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No. 3 Stanford, No. 5 North Carolina Battle To 1-1 Tie
September 13, 2008 | Women's Soccer
Sept. 13, 2008
STANFORD, CALIF. - In a match as statistically close as the final score would indicate, No. 3 Stanford and No. 5 North Carolina battled to a 1-1 tie in women's soccer action Friday night in the second match of the Stanford Invitational. A sellout crowd of 2,273 watched Stanford remain undefeated at 5-0-1 on the season, while the Tar Heels are now 4-1-1.
Carolina scored in the 30th minute of play and nursed that lead until less than four minutes remained in the match when the Cardinal scored the tying goal. The Tar Heels then withstood a withering Stanford attack in the final minutes of regulation and during the first 10 minutes of overtime before the teams settled the draw.
North Carolina took a 1-0 lead at 29:59 of the match on Tobin Heath's second goal of the season, assisted by Casey Nogueira. Heath scored on a shot from six yards out on the left side off give and go with Nogueira. The shot hit the far post and banked in for a 1-0 UNC lead. The goal was only the second allowed by the Cardinal in six matches this season.
The Tar Heels almost extended their lead to 2-0 at 66:08 when Courtney Jones had a shot hit the cross bar. That bounce off the bar proved to be fortuitous for Stanford as it was able to come back and score the tying goal at 86:30 of the match as Kelley O'Hara scored her second goal of the season with assists by Marissa Abegg and Alicia Jenkins. O'Hara gathered in a through ball and finished into the lower left corner to tie the match.
After the Cardinal tied the match, Stanford kept the pressure on the Tar Heels and it was the play of Tar Heel junior goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris in the final three minutes of regulation and in the 10 minutes of the first overtime that kept the match tied. Harris came on at halftime in relief of Anna Rodenbough and Harris finished with six saves in the final 65 minutes, her career high save total for a game. Harris' previous high was five in 82:08 of action against Ohio State on September 20, 2007.
Harris kept the score tied with three saves in the final three minutes of regulation time. She stopped a shot by Kelley O'Hara at 87:46. She smothered another by Christen Press at 88:32 and made her third stop in less than two minutes on an attempt by Teresa Noyola with 57 seconds left in regulation.
In the first overtime period the Cardinal outshot the Tar Heels 6-2 but Harris made back-to-back stops on shots by Christen Press in the 100th minute of play to keep the score at 1-1. Neither team could generate much offense in the second overtime period with the Tar Heels taking the only two shots of the period.
UNC outshot the Cardinal 18-16 in the match and had a 7-2 edge in corner kicks. Despite the 18 shots, the Tar Heels were not able to force Stanford goalkeeper Kira Maker to make many stops as she finished with three saves. All told, only four of UNC's 18 shots were on goal. Conversely, Stanford gave both UNC goalkeepers a work out with nine of its 16 shots on frame. Rodenbough finished with two saves and Harris with six.
Things get no easier for the Tar Heels on Sunday as they play their fifth match against Top 15 teams in just their seventh match of the season. The Tar Heels will go up against No. 15 Santa Clara at 3 p.m. EDT in the third game of this year's Stanford Invitational. The Broncos are 3-3 overall after being upset by UNC Greensboro 1-0 Friday night in the opening match of the Stanford Invitational.
Despite the tie with the Cardinal, UNC still leads the all-time series with Stanford 7-0-2. UNC leads the series with Santa Clara 14-4 but the Broncos have won four of the last five meetings.
