Women's Soccer Opens Postseason Play Against South Carolina

North Carolina begins its quest for a 22^nd NCAA title Saturday afternoon against South Carolina in the first round of the 2021 NCAA Tournament. The match between the Tar Heels and Gamecocks is set for 2 p.m. on Dorrance Field and will be streamed on the ACC Network Extra.

UNC hasn't been in over two weeks since ending the regular season with a 4-0 route of Miami on Oct. 28 and enter the postseason on the strength of consecutive wins with five wins against just one loss in its eight matches with two ties.

Thirteen freshmen and sophomores have seen significant playing time this season. Freshman Emily Murphy leads the Tar Heels with 16 points and six assists, while fellow rookie Emily Colton has been Carolina's top scorer with seven goals. Colton ranks record behind Murphy with 15 points, while sophomore Avery Patterson has accumulated 13 points. Murphy and Patterson have scored five goals each in 2021, second on the team behind Colton.

"Almost every team we've played is dripping with fifth-year, graduate transfer and seniors; we're not," UNC Head Coach Anson Dorrance said. "Most of our roster that starts and plays maximum minutes are freshmen and sophomores. So that's been our challenge.

"Do we have talent? Yes, but we don't have experience. Almost every team we've played had so much more maturity that we had."

Junior Maycee Bell earned first-team All-ACC honors, anchoring the Tar Heel defense that surrendered just 12 goals in 17 games. Sophomore Sam Meza was named second-team all-conference and senior goalkeeper Claudia Dickey was voted third team after recording seven shutouts and 0.67 goals against average.

"We lost Maycee in the first three minutes against Notre Dame, but we're getting her back now," Dorrance said. "A couple of weeks off have been good for her. We were a little beat up with injuries, so to some extent the silver lining of not making the ACC Tournament was recovering from injury."

The Gamecocks are making their ninth consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament after posting an 11-6-1 record against the nation's fourth-toughest schedule.

Sophomore Catherine Barry leads South Carolina with 16 points and seven goals. Graduates Lauren Chang and Ryan Garies are tied for the team lead in assists with eight each.

"They've got quality players all over the field," Dorrance said. "They've got players who have the pace to get in behind our back line; we're going to be playing a good team, so we'll have to be ready for the challenge."

The winner of this first-round match will face the winner of the Hofstra/Providence match.

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University of North Carolina Athletics

Players Mentioned

Maycee Bell

Emily Colton

Claudia Dickey

Sam Meza

Emily Murphy

Avery Patterson

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