North Carolina
Arkansas
No. 3 Tar Heels Welcome No. 13 Arkansas For Sunday Matinee
August 20, 2021 | Women's Soccer
The Rundown
Opponent:Â No. 13. Arkansas (0-1-0)
Dates:Â August 22, 2021
Site:Â Chapel Hill, N.C.
Time:Â 1 p.m.
TV: ACC Network
Live Stats:Â Click Here
Tickets:Â Click Here
Game Notes: North Carolina | Arkansas
Series History
• The Tar Heels hold a 3-1 all time series lead. The last time the programs in 2019, Arkansas won 2-0.
Top Storylines
• Ruby Grant's brace led North Carolina past No. 19 Washington 4-1 in the season-opener at Dorrance Field on Thursday. She finished a pass from Isabel Cox in the first half for her first goal and slotted home a penalty kick in the second half for her second.
• Emily Murphy scored the Tar Heels' first goal of the season in her first appearance in Carolina Blue.
• Isabel Cox earned her way on the scoresheet in the 75th minute after she finessed the keeper and finished it from point-blank range.
• North Carolina captured its 24th ACC regular season title in 2020 as co-champions with Florida State, who represented the top-seeded club.
• UNC returns 72.1 percent of its points (101 of 140), 69.3 percent of its goals (34 of 49), and 83 percent of its assists (35 or 42) from last season.
• Rachel Jones and Maycee Bell were each selected to the preseason All-ACC squad. The Tar Heels were picked to finish second behind Florida State by the league's coaches.
• The Tar Heels have the most daunting home schedule in the country in 2021. UNC plays host to No. 1 Florida State, No. 4 Virginia, No. 6 Duke, No. 7 Clemson, No. 13 Arkansas, No. 19 Washington, and No. 24 Stanford.
• In the first poll released by the United Soccer Coaches on August 3, North Carolina checked in at No. 3.
• Claudia Dickey finished the 2020-21 season with 15 shutouts, which led the nation. The second-ranked keeper recorded 12.
• Rachel Jones returns after scoring six goals and recording six assists in 2020-21. She led the Tar Heels in assists and ranked second in goals.
• North Carolina welcomes 14 new faces to the women's soccer roster. Thirteen freshmen will be featured and one transfer from UNCW, Emily Moxley.
• Meilin Gregg, Ruby Grant, and Anna Priborkina each joined the Tar Heels for the spring season. Ruby Grant's showing at Tennessee on March 27 highlighted the impact the freshman had on last year's squad. She scored a hat trick against the Volunteers - just the sixth hat trick for the Tar Heels since 2010.
• Ally Sentnor, the 2019 Sports Illustrated Sports Kid of the Year, journeys to Chapel Hill from Hanson, Mass. and looks to make an impact on this year's team.Â
• North Carolina welcomes two student-athletes from Europe in 2021 - Emily Murphy (Windsor, England) and Annika Huhta (Helsinki, Finland).
• Active in her community, freshman Emerson Elgin worked with Buddy Baseball, where she served as a "buddy" for mentally and physically handicapped children for the past six summers. She helped these children participate in weekly baseball games, so they were able to play sports.
• Emmie Allen and Asha Means represent the North Carolina natives in the freshmen class.
• In the last three NCAA tournaments, the Tar Heels have reached the National Championship game twice (2018, 2019) and the College Cup once (2020-21), a feat that no other program has accomplished in that time span.
• In that time span, the Tar Heels have outscored their opponents by a 34-10 margin.
• Three players that made appearances for the Tar Heels last year have recorded minutes in the NWSL this season.
• Emily Fox was selected first overall by Racing Louisville in January's draft. Brianna Pinto, who elected to play in the spring season, was chosen No. 3 by Gotham FC. The Tar Heels' third draftee was Taylor Otto, who went No. 11 overall to Racing Louisville.
• Carolina has played 845 games since the start of the 1986 season, losing by more than one goal just six times. That streak traces back to the opening game of the 1986 season against George Mason, a 3-3 tie.
• After losing to George Mason 2-0 in the 1985 NCAA Tournament championship game, the Tar Heels went 25 years without losing a game by more than one goal before that streak ended in 2010.
• Since 1986, UNC has only lost six games by more than one goal. Two of those four losses have come against Virginia. The Tar Heels fell to Notre Dame 4-1 on November 20, 2010, lost to Virginia 2-0 on October 20, 2013, was upended by Virginia 2-0 on November 7, 2014, lost to USC 3-0 on September 11, 2016, fell to Arkansas 2-0 on September 15, 2019, and dropped a 3-1 match to Santa Clara on May 13, 2021.
• North Carolina would have to lose its next 812 games in a row for head coach Anson Dorrance to have a .500 coaching winning percentage in his career at the helm of the Tar Heels.
• UNC enters Thursday with an all-time record of 890-78-41. Dorrance has coached the Tar Heels in all 1,008 of their games all-time.
• The Tar Heels are now 38-0-3 in their last 41 ACC regular season matches.
• Carolina has won 38 of its last 41 ACC regular season games. The last ACC loss came against Notre Dame on Oct. 14, 2016 (1-0).
• The Tar Heels finished the 2020-21 campaign with just nine goals allowed and a goals against average of .450, which led the ACC and ranked 10th in the country.
• Claudia Dickey recorded all 1,800 minutes in net for the Tar Heels, which ranked second in the league and fifth in the country for minutes logged by a goalkeeper.
• The defense, led by Maycee Bell and Julia Dorsey in the fall, did not give Dickey many opportunities to make many saves. Carolina allowed just 129 shots (compared to the 310 shots UNC took) and ranked 288th in the country in saves per game (2.40).
• Abby Allen stepped up for the Tar Heels' backline during her rookie season last year and started 17 of the Tar Heels' 20 contests. She also contributed on the offensive end- scoring three goals, two of which were game-winners.
• Parity arrived in the Atlantic Coast Conference many years ago and yet the Tar Heels have lost only 26 ACC regular-season games since league play began in 1987.
• The Tar Heels are 226-26-12 all-time in ACC regular-season matches. The Tar Heels earned their 200th all-time ACC regular season victory on September 14, 2018 when they won at Florida State 1-0.
• UNC has averaged just 0.79 ACC regular-season losses a year in the 34 years of league play.
• In the middle of the 2015 season, the Tar Heels had a three-match ACC regular-season losing streak, the first time that had happened in history. Carolina suffered losses to Louisville, Florida State and Duke in consecutive games that season.
• Prior to that streak, UNC had fallen in back-to-back ACC games just four times in history.
• Remarkably, in four of the past 11 seasons, UNC had a losing record in ACC play at one point in the campaign. The Tar Heels started the 2010 season 0-1 in the ACC, the 2012 season 1-2-1 in the ACC, the 2013 season 1-2 in the ACC and the 2016 season 0-1 in the ACC. The only other time in history when UNC had a losing record in ACC regular-season play in its history was 2002 when the Tar Heels lost their season opener to NC State.
To keep up with UNC Women's Soccer, follow the team's social media accounts @UNCWomensSoccer.
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