Tar Heels Down Irish 2-1 With Goal In 86th Minute

Friday, November 4

Charleston, S.C.

5:30 PM

North Carolina

13-3-3

Notre Dame

13-3-4

North Carolina

Notre Dame

November 5, 2016 | Women's Soccer

Box Score

By: UNC Athletic Communications

CHARLESTON, S.C. – The University of North Carolina women's soccer team will advance to the ACC Tournament championship game for the first time since 2009 after defeating top-seeded (#6 nationally) Notre Dame Friday 2-1 at MUSC Health Stadium in the 2016 Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament semifinals.

Annie Kingman scored the game-winning goal in the 86^th minute of play to lift the Tar Heels (13-3-3) past its third Top 10 opponent in nine days. Carolina has now won five straight games, the team's longest streak since a seven-game streak was halted against Louisville on Oct. 8, 2015. The Fighting Irish fell to 13-3-4 with the loss.

UNC will play Florida State on Sunday at 12 noon in the ACC Tournament championship game. The game will be nationally telecast on ESPNU.

“Notre Dame is a tough team to score against, and for us to get two is a real achievement,” UNC head coach Anson Dorrance said. “I'm also happy that after they tied the score, the team continued to grind and got the goal to win the game. This is a team that has really improved dramatically since August. We were the most ordinary of teams in August, and now we're pretty solid. I'm very proud of our kids and very excited to be in an ACC final.”

Carolina scored the only goal in the first half when Annie Kingman's free kick bounced off the right post to an unguarded Maya Worth who finished the goal into a wide-open net from three yards. That goal was Worth's first of the season, while Kingman earned her fifth assist of the season. UNC controlled possession in the first half and got off nine shots to Notre Dame's three.

“We had a very poor first half,” Fighting Irish head coach Theresa Romagnolo said. “I thought they came out with a lot of good pressure and energy. We did not control the ball at all. We were defending for most of the first half.”

It looked like the Tar Heels might shutout the Fighting Irish as UNC allowied only two shots on goal though the first 71 minutes of play. However in the 72^nd minute, in an attempt to pass the ball back to goalkeeper Lindsey Harris, Maggie Bill did not see Kaleigh Olmstead who stole the ball 35 yards from goal, dribbled around Harris and scored from three yards into the open net. That was Olmstead's fourth goal of the season.

“Of course it was deflating (when Notre Dame scored), but this group of girls has so much fight in them,” Kingman said of her Tar Heel teammates. “We just scrap and fight for every goal we get. If you look at our goals throughout the season, some of them are pretty, but most of them are just the result of hard efforts. Letting them tie the score was not ideal, but I kind of sensed from the beginning that tonight was not going to be our last game in this tournament.”

Carolina and Notre Dame played even though the rest of the second half, as both teams had several chances to score with balls going just wide or high of the frame. However, with about 10 minutes to play, UNC began to exert domination in possession.

In the 86^th minute Julia Ashley dribbled the ball down the right side of the field, passed it off to Bridgette Andrzejewski at the right corner who sent it into the box where Kingman shot the ball from 14 yards on a one-timer, squeezing it just past goalkeeper Kaela Little into the lower right corner. It was a beautiful cross-and-score that would secure the win for the Tar Heels. The goal was Kingman's fifth of the season.

“After they scored, we kind of woke up a little bit,” said Kingman, who notched her fifth goal of the season. “We had kind of let them sneak back into the game and get a few opportunities. We really started pushing hard. We subbed some people in with fresh legs and started getting back after them.

“I saw Bridgette moving down the line, and nine times out of 10 she is going to beat her defender,” Kingman continued. “So I just tried to get in the box, get in good position and keep the shot low and on frame.”

The Tar Heels and Fighting Irish were even in shots at seven in the second half, with the Heels outshooting the Irish 16-10 for the game. Carolina also led in corners. Little had five saves on the day and Harris had two.

With those saves, Harris surpassed Aly Winget for second in saves in a season at UNC with 72.

GAME NOTES

· This is the first time Carolina has advanced to the ACC Tournament Championship since 2009 – also the last time the Tar Heels won the title.

· Carolina is 20-2 all-time in ACC championship games.

· Carolina improved to 17-7-2 all-time against the Fighting Irish.

· Carolina improved to 61-5-4 all-time in the ACC Tournament. The Tar Heels had gone 1-5-1 in its seven ACC Tournament matches before winning its past two this year.

· This was Carolina's first match against Notre Dame in the ACC Tournament.

· In the regular-season matchup, Notre Dame defeated Carolina 1-0 on Oct. 14 in South Bend, Ind.

• This game marked the first time Notre Dame had yielded two goals in a match since battling top-ranked Stanford to a 2-2 tie at Palo Alto on September 11.