North Carolina
Stanford
Tar Heels & Cardinal Battle To 2-2 Draw
August 27, 2010 | Women's Soccer
Aug. 27, 2010
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CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - In a rematch of the 2009 NCAA championship game, top-ranked North Carolina and second-ranked Stanford battled to a 2-2 tie Friday night in the Carolina Nike Classic at Fetzer Field. A boisterous crowd of 4,517 fans were in attendance and saw the youthful Tar Heel side come back twice from one-goal deficits to earn a tie with the veteran Cardinal side.
North Carolina is now 2-0-1 on the season while Stanford is 1-0-2. In the first game Friday night, 19th-ranked Duke beat Missouri 3-1. The tournament will continue on Sunday with Duke and Stanford meeting at 11 a.m. and Missouri and North Carolina battling at 1 p.m.
Friday's match was as even as the final score would indicate. UNC outshot the Cardinal 14-12 and both teams had four corner kicks. Freshman Anna Sieloff made five saves for Carolina including one late in the first overtime that kept the game at 2-2. Kira Maker made four saves for the Cardinal. This marked only the third time in UNC's 32-year the Tar Heels have not won their home opener. UNC is now 29-1-2 in home openers at Fetzer with the only loss against South Carolina in 2007.
Stanford's goals came from senior All-America Christen Press and junior midfielder Teresa Noyola, whose five shots overall and four shots on goal led Stanford. UNC got goals from freshman Kealia Ohai and sophomore Amber Brooks.
The Tar Heels played for the second straight game without senior standouts Rachel Givan and Ali Hawkins who were injured in the opener at Texas A&M. Starting forward Emmalie Pfankuch also missed the match with an injury but her spot was taken in the starting lineup by Ohai. The freshman made the most of her first opportunity by scoring the first goal and assisting on the second.
Carolina had a golden opportunity in the first minute of play when Courtney Jones slipped a pass across the box to an onrushing Alyssa Rich who pushed her shot just wide of the left post at the 59-second mark.
Sieloff made her first save of the night, on a shot by Lindsay Taylor at 3:54 and exactly nine minutes later the Tar Heels were fortunate the score remained tied. Christen Press spilt the Tar Heel defense and had a breakaway against Sieloff but her shot from a couple of yards inside the box scooted just wide of the left goal standard and the game remained scoreless.
UNC had a couple of nice goal-scoring chances with shots by Courtney Jones at 17:19 and Alyssa Rich at 27:08. Maker made a big save to deny Rich and just four minutes later Stanford seized the momentum and took a 1-0 lead. Sophomore defender Courtney Verloo sent a long ball that Press gathered in. The crafty senior stayed composed in the box, beat her defenders and sent a curving ball inside the left post at 31:07.
UNC tried to get an equalizer before the end of the half with the best opportunity being a shot by midfielder Meghan Klingenberg that Maker snared before it snaked inside the right goal standard with just a little over a minute remaining in the half.
Stanford created a couple of good chances early in the second half with shots by Mariah Nogueira and Noyola being blocked by the UNC defense 25 seconds apart.
That proved to be good fortune for the Heels because after a foul near midfield UNC created the equalizer off a free kick by sophomore defender Rachel Wood. The kick found Courtney Jones who flicked the ball on to Alyssa Rich in the box. The sophomore from Cincinnati redirected the ball down and to her left giving Ohai a chance to run on to it and finish inside the right post. It was Ohai's second goal of the season and tied the match at 1-1.
Sieloff saved another shot by Noyola in the 59th minute but just over a minute later Stanford retook the momentum on a goal at 59:50 of the match. Sydney Payne settled the ball on the fall right sideline, sent it back to Camille Levin and junior defender sent a perfect cross to the far post where Noyola headed over Sieloff's outstretched glove. It was now 2-1 Stanford.
It took just over 10 minutes for Carolina to produce the equalizer, which proved to be the final goal of the match. Ohai was again involved, passing the ball from the left side outside the box to senior Katie Klimczak. Klimczak touched it on to a charging Amber Brooks who ripped a shot inside the right post with her left foot for a tie game at 70:45. After not scoring in her freshman year, Brooks has two goals in three matches so far this year.
Ohai had a shot saved by Maker at 76:54 and the Cardinal almost broke the game open on the ensuing counterattack. Noyola got behind the Tar Heel defense on a breakaway but freshman defender Crystal Dunn made up the ground somehow and Sieloff was able to come out and smother the shot at the 77:29 mark.
The game went to overtime and Stanford had the best chances of the period with all three shots. Sieloff made a big save on an outside shot by Noyola at 98:18 and a pair of shots by Allison McCann in the 100th minutes were high and saved by a back.
The Tar Heels outshot the Cardinal 3-1 in the second overtime but was unable to come away with the tying goal as the match ended in the 2-2 tie.
