University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Middle Tennessee State
Early Barrage Powers Tar Heels Past Blue Raiders
September 17, 2010 | Women's Soccer
Sept. 17, 2010
DURHAM, N.C. - After scoring only two goals on its road trip to California last weekend, North Carolina's top-ranked women's soccer team exploded for four tallies in the first 23 minutes en route to a 7-1 victory over Middle Tennessee State at the Duke Nike Classic at Koskinen Stadium Friday afternoon. Tar Heel sophomore forward Alyssa Rich had her first career hat trick and senior midfielder Meghan Klingenberg recorded her first multi-goal game in her time at Carolina to lead an offense that produced UNC's second seven-goal output in the past four games.
The Tar Heels improved to 7-0-1 on the season while the Blue Raiders dropped to 3-5. Coach Anson Dorrance's Tar Heels will meet fifth-ranked Florida Sunday at 12 noon at the Duke Nike Classic in a battle of Top 5 teams. Host Duke and Florida faced off at 9 p.m. Friday night.
Rich and Klingenberg each had career high games for the Tar Heels with their three and two goals, respectively. Each player also had an assist in the game. Freshman forward Elizabeth Burchenal also had a multi-point game with a goal and an assist. Rachel Wood had UNC's other goal, her first scoring strike since November 22, 2008.
The Tar Heels outshot the Blue Raiders 31-2 and held an 11-0 advantage in corner kicks. Dorrance liberally used his bench all day with 23 players seeing an action, all for at least 11 minutes or more.
Alyssa Rich was involved in the first three goals of the game for UNC. After MTSU goalkeeper Rebecca Cushing made a brilliant save on a blistering strike by Courtney Jones in the sixth minute by punching the ball over the crossbar, the Tar Heels struck for a 1-0 lead on the ensuing corner kick. Rich served a ball from the left corner on a line into the middle of the box where Rachel Wood headed it down into the lower right corner of the goal at 5:47. Wood, who missed last year because of an ongoing bout with ulcerative colitis, scored her first goal since November 22, 2008 when she tallied against Illinois in the third round of the NCAA Tournament.
It took just a little over three minutes for the Tar Heels to make it 2-0. Meghan Klingenberg fed a ball down the left side to Alyssa Rich. Rich dribbled toward the center of the pitch and struck a ball from 25 yards out over Cushing's outstretched figures and into the upper right of the frame. It was Rich's fourth goal of the season. The goal came at 8:56.
Carolina would make it 4-0 in a span of just 25 seconds later in the half. At 22:06, Rich scored her second goal of the game, tapping in a perfect cross from the right side of the box from Courtney Jones into the lower left of the goal. UNC substituted its entire front line after the goal and just 25 seconds later two of the reserves figured in the Tar Heels' fourth goal. It was a tally that after the game Dorrance said was as fine a goal as UNC has scored in the history of the program.
Freshman Elizabeth Burchenal fed a ball across the top of the penalty area from the right side to Ali Hawkins in the middle at the top of the 18. Hawkins pushed it to the left side and Klingenberg ran on to the ball and one-timed it into the lower right of the frame at 22:31. It was Klingenberg's third goal of the season.
The Tar Heels ended up with a 4-0 halftime lead but less than five minutes into the second half, Middle Tennessee showed its spunk by tallying a breakaway goal at 49:28 of the match. Charity Blair sent a long pass over the Tar Heel back line and Vanessa Mueggler ran on to it and finished from the left side from around 18 yards out into the lower right corner. It was Mueggler's fifth goal of the campaign.
Just a few minutes later the Tar Heels again struck for two goals in less than a minute's time. At 52:48, Rich, who had never previously even had two goals in a game, completed her hat trick and recorded her sixth goal of the season. Rich took a pass from freshman Crytsal Dunn and finished from about the 12-yard line into the lower left.
Less than a minute later, freshman Kealia Ohai was taken down in the box by a MTSU defender. Klingenberg stepped up a struck the penalty kick successfully into the lower left for her third goal of the season.
UNC finished off the scoring at 77:27 as freshman Elizabeth Burchenal headed home her third goal of the season. Senior Katie Klimczak sent a corner kick from the right side that went to the far post to the head of sophomore Megan Brigman. The defender nodded the ball back to the center of the frame where Burchenal sent a header into the net from four yards away. Burchenal has now scored two goals on headers off corner kicks this season.
The multi-goal games by Rich and Klingenberg were the first for UNC this season. In its first seven games of the season UNC scored 23 goals but no more than one by any player in any game.
