University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Florida State
Tar Heels Claim ACC Tournament Championship For 20th Time
November 8, 2009 | Women's Soccer
Nov. 8, 2009
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CARY, N.C. - After enduring a regular season in which it lost three ACC matches, the fourth-ranked University of North Carolina women's soccer team was at its best Sunday as the Tar Heels defeated third-ranked Florida State 3-0 to win the school's 20th ACC Tournament championship in the past 22 years and the team's fifth successive crown. Senior Casey Nogueira was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player after scoring two goals in the opening 13 minutes of play before a crowd of 3,140 fans at WakeMed Soccer Park.
The Tar Heels, who were the No. 3 seed in the ACC Tournament, improved to 17-3-1 on the season and they earned the ACC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament with the win. Florida State was the No. 1 seed in the tournament and was ranked one spot higher than UNC in this week's Soccer America poll. The Seminoles are now 16-4-1 on the season.
Led by Nogueira, five Tar Heels were named to the All-ACC Tournament Team. Also tapped for the squad were senior defenders Whitney Engen and Kristi Eveland, senior goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris and senior midfielder Tobin Heath.
"We are excited to be the ACC champions, the No. 1 conference in the nation for women's soccer," UNC coach Anson Dorrance said. "Yet we give credit to a great Florida State team. Obviously they were a very tired, worn down team today - very different than the team that we saw earlier in the season. But we are ecstatic for this win and look forward to the upcoming NCAA Tournament."
"The better team won," said FSU coach Mark Krikorian. "Carolina was better from the start and took it to us pretty well. (They) created good chances early on and throughout the course of the game. I don't think we were sharp enough or good enough today, so we move on."
UNC outshot the Seminoles 26-8 on the afternoon and the only flaw in UNC's game was the fact only eight of its 26 shots were actually on frame. The Tar Heel defense continued its stellar play this year as Carolina has now posted five successive shutout wins and UNC has 14 shutouts in 21 games this season, allowing only 10 goals all season.
It did not take long for the Tar Heels to find the back of the net against the Seminoles. Nogueira made sure of that. After scoring 25 goals last year, the senior striker came into the game with only six goals in the first 20 games of the 2009 campaign. Nogueira made up for that in the first 13 minutes, posting her third multi-goal game of the season.
Nogueira struck for the eventual game-winner just 2:45 into action off assists by junior forward Jessica McDonald and senior defender Kristi Eveland, the first point of the season for Eveland. The defender from Southlake, Texas gathered in a ball on UNC's side of the field and fed it on to McDonald in stride. Working with space and time, McDonald sent a through ball that split the defense in two and Nogeuria outraced the defensive line, gathered the ball in, dribbled into the penalty box and then sent a low liner inside the left post from 16 yards away for her seventh goal of the campaign.
Just a little bit over 10 minutes later, Nogueira made UNC history when she scored the 3,000th goal in the long history of the program dating back to 1979. Nogueira's goal came on a penalty kick after UNC sophomore forward Courtney Jones had her legs taken out from under her on the right side of the box just a couple of yards inside the 18-yard line. Nogueira stepped up a sent the penalty kick easily past FSU goalkeeper Erin McNulty into the lower left of the frame.
As mentioned earlier, the goal was the 3,000th in Tar Heel history dating back to the inception of the program in 1979. In 748 games in history, UNC has now outscored its opponents 3,001 to 357, a margin of 2,644 goals. The Tar Heels have averaged 4.013 goals per game in those 748 contests.
UNC continued to put pressure on the FSU defense in an effort to get a third goal in the first half. McNulty saved a shot by Jones at the 15:46 mark and just 2:57 after that Engen sent a curving ball from 35 yards out that banged high off the right goal post with plenty of pace on it.
Harris made her first save of the game on a shot by ACC Offensive Player of the Year Tiffany McCarty in the 21st minute and McNulty came back with her second save of the match less than a minute later to deny UNC's Jessica McDonald from the right side of the box. A dangerous situation in the box created one of FSU's best chances to score in the 30th minute of play. Marissa Kazbour of the Seminoles had a shot from the top of the box headed inside the right post, but UNC junior defender Rachel Givan intervened to make a defensive save. Just before the half, the Tar Heels came tantalizingly close to making it 3-0 when senior forward Sterling Smith drove a shot from the right side of the box cross frame where McNulty had to make a diving save to force a corner kick.
The second half produced 13 shots between the two teams but only three were on frame. McNulty saved a shot by Nogueira at 51:43 to keep the Seminoles' deficit at two. But coming out of the second half TV timeout and with a whole host of substitutes on the field, the Heels got the goal to seal the deal for good. Fittingly it came off the foot of one of UNC's nine seniors, forward Sterling Smith. Brittani Bartok advanced the ball through the midfield, fed Tobin Heath in the center of the pitch and as Heath drew the defense she dumped the ball to Smith on the right side of the box. Smith kept her composure, took a couple of dribbles and crossed the ball past McNulty inside the left post from about 12 yards away.
UNC head coach Anson Dorrance emptied his bench and 23 players ended up playing in the game for Carolina, all for at least five minutes. Fittingly the defense of Eveland, Engen and Givan as well as Heath stayed in for the full 90 minutes to preserve the shutout. Harris exited in the 84 minute, giving way to freshman Hannah Daly for the final 6:12 in goal.
Near the end, Carolina had one final brilliant opportunity to score as senior forward Ashley Moore scrapped to win a ball in the penalty area at about the 12 yard line but Moore's shot was denied when McNulty made a diving kick save.
The Tar Heels improved to 57-0-3 all-time in ACC Tournament play. UNC has won 20 of the 22 ACC Tournament championships in history. Carolina also claimed the 1987 ACC title when it was based on regular-season play.
