University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Notre Dame
Nogueira's Late Goal Sends Tar Heels To Championship Game
December 5, 2009 | Women's Soccer
Dec. 5, 2009
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COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS - Senior forward Casey Nogueira's 13th career NCAA Tournament goal proved to be a lucky one for the Tar Heels as it sent the third-ranked North Carolina women's soccer team to the finals of the 2009 tournament as Carolina blanked fifth-ranked Notre Dame 1-0 Friday night before a crowd of 8,026 at the Aggie Soccer Stadium.
UNC, which improved to 22-3-1 on the season with the victory, advances to play undefeated and untied Stanford (25-0) on Sunday at 1 p.m. EDT (12 p.m. CST) in the national championship game. It will be UNC's 23rd NCAA championship game appearance in the 28-year history of the tournament. It will also mark the second successive year in which the Tar Heels have played and undefeated and untied team in the national title contest. UNC beat Notre Dame 2-1 in last year's final in Cary, N.C. when the Fighting Irish carried a perfect record into the final match.
UNC dominated possession and outshot Notre Dame 26-8 in the match, but it took a couple of the ticks of the clock more than 82 minutes for UNC to find the back of the net. That's when Nogueira ran to a spot inside the six-yard box, splitting her defenders, and one-timed a cross from Lucy Bronze over the line for her 13th goal of the season and the seventh goal she has scored since the end of regular-season play. It was her fifth goal in the 2009 NCAA Tournament and her 13th NCAA Tournament goal of her career. While 13 may be a lucky number, there was nothing lucky about the nature of Nogueira's goal that was a well-earned one indeed.
Tobin Heath jump started the play on the winning goal as from 25 yards out in the center of the field she found Bronze, a freshman midfielder from Northumberland, England, on the right side. Bronze dribbled the ball just outside the penalty area, keeping pace with her defender and shielding the ball from the Notre Dame player as she dribbled to the end line. Bronze then she slid the ball across the face of the goal to the on-running Nogueira who had an umarked and uncomplicated put away for the game winner as redirected the cross into the left side from the three-yard line. Nogueira has now scored 13 NCAA Tournament goals and she has had game-winning goals in four of the five NCAA College Cup games in which she has played.
The UNC defense did the rest as it limited the Fighting Irish to eight shots and posted its 18th clean sheet of the season. Ashlyn Harris played all 90 minutes in goal for the Tar Heels and made one save as she recorded her 11th solo shutout of the season. The back line of seniors Kristi Eveland and Whitney Engen stood firm throughout and junior Rachel Givan made one of the key plays of the game when she made a sliding tackle to knock the ball away at the top of the box as Notre Dame mounted a counter attack in the final 20 seconds of the match.
Eveland and Engen started for the 103rd and 102nd times in their careers Friday and on Sunday, Eveland will tie the NCAA record for games played in a career against Notre Dame with her 107th career appearance. She will match the record of 107 games played by UNC's Robin Confer from 1994-97. She will also tie the school record for games started in a career with 104, a record she will share will Yael Averbuch of North Carolina (2005-08).
UNC outshot the Fighting Irish, who ended their season at 21-4-1, by a 12-4 margin in the first half but the Tar Heels were unable to get one by the Notre Dame defense in the opening 45 minutes. Just 32 seconds into the match, UNC had a free kick from about 25 yards away after a Notre Dame foul against Tobin Heath but Nogueira sent her attempt just high. After Bronze shot high from 15 yards about five minutes into the match, the Fighting Irish had the next three shots at net. Just past the six-minute mark, the Fighting Irish's Rose Augustin got free in the penalty area with Harris one-on-one but she toe-poked her shot just wide to the left. Five minutes later, Harris was forced to make her only save of the night when she gobbled up a header by Lauren Fowlkes off a corner kick by Augustin.
In the 21st minute, Carolina's Tobin Heath got free and she hit a ball from about 20 yards out that hit the cross bar and bounded away. Less than five minutes later, UNC's Nogueira sent a shot wide to the left.
The Tar Heels had their best chance of the first half when successive shots in the penalty area had to be saved off the line by Notre Dame defender Molly Campbell. The initial shot by Meghan Klingenberg from 14 yards out was saved off the goal line by Campbell at 27:19 and Courtney Jones' rebound shot from the two-yard line was booted away by Campbell. The final solid scoring opportunity of the first half came with 25 seconds left when Ali Hawkins' shot from 20 yards out went just high of the frame.
In the second half, Carolina continued to dominate play but Notre Dame had several good opportunities and counterattacking chances as well. With 33 minutes to play, Amber Brooks took a shot off a Rachel Givan corner kick that went just to the left of the frame. Then at the 66:04 mark, Rose Augustin took a feed and flicked a ball on that was chipped over Harris but hit the underside of the cross bar and was cleared out of danger by Kristi Eveland. Notre Dame had another good chance at the 71:19 mark but a shot with pace by Michele Weissenhofer flew just to the right of the frame.
After Nogueira's goal, UNC's Tobin Heath had a shot go wide right at 83:46 on a chance to put the Tar Heels up 2-0. That proved to be the final good scoring opportunity for either team as Carolina's defense closed out the shutout in the final six minutes of action.
The Tar Heels held on to win 1-0 and this will mark the 23rd time in the history of the tournament UNC will play for the national championship. Carolina is now 105-7-1 in NCAA Tournament matches. The win was the 93rd for the UNC senior class. Five of the nine seniors will be in the starting lineup for the national championship game Sunday.
