University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
UCF
Heath's Spectacular Night Leads Carolina Past UCF
August 28, 2009 | Women's Soccer
Aug. 28, 2009
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Senior midfielder Tobin Heath produced a pair of world-class finishes while assisting on another tally in leading the top-ranked University of North Carolina women's soccer team to a 4-0 victory over UCF Friday night in the second game of the Carolina Nike Classic at Fetzer Field. A crowd of 1,000 sat through a steady downpour to see Carolina improve to 2-0 on the season while UCF fell to 1-1.
In the opening game of the night UNC Greensboro made a goal in the 24th minute stand up in pulling off a 1-0 upset of 11th-ranked Duke. The game was delayed almost an hour by lightning in the 76th minute as the remnants of Tropical Storm Danny made its way through the Triangle area. The opponents will trade foes Sunday as UCF will meet Duke at 1 p.m. and Carolina will play UNC Greensboro at 3 p.m.
Carolina opened the scoring in the 22nd minute Friday night against the Knights. Sophomore Courtney Jones scored her second goal of the season at 21:27 after gathering in a ball sent over the top of the defense by Heath and then beating the UCF goalkeeper, Aline Reis, one-on-one from the right side of the penalty area. Junior forward Jessica McDonald won a 50-50 ball in the midfield and tapped it to Heath. The senior midfielder from Basking Ridge, N.J. then sent a ball over the defensive line that Jones ran on to just outside the penalty area before finishing from about 10 yards out.
A little over 10 minutes later, Heath put the Tar Heels up 2-0 on a 30-yard shot that sent the crowd into a frenzy. Sophomore forward Emmalie Pfankuch fed the ball to Heath on the left side of the pitch. Heath took a couple of dribbles and launched a rocket-like laser that curved around Reis and into the upper right side netting for her second goal of the campaign.
UCF had a great chance to score in the 41st minute of play after a foul on the Tar Heels on the right side of the field. The ball was served into the box where Courtney Whidden had a point-blank shot that was cleared off the line by UNC sophomore midfielder Maria Lubrano.
After leading 2-0 at the half, UNC gave itself separation in the 50th minute courtesy of Heath. Senior defender Whitney Engen sent a pass from the back line to Nikki Washington who sprinted down the right side and sent an arcing pass to the far post. Heath slid on her knees to catch up to the ball and deftly headed it over Reis into the back of the net for a 3-0 lead and her third goal of the season.
The Tar Heels closed the scoring at 73:16 as sophomore forward Brittani Bartok redirected a cross by Washington into the back left corner of the net for her first goal of the season. Freshman midfielder Amber Brooks gave Washington the initial feed and after dribbling into the penalty area Washington found Bartok unattended in front of the goal for the put away.
Courtney Whidden had one last chance to get UCF on the scoreboard in the 79th minute as she managed to get into the box behind the defense. But freshman goalkeeper Hannah Daly, who had entered the game only 40 seconds earlier, came off her line and was able to clear Whidden's close range shot away, saving the shutout for the Tar Heels.
UNC outshot UCF 18-5 in improving to 16-0-3 against the Knights in the all-time series. The Tar Heels held a 6-1 advantage in corner kicks. Reid went all 90 minutes for UCF and made seven saves. Ashlyn Harris played 77:31 and Hannah Daly 12:29 in combining for UNC's first shutout of the season. The UNC defense of Kristi Eveland, Whitney Engen, Rachel Givan and Lucy Bronze allowed only two shots by UCF in the first half and three in the second half. UNC outshot the Knights 12-3 in the second half of play.
