University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels Start NCAA Tourney Play Friday
November 13, 2014 | Women's Soccer
The game will be played at Fetzer Field with a 5 p.m. kickoff.
The Tar Heels have earned a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament with the opportunity to host three games if they continue to advance.
The Tar Heels go into Friday's match with a record of 12-3-2 while South Dakota State is 10-7-2. The Jackrabbits earned the automatic bid from the Summit League after prevailing against Denver on penalty kicks in the championship game.
Friday's Carolina game will be webcast live on GoHeelsTV. Kyle Straub will serve as play by play announcer for the webcast.
TICKETS FOR FRIDAY'S GAME: Tickets for Friday's game are on sale now at the Ticket Center on GoHeels.com. Fans can also buy tickets on game day at the Carmichael Arena Ticket Office beginning at 4 p.m. Gates to Fetzer Field will open at 4 p.m. Friday.
All seasts are general admission. Tickets will be priced at $10 for adults; $5 for students ages 7 through college age and senior citizens age 55 and up; and $3 for groups of 20 or more.
UNC students will be admitted free of charge by showing their UNC One Cards at the main gate of Fetzer Field.
PARKING INFORMATION: Because of four virtually simultaneous events on the UNC campus on Friday night, parking will be tight. UNC's women's basketball team hosts Howard at 4 p.m. at Carmichael Arena, the UNC women's soccer team hosts South Dakota State at Fetzer Field at 5 p.m., the UNC volleyball team plays Florida State at 7:30 p.m. at Carmichael Arena and the UNC men's basketball team plays North Carolina Central at 8 p.m. at the Dean E. Smith Center.
Following are the best parking options for fans attending the women's soccer match.
* Rams Head Parking Deck - $1.50 an hour
• Raleigh Road Visitor Lot - $1.50 an hour until 5:00 p.m.
• Belltower Parking Deck – Free after 3:30 p.m.
ANOTHER REGULAR SEASON TITLE FOR THE TAR HEELS: With a 2-1 overtime win at Syracuse on November 2, North Carolina finished the conference regular season with a 9-0-1 record. That earned UNC a share of the regular season title with Florida State, which was also 9-0-1.
This marked the 21st time in the history of the league (dating to 1987) that the Tar Heels have either won or tied for the league's regular season crown. It marked the first time UNC finished atop the regular season standings since 2010 when the Heels won the title outright with an 8-2 mark.
Since 1987, UNC has won 21 ACC regular season crowns, finished second three times and placed third on three occasions.
CAROLINA IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT: Carolina has qualified for each of the 33 NCAA Tournaments ever held, the only school to hold that distinction.
In the previous 32 NCAA Tournaments, Carolina has a record of 118-9-3, a winning percentage of 91.9 percent.
The Tar Heels have advanced to at least the Round of 16 in each of the previous 32 NCAA Tournaments.
Overall, Carolina has won 21 NCAA titles and finished second on three occasions while reaching the semifinals on two other times before falling.
Altogether, Carolina has reached the NCAA College Cup in 26 of the 32 Tournaments heading into 2014. Carolina fell in the quarterfinals twice (2005 and 2013) and fell in Round of 16 matches in 2004, 2007, 2010 and 2011.
CAROLINA VERSUS THE NCAA TOURNAMENT FIELD: Carolina played arguably the toughest schedule in the nation in 2014, particularly for a team as young as Carolina is.
The NCAA bracket bore out the fact the Tar Heels went through one of the nation's toughest gauntlets.
Carolina played 10 of its 17 regular season games against squads which qualified for the NCAA Tournament. UNC went 3-1-1 against ACC teams which reached the tournament and 2-2-1 against non-conference squads that have qualified for the post season.
As would be expected, UNC went 7-0 against squads which did not qualify for the tournament, six wins against ACC teams and a non-conference win over Ohio State.
Five of UNC's six non-conference opponents this year earned NCAA Tournament bids.
FIVE TAR HEELS NAMED TO ALL-ACC TEAMS WHILE BUCKINGHAM CLAIMS ACC FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR AWARD: Five Tar Heel women's soccer players were named to the All-ACC first, second and third teams on November 6 in a vote by the league's 14 head coaches.
UNC had two ACC All-Freshman selections and freshman midfielder Megan Buckingham was named the ACC Freshman of the Year.
Senior defender Satara Murray and junior defender Katie Bowen were rewarded with first-team All-ACC status. Murray also earned All-ACC Tournament accolades.
Sophomore midfielder Joanna Boyles was named second-team All-ACC while sophomore forward Emily Bruder and freshman midfielder Megan Buckingham were tapped for the third-team All-ACC squad.
Both Buckingham and freshman defender Jessie Scarpa were named to the ACC All-Freshman Team. Buckingham, who is tied for second on the team in goals scored with four, is the first Tar Heel to be named the league's freshman of the year since fellow Michigan native Lindsay Tarpley in 2002. She is only the sixth Tar Heel to ever be named ACC Freshman of the Year.
Bowen and Murray have led a defense with has allowed only 14 goals this season. Both players have played virtually every minute in every game this season. Both players have started all 17 games. Bowen has played 1,600 minutes of the 1,607 Carolina has played this year and Murray is second on the team with 1,591 minutes played.
Boyles and Bruder, both sophomores, are Carolina's top two scorers. Boyles leads the team with 13 points and is tops on the squad in assists with seven. Bruder is second on the team with 11 points and leads the squad in goals with five.
GREEN NAMED ACC PLAYER OF THE WEEK AFTER WIN OVER SYRACUSE: North Carolina junior forward Summer Green was named ACC Women's Soccer Player of the Week, announced November 2 by the league.
Green figured in to both goals for North Carolina as it topped Syracuse 2-1 in overtime and clinched a share of the regular season championship with Florida State. It was UNC's first regular season title since 2010.
Green scored the Tar Heels' first goal of the game against the Orange in the 17th minute, and provided the game-winning assist on Paige Nielsen's goal in the 96th minute. Green owns 10 points on two goals and six assists. She has also played a key role in North Carolina's 12-game unbeaten streak since Aug. 31, and the Tar Heels' 9-0-1 finish in ACC play.
NIELSEN'S GAME WINNERS: North Carolina junior forward Paige Nielsen has scored four goals for the Tar Heels, all game-winning tallies. Nielsen, who also occasionally plays midfield, scored game-winning goals versus four ACC opponents. She struck in the 79th minute against NC State to give the Tar Heels a 2-0 lead en route to a 2-1 win. She had the game-winners by scoring the opening goals in 3-0 wins over Wake Forest and Miami. Most recently, she scored in the 96th minute to lift the Tar Heels to a 2-1 overtime win at Syracuse. Nielsen's only assist this season also came on a game-winning goal scored by Megan Buckingham in the 77th minute of a 2-1 win at Clemson
ASSISTS BY BOYLES & GREEN: North Carolina's Joanna Boyles and Summer Green are Carolina's leading scorer and third-leading scorer with 13 and 10 points, respectively. While Boyles has three goals and Green two tallies, the key element of their games this year have been providing important assists.
Boyles has seven assists, including helpers on game-winning goals versus Penn State, Notre Dame, NC State and Wake Forest. Green has six assists overall, including on the game-tying goal versus Florida State and the game-winner at Syracuse, helping lift UNC to the ACC regular-season co-championship.
GOALS BY RESERVES: Anson Dorrance has been crediting his team's depth for its successful season
UNC shares the ball as shown the by the fact that 15 of 28 goals scored by Carolina this year were tallied by players who did not start games, including nine of the last 11 UNC has scored.
In fact, there was a five-game stretch in which the Tar Heels went 393 minutes without getting a goal from a starter. When Megan Buckingham scored in the 77th minute of the game against Miami on October 28, it was the first goal scored by a Tar Heel who started a game in over 393 minutes. The last Tar Heel starter to score was Cameron Castleberry in the second half of a 3-0 win over Wake Forest on October 9. In between, all nine Carolina goals had come from players who did not start matches. In those five games, UNC went 4-0-1 with the tie against #2 Florida State.
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 over the past month of the season.
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 a win over Duke 3-0 on October 18. She also scored off the bench in Carolina's win over Miami. Bruder went on to earn third-team All-ACC honors this year.
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-SOUTH DAKOTA STATE: The game between North Carolina and South Dakota State will be webcast on GoHeelsTV. Kyle Straub will be the play-by-play announcer for the match.
LIVE STATS FOR FRIDAY: GoHeels.com and NCAA.com will feature a live stats link the Carolina-South Dakota State game Friday.
FOLLOW CAROLINA WOMEN'S SOCCER ON TWITTER: Fans will be able to follow Carolina women's soccer through Twitter updates at both @ncwomenssoccer (athletic communications office account) and @uncwomenssoccer (players and staff account).
CAROLINA VERSUS SOUTH DAKOTA STATE: Friday's game marks the first ever meeting between UNC and South Dakota State.
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 regular-season record is now 178-21-7, a winning percentage of 88.1 percent after its 2-1 win at Syracuse to close the regular season.
A 7-0 ACC START FOR CAROLINA: North Carolina 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 by a 2-2 score.
Ironically, it was Florida State that ended UNC's ACC winning streak this year as the two teams played to a 1-1 tie at Fetzer Field on October 25.
Both Carolina and Florida State ended the regular season at 9-0-1 and tied for the conference's crown. It was the same league mark UNC had in 2008, the last time it did not lose a match in the regular season against an ACC foe.
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: With the exception of 3-0 wins over Wake Forest, Duke and Miami and a 2-0 loss against Virginia, Carolina has played nothing but nailbiting encounters to date in the 2014 season.
Through 17 games of the campaign, Carolina played to a 0-0 tie at #1 UCLA and a 1-1 tie against #2 Florida State. Eleven games have been decided by a single goal.
UNC is 9-2 in one-goal decisions this year.
A year ago, Carolina played 12 matches decided by a single goal, going 8-4 in those games.
TAR HEELS FALL TO CAVALIERS FOR FIRST LOSS SINCE AUGUST: In its most recent game, UNC fell to Virginia 2-0 in the ACC Tournament semifinals in Greensboro, N.C. on November 7. The loss to the fourth-ranked Cavaliers was Carolina first since losing 1-0 at Pepperdine on August 31. Virginia scored twice in the opening 29 minutes of the match and recorded its third straight shutout win over Carolina over the past three seasons.
CAROLINA CLOSES REGULAR SEASON WITH WIN AT SYRACUSE: North Carolina earned an overtime win at Syracuse on November 2 to clinch a share of the ACC regular-season championship with Florida State.
Summer Green figured in on both goals for the Tar Heels. She scored in the 17th minute to put the Tar Heels ahead and then after the Orange tied the game in the 72nd, Green assisted on the game-winner by Paige Nielsen in the 96th minute.
CAROLINA FINISHES HOME REGULAR SEASON SLATE WITH WIN OVER MIAM: Three days after earning a 1-1 tie with #2 Florida State, the Tar Heels played their final regular-season home game of the season, prevailing against Miami 3-0.
Paige Nielsen had the game-winning goal for the Tar Heels, scoring on a penalty kick in the 29th minute. Emily Bruder and Megan Buckingham scored second half goals for UNC as the Tar Heels beat Miami for the fifth straight time.
#5 TAR HEELS AND #2 SEMINOLES FIGHT TO 1-1 TIE: In a key ACC matchup on October 23, fifth-ranked Carolina fought second-rated Florida State to a 1-1 tie at Fetzer Field.
The Seminoles took a first half lead in the 32nd minute before the Tar Heels earned the game-tying tally in the 63rd minute from freshman Annie Kingman, assisted by Sarah Ashley Firstenberg and Summer Green.
Florida State had a 15-12 edge in shots in the game while UNC led in corner kicks 7-6. Sophomore Lindsey Harris played the second half and overtime for the Tar Heels and recorded a career high six saves.
CAROLINA EARNS SHUTOUT WIN AT DUKE: UNC earned a 3-0 clean sheet victory at Duke on October 18. This marked the fourth straight year UNC has recorded a shutout win over its arch-rival from Durham.
All three Tar Heel goals were scored by reserves - Emily Bruder in the 27th and 57th minutes and Alex Kimball in the 75th minute. UNC outshot the Blue Devils 15-6, including a 10-2 edge in shots on goal.
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 six of its 17 contests of the 2014 season. UNC is 3-1-2 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. The Tar Heels fought to a 1-1 overtime decision against Florida State on October 25 and then beat Syracuse in overtime 2-1 on November 2.
In its last 11 overtime games dating to a win over BYU in 2012, UNC is 6-3-2. All-time, Carolina is 36-13-30 in overtime contests. That's an all-time winning percentage of .646 in extra time contests.
Carolina has an astounding .945 winning percentage in games that have ended in regulation time in its history.
ANOTHER TOP 20 FOE: On November 7, Virginia marked the 10th opponent for the Tar Heels that had been ranked in the Top 20 at the time of the game according to the NSCAA poll.
Based on NSCAA poll rankings at the time of the game, UNC has played #6 Stanford, #1 UCLA, #17 Pepperdine, #7 Penn State, #18 Arkansas, #18 Notre Dame, #16 Clemson, #5 Virginia Tech, #2 Florida State and #4 Virginia.
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 857 matches in its history. There have been only 23 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 #5 in the final NCAA Division I women's soccer RPI (Ratings Percentage Index) of the 2014 season which was released this past Monday.
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.
CAROLINA'S STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE BASED ON CURRENT RPI: UNC played 9 of 17 regular season games against teams in the Top 31 of the final NCAA RPI. They were as follows:
Home vs. #1 Stanford (overtime loss); at #2 UCLA (tie); home vs. #4 Florida State (tie); neutral vs.#6 Penn State (double overtime win); neutral vs. #7 Virginia (loss); at #13 Pepperdine (loss); at #14 Notre Dame (double overtime win); home vs. #19 Virginia Tech (win); at #31 Clemson (win).
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.
Annie Kingman also produced the game-tying goal for the Tar Heels in the second half of a tie against #2 Florida State on October 25 at Fetzer Field.
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 THRICE SINCE 1986: Carolina's 2-0 setback against Virginia on November 7, 2014 marked only the third loss for the Tar Heels by a margin of more than one goal in the past 716 games.
That streak traced back to the opening game of the 1986 season against George Mason.
After losing to George Mason 2-0 in the 1985 NCAA Tournament championship game, the Tar Heels went 25 years without losing a game by more than one goal.
Since that time, UNC has only lost three games by more than one goal. The Tar Heels fell to Notre Dame 4-1 on November 20, 2010, lost to Virginia 2-0 on October 20, 2013 and was upended by the Cavaliers 2-0 on November 7, 2014.
DID YOU KNOW...: North Carolina would have to lose its next 718 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 Friday's game against South Dakota State with an all-time record of 775-57-31. Dorrance has coached the Tar Heels in all 863 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 51 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, 51 of Carolina's 57 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 South Dakota State with a record of 775-57-31 overall, a winning percentage of .916.
AVERAGE RECORD PER YEAR: UNC's average record per year in its 36 years of soccer is 21.52 wins per year, 1.58 losses per year and 0.86 ties per year.
SHUTOUTS ARE INFREQUENT: UNC's 2-0 loss against Virginia on November 7, 2014 was only the 42nd time the Tar Heels have been shut out in their history. Altogether, UNC has played 863 matches since 1979.
They have been blanked on the scoreboard in only 4.9 percent of the games they have played in. Carolina has suffered 31 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 179-21-7 all-time in ACC regular-season matches after finishing its 2014 campaign with a 2-1 overtime win at Syracuse last Sunday.
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.
