Carolina Dispatches Liberty In NCAA First Round

Saturday, November 12

Chapel Hill, N.C.

1:00 PM

North Carolina

14-3-4

Liberty

14-8

Liberty

North Carolina

November 12, 2016 | Women's Soccer

Box Score

By: UNC Athletic Communications

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Freshman Madison Schultz scored her third game-winning goal in the past five games to lead sixth-ranked North Carolina to a 3-0 victory over Liberty in the NCAA Women's Soccer Tournament first round Saturday at Fetzer Field. UNC advances to the second round of the tournament where it will play either Kansas or Missouri next Friday in Chapel Hill. The Jayhawks and the Tigers play in the first round Sunday in Lawrence, Kan.

Schultz has scored three goals in her freshman season, all game-winners. In addition to Saturday's triumph over the Flames, Schultz also scored the game-winner in a 1-0 win over Florida State on October 27 and in a 3-0 victory over Virginia on October 30.

As has been the pattern of late, the Tar Heels got great contributions from their bench with two goals and an assist. Starting forward Abby Elinsky scored her first career goal as a Tar Heel to provide another boost to the Tar Heel effort in the win.

North Carolina, seeded second in its quadrant of the NCAA bracket, improved to 14-3-4 on the season and 9-1-3 in its last 13 games dating back to September 22. Liberty, the Big South Conference champion, saw its eight-game winning streak snapped. The Flames finished its season with a 14-8 record.

Right out of the gate, the Flames put pressure on the Tar Heels in the opening 10 minutes of the game. At one time, the Flames had outshot the Tar Heels 2-1 before UNC rattled off the last 28 shots of the game and three found of the back of the net to provide the difference.

Carolina took the lead at 40:41 of the game after a series of five nifty passes resulted in Schultz's goal. Alex Kimball reversed the field from right to left, finding Hanna Gardner. The senior defender pushed the ball forward to Megan Buckingham who sent a perfect cross to the far post to Sarah Ashley Firstenberg. The senior forward headed the ball down towards the left post where Schultz ran on to it to finish into the unguarded net.

The Tar Heels increased their lead to 2-0 on an unassisted goal by Dorian Bailey, her third of the campaign. Megan Buckingham sent a cross into the penalty area from the left side where Bailey's initial shot was blocked by a defender. The rebound went directly to Bailey who drove the ball into the back of the net from 10 yards away at the 58:24 mark.

Carolina finished off the scoring at 69:49 on a give-and-go between Annie Kingman and Abby Elinsky. After a corner kick by Kingman was initially redirected out by the Liberty defense, Elinsky sent the ball to Kingman on the right side. Kingman returned the favor and found Elinsky's head at the six-yard line for the put away. Although Elinsky scored in her freshman year at the University of Illinois in 2014, this was her first goal as a Tar Heel in her two seasons in Chapel Hill.

UNC finished with a 29-2 edge in shots and a 6-2 margin in corner kicks. The 29 shots by Carolina were a season high. Liberty goalkeeper Holly Van Noord went the full 90 minutes in goal for the Flames, making a dozen saves. That mark gave her 110 saves this season and 407 in her career.

Lindsey Harris played the first 80:35 in goal and made one save. Samantha Leshnak played the last 9:25 of the match and combined with Harris on the clean sheet.

North Carolina will host NCAA second and third round games at Fetzer Field on Friday, November 18 and Sunday, November 20, respectively. On Friday, Arkansas will play the winner of Sunday's first round game between Clemson and Northeastern. That same day, UNC will play the winner of Sunday's first round match between Kansas and Missouri. Game times Friday are TBA. The two winners from Friday will play Sunday in the third round at Fetzer Field with a tentative game time of 1 p.m.