University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Florida
No. 1 Tar Heels Top No. 5 Florida 2-0
September 19, 2010 | Women's Soccer
Sept. 19, 2010
DURHAM, N.C. - Sophomore forward Alyssa Rich and freshman striker Elizabeth Burchenal scored goals in the second half as top-ranked North Carolina eased past fifth-ranked Florida 2-0 in the Duke Nike Classic at Koskinen Stadium Sunday afternoon. With the win the Tar Heels finished the non-conference portion of their 2010 schedule with a mark of 8-0-1 with only a draw with second-ranked Stanford marring perfection.
Rich joined senior midfielder Meghan Klingenberg and freshman defender Meg Morris on the All-Tournament Team at the Duke Nike Classic.
It was a hard-fought battle between the two Top 5 teams Sunday on a 90-degree day in Durham. The match was pretty even until around the 59th minute when UNC began to take over, tallying a pair of goals and outshooting the Gators 9-0 over the last 31:23 of the match. Carolina had the fresher legs at the end as the Tar Heels were able to play their full roster Friday in a 7-1 victory over Middle Tennessee State, while Florida and Duke had battled to a 1-1 tie late Friday evening in the nightcap of a tripleheader.
Carolina took advantage of its depth to help score the game-winning goal at 60:15 of the match. The scoring play started when freshman midfielder Kealia Ohai sent a long cross from the right side of the pitch to Meghan Klingenberg in the left side of the box. Klingenberg dribbled around a defender and drew Florida goalkeeper Katie Fraine out of the goal. Klingenberg slipped the ball to Ali Hawkins who touched it on to Alyssa Rich who was unmarked at the three-yard line. Rich converted from there for her seventh goal of the season. A Florida defender sent Rich's ball back out into play but she was standing in the goal when she did so and the ball had already crossed the line.
UNC added an insurance goal at 74:24 as Elizabeth Burchenal earned her fourth tally of the season and her second in two games. Senior Ali Hawkins chested down a ball in the box to sophomore midfielder Rebecca Crabb who pushed the ball on to Burchenal who was three yards away on the left side of the goal mouth. The freshman pounced on Crabb's pass and back heeled the ball past Fraine into the goal. Crabb earned her first career point as a Tar Heel with her assist.
Carolina finished with a 16-6 edge in shots and an 8-1 advantage in corner kicks. Fraine made seven saves for UF as she went the entire 90 minutes in goal. UNC split goalkeeper time with Hannah Daly going the first half and Anna Sieloff the second 45 minutes. Sieloff earned the decision in goal to improve to 6-0-1 on the season. Sieloff made four saves for the Tar Heels, all in a period of less than seven minutes from the 49th to 56th minutes when the Gators took much of the play to the Tar Heels.
UNC outshot the Gators 4-2 in the first half and had two excellent chances to score. Amber Brooks had a header go off the cross bar at 22:17 and Courtney Jones had a shot go just wide right at 26:38 in a one-on-one situation against Fraine.
The first 10:36 of the second half was action packed with Florida outshooting the Tar Heels 4-3. Sieloff made four saves in that span and Fraine had two. After Fraine saved a shot by Courtney Jones at 58:37, the Tar Heels scored less than two minutes later. UNC would add the insurance goal in the 75th minute and it had a great opportunity to make it 3-0 in the 87th minute when Rich took a brilliant cross from Jones but pushed her shot just wide left.
Florida fell to 6-1-1 with the loss. The Tar Heels will meet another Top 5 team Thursday when they play host to Boston College at 7 p.m. at Fetzer Field.
