University of North Carolina Athletics
Battle of ACC Unbeatens Thursday at Fetzer
October 21, 2014 | Women's Soccer
BATTLE OF UNBEATENS COMES TO FETZER FIELD THURSDAY: North Carolina's conference partners from the Sunshine State invade Fetzer Field for a pair of games this weekend. UNC will host second-ranked Florida State Thursday at 7 p.m. and Miami Sunday at 1 p.m.
Tickets for both games are general admission and priced at $5. UNC students, faculty and staff are admitted free with UNC One Cards.
The game between UNC and Florida State will go a long way in determining the ACC regular-season champion. The two teams are the only remaining unbeatens in league play at 7-0, one game ahead of Virginia.
FSU, defending ACC Tournament champion and NCAA finalist, is ranked second all the polls and is 14-1 overall. Carolina, winner of nine in a row, is a consensus #5 in the polls and is 10-2-1.
Miami plays at NC State Thursday prior to visiting Carolina on Sunday. The Hurricanes head to Raleigh 2-12-1 overall and 0-5-1 in the league
Both games will get television love this weekend. Thursday's game will be called by Jenn Hildreth and Katie Witham on the ACC's Regional Sports Network which includes 17 regional cable affiliates. It will also be simulcast on ESPN3.
Sunday's UNC-Miami tilt will be webcast on GoHeelsTV.
As usual both games will also be broadcast locally on WCHL Radio (97.9 FM, Chapelboro.com) with the dulcet tones of Paul Connell and John Stanley gracing the airwaves.
PROMOTIONS FOR THIS WEEKEND'S GAMES: Thursday's game against Florida State will be both Rams Club Day and Faculty/Staff Appreciation Day at Fetzer Field. Rams Club members will be offered free admission and prizes will be available to Rams Club members.
Sunday's game versus Miami has reduced admission for Academic All-Stars (all tickets $3) and Family Packs will be available with four tickets for $10 (advance sale at GoHeels Ticket Center only).
At Thursday's game, All Rams Club members get in free. Thay are asked to check in at the Rams Club table outside the main gate of Fetzer Field before they enter the stadium.
Free pizza will be available to the first 250 students attending the game beginning at 6 p.m. Free "I Believe That We Will Win" water bottles will be distributed to the first 200 students beginning at 6 p.m. In addition, DJ Forge will be playing in the student section during pre-game warmups.
Sunday's game includes Academic All-Star tickets, Senior Day for the Tar Heels' seven seniors and post-match autographs.
LAST TIME OUT FOR THE TAR HEELS: Carolina is coming off one of its best all-around games of the season last Sunday when it won at Duke 3-0.
Tar Heels controlled the run of play in outshooting the Blue Devils 15-6 and posting a clean sheet versus Duke for the fourth straight year.
All three Tar Heel goals were scored by reserves with Emily Bruder tallying the first two, giving her four goals in the past two games, and Alex Kimball recording her first career tally.
TICKETS FOR THE TWO MATCHES: All tickets for Thursday's UNC versus Wake Forest match and Sunday's UNC-Pittsburgh match are general admission. Tickets are on sale in advance at the Ticket Center on GoHeels.com.
Tickets will also be available at the Carmichael Arena Ticket Office on game days beginning at 6 p.m. Thursday and 12 noon Sunday.
Tickets are priced at $5 for general admission seats. UNC faculty, staff and students will all be admitted free of charge by showing their UNC One Cards at the Fetzer Field gate. There are also a host of reduced admission specials for Sunday's game versus Miami.
THURSDAY'S BASICS: North Carolina has won nine matches in a row and boasts a record of 10-2-1 overall and 7-0-0 in the Atlantic Coast Conference heading into Thursday's match. Florida State is 14-1-0 and 7-0-0 in the league. In its most recent encounter, the Seminoles held Pittsburgh without a shot in a 3-0 win over the Panthers last Saturday.
UNC heads into the match ranked in the Top 10 in all three major polls. Carolina is ranked fifth by Soccer America, fifth by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America and fifth by Top Drawer Soccer.
GOALS BY RESERVES: Anson Dorrance has been crediting his team's depth for its successful season, especially during the nine-match winning streak.
UNC shares the ball as shown the by the fact that 11 of 22 goals scored by Carolina this year were tallied by players who did not start games, including the last five goals in a row.
BRUDER'S BACK-TO-BACK BRACES: After not scoring a goal in her first year and a half on the team, Emily Bruder has turned into super sub for Carolina in the past two games.
She scored both goals in a 2-1 win over Pitt on October 12 and then came back to score the opening two goals of the game in the most recent win over Duke 3-0.
The last player to have back-to-back two-goal games for Carolina was Summer Green against Marquette and San Diego on September 7 and September 9, 2012.
TELEVISION COVERAGE FOR UNC-FLORIDA STATE: The game between North Carolina and Florida State will be televised on the Atlantic Coast Conference's Regional Sports Network with 17 cable affiliates across the nation showing the game. It was also be simulcast on ESPN3. Jenn Hildreth will be on the call for RSN with Katie Witham providing the color.
TELEVISION COVERAGE FOR UNC-MIAMI: Sunday's match with Miami will be wecast on GoHeelsTV beginning at 1 p.m. It will mark the 15th straight game the Tar Heels have been featured on either a TV broadcast or webcast. Only the Syracuse is not being shown live on any entity.
RADIO COVERAGE FOR BOTH GAMES THIS WEEK: The games between North Carolina and Floruda State Thursday and the Tar Heels and Miami Sunday will both be broadcast live on WCHL Radio (97.9 FM) and simulcast on Chapelboro.com.
Paul Connell will be the voice of the Tar Heels handling the play by play while John Stanley will be the color analyst.
LIVE STATS FOR BOTH CONTESTS: GoHeels.com will feature a live stats link for both games this week via the Gamewatcher application.
FOLLOW CAROLINA WOMEN'S SOCCER ON TWITTER: Fans will be able to follow Carolina women's soccer all season long through Twitter updates at both @ncwomenssoccer (athletic communications office account) and @uncwomenssoccer (players and staff account).
CAROLINA VERSUS FLORIDA STATE: Carolina will be looking to end a four-match losing streak against the Seminoles, all games decided by a single goal.
All-time UNC leads the series 24-6-2. FSU holds the longest winning streak ever against Carolina at four. Santa Clara and Maryland have had three-game winning streaks versus Carolina, which has lost only 56 games in its 26-year history.
Carolina's last win over the Seminoles came in the 2011 regular-season meeting in Tallahasse when goals by Amber Brooks and Courtney Jones lifted Carolina to a 2-0 win.
THE TAR HEELS VERSUS MIAMI: Sunday's game will mark only the 12th meeting between the two teams.
Carolina leads Miami all-time 9-2 with losses in Coral Gables in 2007 and 2009.
The Tar Heels have won the past four meetings against the Hurricanes by a combined 19-2 margin.
200TH ACC REGULAR SEASON MATCH FOR CAROLINA: The matchup between UNC and Virginia Tech on Friday, October 3 marked the 200th ACC regular season match in Tar Heel history.
Carolina's all-time ACC record is now 176-21-6, a winning percentage of 88.2 percent after its 3-0 win at Duke last Sunday.
A 7-0 ACC START FOR CAROLINA: North Carolina has started the ACC season with seven successive victories for the first time since 2008.
The Tar Heels opened that season with eight straight conference wins en route to a 9-0-1 league mark. UNC finished 25-1-2 that season while winning its 20th national championship. The only tie on its record that year in league play came against Florida State at Fetzer Field 2-2.
THREE STRAIGHT ROAD MATCHES TO START THE LEAGUE CAMPAIGN: With matches at Notre Dame, Clemson and NC State to start the ACC season, Carolina began its league docket with three straight road matches for the first time since 2002.
Carolina opened that season with successive ACC matches at NC State, Clemson and Florida State.
VIRTUALLY NOTHING BUT CLOSE GAMES: Prior to a pair of thre-goal wins in two of the past three matches, Carolina had played nothing but nailbiting encounters to date in the 2014 season.
Through 13 games of the campaign, Carolina played to a 0-0 tie at #1 UCLA and other than that has played 10 other games decided by a single goal.
UNC is 8-2 in one-goal decisions this year.
A year ago, Carolina played 12 matches decided by a single goal, going 8-4 in those games.
SUCCESSIVE HOME WINS: After spending the early part of the ACC season on the road, Carolina returned to Fetzer Field on October 3 and ran off home wins in its next three games.
The streak started with a 3-2 win over fifth-ranked Virginia Tech. Carolina built a 3-0 lead just three minutes into the second half after goals by Megan Buckingham, Sarah Ashley Firstenberg (her career first) and Joanna Boyles. Momentum quickly shirted and Virginia Tech outshot the Tar Heels 10-3 in the second half. The Hokies put two on the board within 12 minutes of Carolina taking the 3-0. But Carolina's defense responded and limited the Hokies to just one shot in the final 23 minutes of the match.
Carolina then had a successful weekend against Wake Forest and Pittsburgh and recorded 3-0 and 2-1 wins, respectively.
Paige Nielsen's goal in the 15th minute put the Heels up early against Wake Forest and second half tallies by Cameron Castleberry and Sarah Ashley Firstenberg insured the win.
A determined Pitt team came to Chapel Hill on a rainy day on October 12 and grabbed an early lead on a free kick. But Emily Bruder came off the bench to score the first two goals of her career to give the Heels a 2-1 halftime advantage.
UNC was rarely challenged in the second half but despite a 16-3 shot edge in the final 45 minutes was unable to put more separation between itself and the Panthers.
ROAD WIN AGAINST WOLFPACK: UNC defeated NC State 2-1 September 28 in Raleigh, N.C. Carolina got a first-half goal from Amber Munerlyn and a second-half tally from Paige Nielsen to build a 2-0 lead before holding off a late rally by the Wolfpack.
Carolina outshot the Wolfpack 26-5 in the game to improve to 44-1-2 all-time against NC State.
TAR HEELS CLAIM GUTTY WIN AT CLEMSON: The Tar Heels claimed a gutty win at #16 Clemson September 25 to remain unbeaten in the ACC. The Tigers may be the most improved team in the nation after winning only one ACC game two years ago. Clemson was ranked #10 in the RPI and was rated in the Top 25 of all three major polls (NSCAA, Soccer America, Top Drawer Soccer) at the time it played the Tar Heels.
The match was dead even statistically with both teams taking 11 shots, both teams taking two corner kicks and both teams committing six fouls. The only difference was the fact UNC goalkeepers Bryane Heaberlin and Lindsey Harris combined for six saves while Clemson's Kailen Sheridan had three saves.
UNC took an early lead against the Tigers when Joanna Boyles scored on a header off a corner kick by Summer Green at the 3:43 mark. UNC held on to that lead for nearly 64 minutes before Clemson's Salma Anastasio scored on a rebound in the 68th minute.
Carolina's game-winning goal came on a header by freshman Megan Buckingham in the 77th minute with assists by Paige Nielsen and Jewel Christian.
It was Buckingham's second goal of the year and both have been game-winning tallies.
TAR HEELS RALLY FOR DOUBLE OVERTIME WIN AT NOTRE DAME IN ACC OPENER: Ninth-ranked North Carolina rallied from a 2-0 halftime deficit to defeat 18th-ranked Notre Dame 3-2 on September 20 before a crowd of 2,024 fans at Alumni Stadium.
North Carolina senior midfielder Kat Nigro scored the winning goal for the Tar Heels 27 seconds into the second overtime period, just the second goal of her career and the first since she scored against Illinois in November of her sophomore year. She finished an opportunity from 15 yards out into the lower left corner of the frame off a long cross from Cameron Castleberry from the far right corner. Joanna Boyles also assisted on the goal.
Trailing 2-0 at the half, Carolina got back into the game with a goal by Cameron Castleberry, her first of the season and third of her career. Castleberry took a pass from Emily Bruder, dribbled through a hole in the defense, and scored left-footed past Notre Dame goalkeeper Kaela Little into the right side of the net at 60:43.
UNC drew equal at 75:47 when sophomore midfielder Joanna Boyles scored her second career goal on a direct free kick. She sent a blast from 24 yards out into the upper right corner of the frame, a perfectly placed kick that Little had no chance to save. UNC's Jewel Christian had drawn the foul to set up the free kick.
TAR HEELS IN OVERTIME THIS YEAR: Carolina has played overtime games in four of its 10 contests of the 2014 season. UNC is 2-1-1 in overtime this campaign.
Carolina opened the season with a 1-0 overtime loss to #6 Stanford. The Tar Heels played top-ranked UCLA to a scoreless tie in Los Angeles on August 29. Carolina's two most recent overtime games have gone to a second extra period as the Tar Heels beat #7 Penn State on Amber Munerlyn's goal in the 103rd minute on September 5 and then defeated #18 Notre Dame on September 20 on Kat Nigro's goal in the 101st minute.
In its last nine overtime games dating to a win over BYU in 2012, UNC is 5-3-1. All-time, Carolina is 35-13-29 in overtime contests. That's an all-time winning percentage of .643 in extra time contests.
Carolina has an astounding .944 winning percentage in games that have ended in regulation time in its history.
ANOTHER TOP 20 FOE: Virginia Tech marked the eighth opponent in the first 10 games for the Tar Heels that had been ranked in the Top 20 at the time of the game. Virginia Tech was ranked #5 by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.
So far this year, Carolina met Stanford when the Cardinal was ranked #6 in the NSCAA poll, UCLA when it was ranked #1, Pepperdine when it was ranked #17, Penn State when it was ranked #7, Arkansas when it was rated #18, Notre Dame when it was ranked #18 and Clemson when it was ranked #16.
Based on the October 7 NSCAA poll, Carolina will have played by the end of the year #1 UCLA, #2 Florida State, #4 Stanford, #7 Penn State, #9 Notre Dame, #11 Pepperdine, #14 Virginia Tech and #20 Clemson.
RALLYING FROM A TWO-GOAL DEFICIT: North Carolina rallied from a 2-0 halftime deficit to defeat Notre Dame on September 20 in South Bend, Ind.
The Tar Heels came back from a two-goal deficit to win for the first time since September 1, 2006 when UNC trailed Connecticut 2-0 at halftime but rallied to win 3-2 in regulation at New Haven, Conn.
Carolina has played 856 matches in its history. There have been only 22 games in that time in which the Tar Heels have ever trailed by more than a single goal in a game.
The Notre Dame comeback marked the fifth time UNC has rallied from two goals down to win. The Tar Heels also accomplished the feat against Santa Clara in 1993, Duke in 1999, NC State in 2003, Connecticut in 2006 and Notre Dame in 2014.
A FIRST IN FIGHTING IRISH HISTORY: North Carolina's 3-2 double overtime win at Notre Dame marked the first time in 352 games in which Notre Dame has held as much as a two-goal lead that the Fighting Irish have ended up losing. After falling to Carolina, Notre Dame was 350-1-1 in matches in their history where they held a lead of at least two goals.
TAR HEELS IN ACC OPENERS: North Carolina defeated Notre Dame 3-2 in double overtime at South Bend, Indiana on September 20. It marked the ACC opener for both teams.
The Tar Heels improved to 23-3-1 overall in conference openers with the win over the Irish.
Carolina's losses in ACC openers came at Maryland 2-1 on September 13, 2012, against Boston College in Chapel Hill 3-2 on September 23, 2010 and at NC State 2-1 on September 10, 2002. UNC also tied its ACC opener at NC State 1-1 on September 20, 1988.
13 DAYS BETWEEN MATCHES: When North Carolina played at Notre Dame on September 20 it marked UNC's first match in 13 days. It was the third time in the last four years that the Tar Heels had a 13-day break between matches but in the previous two cases the long gap was due to post-season circumstances.
In 2011 and 2012, UNC fell in ACC Tournament quarterfinal matches on a Sunday afternoon to Florida State and Virginia, respectively, and did not play again until 13 days later when they met William & Mary and Radford in NCAA Tournament first round matches.
This year's 13-day break, however, came in the middle of the regular season and UNC has had only two similar gaps from competition dating back to the program's founding in 1979.
In 1984, UNC did not play any matches for 14 days as Carolina was out of action from September 8 to September 22.
In Carolina's initital season of 1979, the Tar Heels had a 20-day stretch without any matches, going from September 23 to October 13 without playing.
CASTLEBERRY NAMED ACC PLAYER OF THE WEEK: North Carolina sophomore midfielder Cameron Castleberry was named the ACC Player of the Week, announced on September 23 by the league.
Castleberry totaled three points on a goal and an assist in North Carolina's dramatic 3-2 come-from-behind victory over Notre Dame in both teams' ACC opener on Saturday, Sept. 20 at Alumni Stadium. It marked the first time since Sept. 1, 2006 in which the Tar Heels came back from a two-goal deficit to win 3-2.
With the Fighting Irish ahead 2-0, Castleberry's goal in the 61st minute began North Carolina's furious comeback. After taking a pass from Emily Bruder, Castleberry dribbled through several Notre Dame defenders into the box and delivered the strike at 60:43 to pull the Tar Heels within a goal. After Carolina forced overtime, the Raleigh, North Carolina, native had the primary assist on UNC's game-winning goal just 27 seconds into the second overtime period. Castleberry dribbled into the far right corner and sent a perfect cross directly to the foot of Kat Nigro, who one-timed it from 15 yards past ND keeper Kaela Little for the golden goal.
NORTH CAROLINA IN THE RPI: North Carolina is ranked #3 in the most recent NCAA Division I women's soccer RPI (Ratings Percentage Index) of the 2014 season which was released this past Monday.
The initial RPI was released on Monday, September 23 and Carolina earned the #1 spot that week. It was then #2 and #4 before moving back up to #3 this week.
UCLA leads the current RPI followed by Stanford, North Carolina, Penn State and Texas A&M in the Top 5. Six through 10 are Florida State, Florida, West Virginia, Virginia and South Carolina.
Unlike national polls on which designated rankers vote on a weekly basis, the RPI is a computerized index primarily used by the NCAA to determine NCAA Tournament berths and seedings.
TAR HEELS BOUNCE BACK AT DUKE NIKE CLASSIC: North Carolina won the championship of the Duke Nike Classic on September 5 and September 7, bouncing back from an 0-1-1 road trip to the West Coast by beating #7 Penn State 1-0 in double overtime and downing #18 Arkansas 2-1.
The wins over Penn State and Arkansas stopped a two-match losing streak and prevented the Tar Heels from having a losing record five games into a season for the first time in history.
ALL-TOURNAMENT HONORS AT DUKE TOURNAMENT: Four UNC players were named to the All-Tournament Team at the Duke Nike Classic September 5 and 7 led by Tournament Most Valuable Defensive Player Brooke Elby, a senior midfielder from Arcadia, Calif.
Other Tar Heels on the All-Tournament Team were junior forward Summer Green, senior defender Satara Murray and freshman defender Jessie Scarpa.
MUNERLYN COMES UP BIG AGAINST PENN STATE: Sophomore forward Amber Munerlyn's third career goal was a huge one for the Tar Heels as she scored on a breakaway at 102:07 to beat #7 Penn State in double overtime on September 5, 2014 at the Duke Nike Classic.
Munerlyn's goal, off Joanna Boyles' first career assist, ended a UNC scoreless streak of 329 minutes and 33 seconds, the longest in Tar Heel history. The Tar Heels' Megan Buckingham had scored at the 72:34 mark of the 1-0 win over Ohio State on August 24.
UNC then went scoreless the final 17:26 of that match, all 110 minutes against UCLA, all 90 minutes versus Pepperdine and the first 102:07 against Penn State.
TAR HEELS CONTINUE WIN STREAK AGAINST #18 HOGS: Two days after beating Penn State on Munerlyn's golden goal, Carolina came back with another winning effort against a nationally-ranked team.
Outshooting #18 Arkansas by a 22-4 margin, UNC prevailed 2-1. UNC forward Summer Green scored the opening goal of the game and then late in the first half freshman Annie Kingman tallied the game-winning goal off an assist by fellow freshman Jewel Christian.
UNC FRESHMEN COMBINING FOR GAME WINNERS: In three of UNC's early victories, Carolina got the game-winning goal and an assist on the game-winner from freshmen.
In a 1-0 win over Ohio State on September 24, freshman Megan Buckingham scored the game winner off an assist by Annie Kingman at 72:34.
In UNC's 2-1 win over Arkansas on September 7, it was Kingman who notched the game-winning goal at 38:30 off an assist by fellow freshman Jewel Christian.
Megan Buckingham scored her second game-winner of the season when Carolina beat Clemson 2-1 on September 25. Her game-winner came with 13:01 to play in the match and was assisted by freshman Jewel Christian.
ELBY NAMED ACC PLAYER OF THE WEEK SEPTEMBER 9: North Carolina senior midfielder Brooke Elby was named the ACC Women's Soccer Player of the week, as announced Tuesday, September 9 by the league office. It was the first player of the week honor of her career.
Elby was named the defensive Most Valuable Player of the Duke Nike Classic as the Tar Heels defeated a pair of Top 20 foes, No. 7 Penn State and No. 18 Arkansas. Elby played all 102 minutes of the 1-0 double overtime shutout against the previously unbeaten Nittany Lions, who entered the match scoring nearly three goals per game. Two days later, Elby played all but four minutes against the Razorbacks, while helping to hold them to just four shots en route to the 2-1 victory. The Arcadia, California native also assisted Summer Green's goal in the 17th minute that gave the Tar Heels an early 1-0 lead.
TOUGH TRIP TO WEST COAST: North Carolina's performance in the Duke Nike Classic was a positive bounce back effort by the Tar Heels after they struggled to score goals on a tough West Coast sojourn on Labor Day weekend.
The Tar Heels spent much of the first three weeks of the season working through the process of losing six starters to graduation and the professional ranks off last year's NCAA quarterfinalist team and having five other players expected to be starters this season being lost to either season-ending (Caitlin Ball, Alexa Newfield and Hanna Gardner) or short-term injuries (Summer Green and Jessie Scarpa). Carolina lost its fourth 2014 player to a season-ending injury when Brooke Elby went down with a knee injury nine minutes into the match at NC State September 28.
Against #1-ranked and defending NCAA champion UCLA August 29, Carolina earned a hard-fought 0-0 double overtime tie against the defending NCAA champion Bruins. The Tar Heels were outshot in the game 12-4 and failed to put a shot on goal for only the second time in school history (the other instance was against Virginia in the 2012 ACC Tournament quarterfinals).
But UNC's defense stifled the Bruins' starting 11 from getting great looks at goal and did not allow them to score with Bryane Heaberlin making five first half saves, exceeding her career record for saves in a match (previous mark was four versus Boston College in Chestnut Hill in 2012).
Two days later Carolina played at #17 Pepperdine and fell 1-0 in a match where the Waves outshot the Tar Heels 10-9. With both defender Hanna Gardner and forward Summer Green missing the match because of injuries, the Tar Heels fell to a Pepperdine squad that had allowed only one goal in its first four games this season.
TAR HEELS SPLIT GAMES TO OPEN SEASON: The Tar Heels opened the season by going 1-1 in the Carolina Nike Classic at Fetzer Field on August 22 and 24.
Four very competitive games were played in the tournament with Stanford going 2-0, Ohio State and Carolina going 1-1 and Duke going 0-2.
On August 22, fourth-ranked Carolina fell to sixth-ranked Stanford 1-0 in overtime. The Cardinal got a goal in the 99th minute of play from U.S. Youth International star Chioma Obogagu to seal a 1-0 victory. Stanford goalkeeper Jane Campbell was the star of the game with nine saves.
The Cardinal notched their first victory over the Tar Heels in 13 tries in the process.
Carolina dominated the first half of the game against Stanford, outshooting the Cardinal 7-1 but Campbell's five first-half saves kept the Tar Heels off the scoreboard. After halftime, each team took 11 shots before Obogagu scored exactly at the 99-minute mark off an assist by Alex Doll.
Two days after falling to Stanford, UNC rebounded to defeat Ohio State 1-0 at Fetzer Field. The Tar Heels outshot the Buckeyes 21-4 in the match and had an 11-2 edge in corner kicks.
Carolina outshot the Buckeyes 14-1 in the opening 45 minutes but Megan Geldernick made seven first half saves to keep the Tar Heels off the scoreboard.
UNC eventually broke through to win the game on a goal at 72:34 by freshman forward Megan Buckingham. She was assisted on the goal by freshman Annie Kingman and sophomore Sarah Ashley Firstenberg. It was the first career points for all three Tar Heel players.
TAR HEELS IN THE CAROLINA NIKE CLASSIC: On the opening weekend of the season, Carolina split a pair of games in the Carolina Nike Classic as the Tar Heels fell to Stanford 1-0 in overtime before beating Ohio State 1-0.
UNC has now hosted a version of the Carolina Nike Classic, under the current name or the names of other title sponsors, since the initial event in 1980 a total of 24 times.
Carolina has a 43-3-2 record in its early season tournaments at home. The only losses were to Penn State in 1999, Notre Dame in 2008 and Stanford in 2014 with ties against Stanford in 2010 and Florida in 2012.
WELCOMING BACK OUR U20S: Carolina welcomed back to practice the opening week of the season its three players who had been competing in the FIFA U20 World Cup in Canada.
Junior forward Summer Green competed for the United States in that competiton as the Red, White & Blue reached the quarterfinals of the tournament. Green came off the bench in all four games the U.S. played in the tournament. She excelled in all four games. In the second game of group play against Brazil, Green beat a pair of defenders on the end line and fed Lindsay Horan on the game-winning goal in the 1-0 victory for the USA.
Junior midfielder Katie Bowen served as the captain of the New Zealand team at the FIFA U20 World Cup. She helped lead the Football Ferns to the quarterfinals of the tournament, the first time New Zealand has advanced beyond group play in the event.
Sophomore midfielder Jenny Chiu also competed in the U20 World Cup, representing Mexico.
JUST TWICE SINCE 1986: Carolina's 2-0 setback against Virginia on October 20, 2013 marked only the second loss for the Tar Heels by a margin of more than one goal in 690 games.
That streak traced back to the opening game of the 1986 season against George Mason. Carolina's only other loss since that time by a margin of greater than a goal came on November 20, 2010 when the Tar Heels lost 4-1 at Fetzer Field against Notre Dame in the NCAA Tournament third round.
Heading into the Florida State game Thursday, Carolina has lost just two games by a margin greater than a goal in the past 712 matches.
DID YOU KNOW...: North Carolina would have to lose its next 717 games in a row for Head Coach Anson Dorrance to have a .500 coaching winning percentage in his career at the helm of the Tar Heels.
UNC enters this Thursday's game with Florida State with an all-time record of 773-56-30. Dorrance has coached the Tar Heels in all 859 of their games.
DID YOU KNOW, PART 2...: When North Carolina lost to Notre Dame 1-0 on September 15, 2013 and to Florida State 1-0 on September 18, 2013, it marked the first time since October 16, 1982 and October 17, 1982 that the Tar Heels had lost back-to-back games in regulation time.
The Tar Heels lost to Missouri-St. Louis 2-1 on October 16, 1982 and to Cortland State 2-1 on October 17, 1982 with both games being played at the UCF Invitational in Orlando, Fla.
It took another 31 years for the Tar Heels to lose back-to-back games in regulation time.
DID YOU KNOW PART 3: Carolina has lost just 50 matches to varsity programs in its history. Because of the lack of varsity programs available to play in the early years of the program and the limitations on travel in those early years, UNC's first six losses came against club teams.
Altogether, 50 of Carolina's 56 losses have come against varsity teams since the final game of the 1980 season against Harvard.
CAROLINA IN SEASON OPENERS: After Carolina's 1-0 overtime loss against Stanford on August 22, 2014, UNC has lost five times in season-opening games.
Carolina has a record of 29-5-2 all-time in season openers with losses in 1983 vs. Connecticut (road), 2006 vs.Texas A&M (road), 2007 vs. South Carolina (home), 2012 vs. Portland (road) and 2014 vs. Stanford (home) and ties in 1985 vs. George Mason (home) and 2002 vs. Nebraska (road).
UNC IN HOME OPENERS: North Carolina has a record of 31-2-3 in home openers all-time. The only losses came to South Carolina 1-0 in 2007 and to Stanford 1-0 in overtime in 2014 and the ties were against George Mason in 1985, against Stanford in 2010 and against Florida in 2012.
THE ALL-TIME RECORD: UNC heads into its match against Florida State with a record of 773-56-30 overall, a winning percentage of .917.
AVERAGE RECORD PER YEAR: UNC's average record per year in its 36 years of soccer is 21.47 wins per year, 1.55 losses per year and 0.83 ties per year.
SHUTOUTS ARE INFREQUENT: UNC's 1-0 loss at Pepperdine on August 31, 2014 was only the 41st time the Tar Heels have been shut out in their history. Altogether, UNC has played 859 matches since 1979.
They have been blanked on the scoreboard in only 4.8 percent of the games they have played in. Carolina has suffered 30 shutout losses in its history. The Tar Heels have also played 11 scoreless ties in their history history.
Only three times in UNC history have the Tar Heels been shutout in back-to-back games in the same season.
That happened against Portland and Florida in 2012, against Notre Dame and Florida State in 2013 and against UCLA and Pepperdine in 2014.
17 ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICAS SINCE 2005: On November 26, 2013, UNC junior defender Caitlin Ball of Chapel Hill, N.C. was chosen as a first-team Academic All-America by Capital One and the College Sports Information Directors of America.
UNC has had 17 selections for the Capital One Academic All-America first, second and third teams since 2005.
Carolina also had seven women's soccer players named Academic All-Americas from 1983-2001, giving the program 24 selections since the Academic All-America program began in 1983. Academic All-Americas were chosen for women's soccer in an at-large pool from 1983-2004. In 2005, a specific women's soccer academic All-America Team was selected by Capital One and CoSIDA.
Following is a summary of the 24 selections since 1983.
- 1983 - Lauren Gregg, third team.
- 1985 - Beth Huber, second team.
- 1993 - Shelley Finger, second team.
- 1994 - Shelley Finger, first team.
- 1998 - Cindy Parlow, first team.
- 2000 - Lindsay Stoecker, second team.
- 2001 - Kristin DePlatchett, first team.
- 2005 - Heather O'Reilly, second team; Lindsay Tarpley, third team.
- 2006 - Heather O'Reilly, first team (Academic All-America of the Year); Anna Rodenbough, second team; Yael Averbuch, third team.
- 2007 - Yael Averbuch, second team; Anna Rodenbough, second team.
- 2008 - Kristi Eveland, first team; Yael Averbuch, first team (Academic All-America of the Year); Anna Rodenbough, second team.
- 2009 - Kristi Eveland, first team; Whitney Engen, second team; Ashlyn Harris, second team.
- 2011 - Adelaide Gay, first team; Amber Brooks, second team.
- 2012 - Amber Brooks, first team.
- 2013 - Caitlin Ball, first team.
TAR HEELS IN THE ACC: Parity arrived in the Atlantic Coast Conference many years ago and yet the Tar Heels finished the 2013 campaign still having lost only 21 ACC regular-season games since league play began in 1987.
The Tar Heels are 176-21-6 all-time in ACC regular-season matches after beating Duke last Sunday 3-0.
UNC has averaged just 0.75 ACC regular-season losses a year in the 28 years of league play.
When North Carolina dropped back-to-back 1-0 decisions against Notre Dame and Florida State on September 18 and September 21, 2013, it marked only the fourth time in school history that UNC had lost successive regular-season conference games.
The other three occasions were October 23, 2011 at Virginia Tech (0-1) and October 27, 2011 at Maryland (1-2 in overtime); October 22, 2009 at Florida State (2-3 in two overtimes) and October 25, 2009 at Miami (0-1); and October 17, 2000 at Florida State (2-3 in double overtime) and October 27, 2000 at Wake Forest (0-1).
Remarkably, in three of the past four seasons, including last year, UNC had a losing record in ACC play at one point in the season. The Tar Heels started the 2010 season 0-1 in the ACC, the 2012 season 1-2-1 in the ACC and the 2013 season 1-2 in the ACC. The only other time in history when UNC had a losing record in ACC regular-season play in its history was 2002 when the Tar Heels lost their season opener to NC State.
