes of action only to see the Demon Deacons bounce back with a goal late in the first half to cut the halftime margin to 2-1. The two teams then combined for three goals in a span of only eight minutes late in the second half in the wild, high-scoring ACC contest. The win was the seventh in a row for the Tar Heels as they improved to 11-1-1 overall and 4-0 in the ACC, remaining in a first-place tie in the league standings with Virginia. Wake Forest dropped its second straight game and is now 8-3 overall and 1-2 in the conference.
The Tar Heels had gone over a year without a hat trick before recording three in the last four games. Junior midfielder Tobin Heath had a three-goal output in UNC's 5-2 win at Clemson on September 25 and then freshman forward Courtney Jones had three goals in Carolina's 5-0 win versus Maryland last Sunday.
Nogueira finished her two games this week with five goals and an assist as the Tar Heels won conference road games over No. 9 Duke 3-0 and No. 16 Wake Forest 4-2. She had two of Carolina's three goals against the Blue Devils who had not allowed a goal in their seven home games prior to their meeting with the Tar Heels. Nogueira had three goals and assisted on the other by the Tar Heels on Sunday against Wake. The Deacs had allowed only two goals in their first seven home games prior to Sunday.
Nogueira opened the scoring with her 10th goal of the season at 14:23 of the match off an assist by Tobin Heath. Nogueira scored from 10 yards out in the left side of the box, finishing into the right side of the net. Just over five minutes later, the Tar Heels extended their lead to 2-0 on Yael Averbuch's third goal of the season. Averbuch took a pass from Nogueira and struck a ball from 27 yards out that found the right side of the netting.
Wake cut UNC's lead in half by intermission on Jill Hutchinson's sixth goal of the season, assisted by Sarah Winslow at 41:34. Hutchinson's shot from 25 yards out found the left side of the net. It also marked Wake Forest's first goal against the Tar Heels since November 17, 2002 when Carolina beat Wake 3-1 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Nogueira provided some temporary separation for the Tar Heels at the 75:56 mark as she right footed a shot into the upper right side of the net for her 11th goal of the season. Junior midfielder Nikki Washington assisted on the goal.
Wake Forest did not back off and less than five minutes later the Deacs pulled within 3-2 on Amy Smerdzinski's second goal of the season, her tally coming off a corner kick. She snuck a ball inside the right post from three yards out with assists credited to Caitlin Farrell and Hutchinson.
Nogueira iced the win for the Tar Heels at 83:56 as she scored her 12th goal of the season, weaving past her defender at the top of the 18-yard box and finishing from 10 yards out.
The Tar Heels outshot the Demon Deacons 23-5 and had a 9-2 edge in corner kicks. Anna Rodenbough and Ashlyn Harris each played 45 minutes in goal for the Tar Heels while Laura Morse played all 90 minutes for Wake Forest, making eight saves.
The Tar Heels will host a pair of Atlantic Coast Conference games this week. On Thursday, the Tar Heels will meet No. 14 Boston College (8-2-2, ACC 2-1-1) at 7 p.m. at Fetzer Field. On Sunday, the Tar Heels will be host to Virginia Tech (6-4-2, ACC 1-1-2) at 1 p.m. at Fetzer Field.
