North Carolina
Florida State
Women's Soccer Tackles Top-Ranked Seminoles
October 20, 2021 | Women's Soccer
Thursday, 8 P.M. at Dorrance Field
• Carolina hosts top-ranked and unbeaten Florida State on Thursday, October 21. Gametime is 8 p.m. at Dorrance Field.
• The game will be broadcast on the ACC Network (Jen Hildreth, Angela Hucles).
• The Tar Heels are 10-2-2 overall, 3-2-2 in ACC play. Carolina is coming off a 1-0 loss at NC State on October 16,
• It was UNC's first away loss since a 2-0 defeat at Arkansas on 9/15/19 and first ACC road loss since 10/14/16 at Notre Dame (0-1).
• The Seminoles are 14-0, 7-0 in ACC play after a 2-0 win at Virginia Tech. FSU has won 17 straight ACC games.
• UNC has been shutout three times in seven ACC games, but was out-scored just 2-0 in those games. It's the first time UNC has been kept off the scoreboard three times in regular-season league action since 2016.
• Five of the seven goalkeepers Carolina has played against in ACC games this year have set or tied season highs in saves and four set or tied career highs
Opponent, Goalkeeper
Duke, Ruthie Jones
6 saves – season high, tied career high
Virginia Tech, Alia Skinner
14 saves – career high
Virginia, Laurel Ivory
5 saves – season high
Pitt's Katherine Robinson
7 saves – season high, tied career high
NC State's Maria Echezarreta
8 saves – career high
• Through October 17, UNC is No. 7 in the nation in the RPI, No. 7 in the United Soccer Coaches poll and seventh in the ACC with 11 points.
ONE FOR 900
• Carolina has won 899 games since the program began in 1979. Anson Dorrance has been the head coach from day one.
• The 899 wins are the most by any women's soccer program and the most by any women's soccer head coach in NCAA history.
• Former Connecticut head coach Len Tsantiris is second with 570 wins. Santa Clara head coach Jerry Smith is third all-time and second among active coaches with 515.
• The margin from first to second place of 328 wins is the second most on record among all NCAA coaches. Al Scates has the largest margin over second place with 470 more wins than any other men's volleyball coach. Scates won 1,239 games in 50 seasons with the Bruins.
All-Time Division I Women's Soccer Coaching Wins
Coach School Years Wins
Anson Dorrance North Carolina 1979-active 899
Len Tsantiris Connecticut 1981-2018 570
Jerry Smith Santa Clara 1987-active 515
Becky Burleigh Berry, Florida 1989-2021 513
Gabe Mejail Merrimack 1979-active 498
UNC vs. FLORIDA STATE
• Carolina is 29-11-4 against Florida State since the teams first played in 1995.
• The Tar Heels are 5-4-1 against the Seminoles in the last 10 games.
• UNC is 10-2-3 at home against FSU.
• The schools played one time last season, a 3-2 Florida State victory in Cary in November in the ACC Tournament championship game. The No. 1-ranked Seminoles scored twice in the first six minutes and added a third two minutes into the second half for a 3-0 lead. Rachel Jones converted a penalty and Brianna Pinto cut the margin to one with a goal in the 89th minute. The three-goal deficit was Carolina's largest since a 3-0 loss at Southern California in 2016.
NOTEBOOK
• Carolina has started 18 different players this season and had 11 different starting lineups in the first 14 games. UNC has started the same lineup a season-high two games in a row three different times this season.
• Four players – goalkeeper Claudia Dickey, center back Maycee Bell, Emily Moxley and Emily Colton – have started all 14 games. Moxley has started at forward, midfield and back; Colton at forward and midfield.
• Sophomore Talia Dellaperuta made her first start of the season at NC State. She missed 10 games this year due to injury.
• Thirteen Tar Heels have scored this season, including six who netted their first collegiate goals.
• Carolina is 4-1-1 against ranked opponents. Carolina's most recent win over the No. 1 ranked team in the United Soccer Coaches poll was a 2-1, double overtime win over Virginia in 2019.
• Midfielder Sam Meza returned to action at NC State after missing two games due to a leg injury, but the Tar Heels were without Avery Patterson. The ACC's co-Defensive Player of the Week for her performance against Virginia took a hard fall in the opening half at Boston College on October 10. She was unable to play in the second half and overtime at BC and didn't play against NC State. Patterson was Carolina's Player of the Match vs. Clemson, Virginia and Pittsburgh, the three games prior to the match at BC.
• Freshmen defender Emerson Elgin has not played since the second game and freshman forward Ally Sentnor suffered a season-ending injury in the first preseason game.
• Carolina is playing 13 freshmen and sophomores significant minutes this season and has no fifth-year seniors on the roster. Those 13 underclassmen include freshmen Emily Colton, Makenna Dominguez, Ruby Grant, Annika Huhta, Emily Murphy, Bella Sember and Lauren Wrigley and sophomores Abby Allen, Molly Baker, Sam Meza, Emily Moxley, Avery Patterson and Paige Tolentino.
• Allen, Colton, Meza, Moxley, Murphy, Patterson and Wrigley have been regulars in the starting lineup.
• Avery Patterson's goal at Pittsburgh snapped a streak during which eight different Tar Heels scored Carolina's last eight goals dating back to the 7-1 win at Florida on September 9. They include Emily Murphy, Rachel Jones and Rachael Dorwart against the Gators, Avery Patterson and Emily Colton in the 2-2 tie vs. Virginia Tech and Bella Sember, Isabel Cox and Claudia Dickey in the 3-0 win over Clemson. Patterson was the first to score twice in the last five games.
• Including goals by Julia Dorsey and Maggie Pierce at BC, 10 different Tar Heels have scored UNC's last 11 goals.
• Carolina is averaging 8.1 corners per game and allowing only 1.8 per contest. The Tar Heels have allowed only 25 corners in 14 games.
• UNC leads the ACC and is fifth in the country in corner kicks per game.
• Carolina leads the ACC and is 20th nationally in total shots per game and 31st in the country in shots on goal per game, but is 264th nationally in shooting accuracy (percentage of shots on frame).
• Avery Patterson leads the team in shots on goal percentage at .733.
• Carolina's game at UCF on 9/12 was halted 13 minutes in due to stormy weather and canceled after a nearly 90-minute delay. Emily Murphy had given the Tar Heels a 1-0 lead three minutes into the match after a cross from Abby Allen, but the goal and match were wiped off the books because of the inclement weather. The game will not be made up.
SCORING LEADERS
• Freshman Emily Colton leads the team with five goals with freshman Emily Murphy, senior Rachael Dorwart and sophomore Avery Patterson next with four. They are among the eight players with multiple goals this season.
• Among that group, only Patterson has scored in the last four games.
• The Tar Heels have allowed nine goals in 14 games and outshot their opponents 270 to 103, an average of 19.3 to 7.4 per game.
• Colton, the leading goal scorer, also leads in shots (43) and shots on frame (21).
PLENTY OF TIME
• UNC is 3-0-2 in overtime this season.
• The Tar Heels didn't go to extra time in any of their 20 matches last season.
• Carolina is 44-18-42 all-time in overtime games.
• The five overtime games are the most in a season since playing five in 2017 (1-2-2). UNC played seven in 2014 (4-1-2).
PLAYING FROM BEHIND
• Carolina has trailed in six of the first 14 games.
• The Tar Heels have trailed for more than 35 minutes in five games this season and are 2-2-1 in those games.
– Illinois scored first and led for 1:08 before Emily Murphy tied the game, the first of five straight UNC goals.
– Stanford scored first and led for 37:56; Murphy tied the game and UNC won it overtime.
– Duke scored the only goal of the game, leading for the final 35:02.
– Virginia Tech scored the first two goals, led for 53:20 before Avery Patterson and Emily Colton scored in the final nine minutes for a 2-2 tie.
– Boston College led for 38:31; Julia Dorsey tied the match with 2:09 to play and Maggie Pierce won it in overtime.
– NC State scored in the 25th minute and led for the final 64:46.
