University of North Carolina Athletics
From Fetzer To Finley: Finishing Well
November 6, 2011 | Women's Soccer, Dave Lohse, Featured Writers
Nov. 6, 2011
By Dave Lohse
Associate Athletic Communications Director
As of Sunday afternoon, we now know that the path to the Atlantic Coast Conference women's soccer championship still runs through Chapel Hill. Florida State's penalty kick shootout victory over Wake Forest gave the Seminoles their first league title and assured the fact that North Carolina is still the only conference school to win more than one crown.
It was just a week ago that sixth-seeded FSU upset the third-seeded Tar Heels 1-0 in double overtime at Fetzer Field, handing Carolina its first-ever ACC Tournament loss. The setback dropped UNC to 58-1-4 all-time in ACC Tournament games and the Seminoles went on to record back-to-back come-from-behind wins over Virginia and Wake Forest to claim the championship in Cary, N.C. UNC has won 20 league crowns and on the other four occasions the eventual winners -- NC State in 1988, Virginia in 2004, Wake Forest in 2010 and Florida State in 2011 -- had to prevail against the Tar Heels in one form (overtime) or another (penalty kicks) in order to hoist the trophy.
All this may be small consolation to the 17th-ranked Tar Heels, who ended their 2011 regular season on the school's first-ever three-match losing streak with that loss to Florida State. The Tar Heels' five losses in 2011 equal the most in a season in school history, matching the total in 1980 when UNC finished 21-5. Carolina was ranked 12th in the most recent RPI, the measuring stick the NCAA uses to determine NCAA bracketing.
But all that will mean little when the Tar Heels take the field Saturday, November 12 for the first round of the NCAA Tournament at Fetzer Field at 2 p.m. The Tar Heels don't know their opponent yet. The NCAA bids, seeds and tournament matchups will be announced on Monday at 4:30 p.m. in a webcast on NCAA.com.
What we do know is the Tar Heels are virtually assured of being at home in the first round of the tournament and if they can survive and advance that round they will need to become road warriors the rest of the way. In a season of many firsts for Carolina women's soccer, a pre-College Cup road game may be another first.
But let's not get ahead of ourselves. The only thing that matters to this Carolina team, which carries an 11-5-1 mark into the NCAA Tournament, is next Saturday's NCAA first round game.
This year now becomes a matter of finishing out the season well for head coach Anson Dorrance's charges. The Tar Heels have the talent to win the program's 22nd national championship. The issue is whether the Tar Heels can utilize the 13 days off between their ACC Tournament quarterfinal loss and the NCAA Tournament first round to retool themselves and make them into the kind of cohesive unit that can endure a six-game grind through the NCAA Tournament. One thing that the Tar Heels have to do better is finish out games. Carolina was 1-4-1 in overtime in the regular season. That's not a recipe for success in NCAA play.
Nevertheless, there is a road map to follow for ultimate success. Just a year ago, Carolina's long-time rival Notre Dame had a 12-day hiatus between its Big East Conference Tournament loss and its opening game in the 2010 NCAA Tournament. After dropping to a No. 4 seed with its conference tournament loss to UConn, the Fighting Irish came back a determined side and it allowed only one NCAA Tournament goal, vanquishing the Tar Heels and Oklahoma State in third round and quarterfinal road games and then beating Ohio State and heavily favored Stanford in the College Cup.
Stanford goes into the NCAA Tournament for the third straight year as an undefeated unit. The Cardinal will again be the favorite to claim the prize but there are a host of other teams who are more than capable of denying Stanford its first-ever NCAA crown. Top-seeded Stanford teams have lost in the finals each of the past two years by 1-0 scores -- to Carolina in 2009 and to Notre Dame in 2010.
For Carolina to be a player in that quest it must finish its season well by doing something it struggled to do during the regular season, that is, finishing well. In both wins and losses this season the Tar Heels created more than enough offensive chances to be a championship caliber team. Unlike past years, the Tar Heels consistently had trouble finishing those chances. When teams have trouble finishing that's usually systemic to the whole squad. It's never really about one player. Oftimes, it's simply a case of bad luck.
We've rarely if ever seen Carolina teams struggle to finish on a season-long basis like this team has although the 2009 NCAA championship team scored just 63 goals while en route to winning the title. That was the third lowest scoring output in UNC history. With goals being at a premium this year, a lot of pressure has fallen on a young defense that starts two true freshmen and a transfer goalie. Three of the five starters on defense arrived at Carolina as walk-ons. That's a lot of pressure to place on a young defense. It's actually held up well but teams can't count on winning games 1-0 in the long run and expect to be successful.
My hunch is that Dorrance and his troops are preparing for a well-timed tournament run. That's no guarantee of victory but it won't be for lack of preparation or resolve. With offensive war horses like Courtney Jones, Crystal Dunn and Kealia Ohai up top and midfield talent like Amber Brooks and Ranee Premji and a strong supporting cast on hand, Carolina has no intention to going gently into that good night of NCAA Tournament play.
A lot of teams have gotten their shots in at Carolina this season. We'll soon find out if the Tar Heels are ready to return the favor. Finishing out 2011 well, in multiple aspects, will be the determining factor.
