University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Texas
Heels Blank Texas 2-0 On Goals By Castleberry & Boyles
August 29, 2015 | Women's Soccer
AUSTIN, TEXAS – Fifth-ranked North Carolina got goals from Cameron Castleberry and Joanna Boyles in the opening five minutes of the second half to beat Texas 2-0 in women's soccer action before a crowd of 2,195 at Mike A. Myers Stadium on the Longhorn campus.
UNC improved to 3-0 with the win as it recorded its third straight clean sheet on the young season. Texas fell to 1-1 this year and is now 0-5 all-time against North Carolina. The game marked a matchup between UNC head coach Anson Dorrance, in his 37th season, and his former player, Angela Kelly, UNC '94, who is in her fourth year as head coach of the Longhorns. Kelly played on four NCAA title-winning teams at UNC.
The Tar Heels outshot the Longhorns 8-3 in the first half but took their game up a notch in the second half, outshooting the Horns 15-4 and scoring twice in the opening five minutes of the second frame.
UNC scored at 46:49 off a defensive miscue by Texas as Cameron Castleberry stole an errant clearance by a UT defender and scored past Abby Smith from close range. Alexa Newfield served a ball from the left side to the six-yard line but the Texas defender was unable to corral the ball cleanly, popping it up in the air in an effort to push the ball back to the goalkeeper. Castleberry was johnny-on-the-spot to secure the ball, compose herself and slotted it perfectly to score her first goal of the year.
Moments later, UNC had an excellent chance to make it 2-0 but Jessie Scarpa's header was just cleared away by Abby Smith at the last second at the 48:13 mark. Scarpa's header, off a cross by Summer Green, appeared to be destined for the lower left corner before Smith barely got her hands on the ball. Within a half minute, however, it was UNC 2-0 as Joanna Boyles scored exactly two minutes after the tally by Castleberry. Summer Green split the defense after taking a through ball from Scarpa and fired from 15 yards but her shot was parried away by Smith, who had come off her line to try to shut down Green's scoring chance. The ball went directly to Joanna Boyles. The Tar Heel junior gathered it in, teed up her shot and fired from the top of the 18-yard box inside the right post past Smith and a Texas defender.
Texas had some opportunities of its own later in the second half. The goalkeeper Smith took a shot from 45 yards away on a free kick in the 57th minute that Bryane Heaberlin had to go up and corral on the goal line. In the 61st minute, a corner kick by Julia Dyche found Lindsey Meyer in the penalty area. Meyer's shot was kept out of the back of the goal by Paige Nielsen who directed it across the frame where Cameron Castleberry eventually volleyed it out of danger. Thirty-seconds later, Mikayla Flores had another chance off a free kick but her header went wide of the right post. That shot came with 29 minutes to play and Texas never threatened again after that. In fact, Texas did not have a shot against the Tar Heel defense in the final 23:24 of the match. UNC took the last six shots of the match, forcing two more saves by Smith.
Smith finished with seven saves overall for Texas while Lindsey Harris played the first half for UNC in goal and Bryane Heaberlin made two saves in the second half. UNC outshot Texas 23-7 on the night. Harris and Heaberlin combined for UNC's third shutout in three games.
The Tar Heels had the opening four shots of the first half but despite some good early opportunities were not able to put one past Texas goalkeeper Abby Smith. In that early stretch, UNC had good looks from Scarpa, Boyles and Green but did not get anything on frame. The Longhorns' best chances came midway through the half, but after the Tar Heels made their normal first half substitutions, they regained some momentum and put pressure on the Texas defense the final 15 minutes.
Neither team could dent the scoreboard, however, as just two of the 11 first half shots were on frame. Smith made two first half saves for UT, both on shots by Alex Kimball. Austin native Lindsey Harris played the opening 45 minutes for Carolina before Bryane Heaberlin replaced her in goal for the second half.
The Tar Heels will return to action on Sunday when they play UTSA at Mike A. Myers Stadium at 10:30 am CDT (11:30 am EDT). The Jackrabbits are 0-2 after falling to Abeline Christian 5-3 in Friday night's first game of the doubleheader.
