University of North Carolina Athletics
Women’s Soccer 2023 Season Outlook: Chasing 23 In '23
August 14, 2023 | Women's Soccer
The University of North Carolina women’s soccer team is ready to embark on its 2023 campaign, with the motto “Chasing 23 in ‘23” to signify the goal of achieving the program’s 23rd national title.
With 10 regular season home matches at Dorrance Field, don't miss your opportunity to watch the Tar Heels in action. Season tickets are available here while single-game tickets can be purchased here.
“It’s clear to us the players did the work in the summer and that this recruiting class is extraordinarily talented. Our leaders are doing a great job because I can see the connection out there and I can see the joy our kids are playing with. Right now, we are absolutely checking every box, and I want to give our players absolutely full credit…I tip my hat to these incredible players and my hard-working staff.”Anson Dorrance, head coach
2022 Season In Review
- 20-5-1 overall record with an 8-2 mark in Atlantic Coast Conference play
- National runner-up, making the 28th NCAA title game appearance in program history
- Advanced to its 31st College Cup in the event's 41-year history
- Only team in the country to appear in every NCAA Tournament
- ACC regular season co-champion, winning a share of its 25th regular season title
- ACC Tournament runner-up, appearing in its 28th ACC championship match
- Earned the No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament and the No. 1 seed in the ACC Tournament
- Two United Soccer Coaches All-America selections (Tori Hansen [Second Team], Sam Meza [Third Team])
- Six All-ACC honorees (Maddie Dahlein, Tessa Dellarose, Hansen, Meza, Avery Patterson, Ally Sentnor)
- Four United Soccer Coaches All-Atlantic Region picks (Hansen, Meza, Patterson, Sentnor)
- Five College Sports Communicators Academic All-District selections
- Nineteen All-ACC Academic Team members
- Hansen was a top-four finalist for the prestigious Honda Sport Award
First Until Proven Otherwise
The Tar Heels are first until proven otherwise in the Atlantic Coast Conference, having been picked to finish first in the ACC preseason coaches poll. UNC topped the preseason poll with 166 points and 10 first-place votes, eight more first-place nods than No. 2 Florida State.
Conference coaches also named their 2023 Preseason All-ACC Team which features three Tar Heels: defender Maycee Bell, midfielder Sam Meza, and midfielder/forward Ally Sentnor. Carolina's three players are the most of all league teams.
North Carolina also checked in at No. 2 in the United Soccer Coaches preseason poll. Meza found herself on the United Soccer Coaches Midfielders to Watch list, too.
Returning Talent
There’s no shortage of talent back in Carolina blue with this year’s squad, as 25 players are returning to Chapel Hill for another year. Of the 11 starters in the 2022 national championship game, nine have returned in 2023 – the most returners of any of the four teams (Alabama, Florida State, UCLA) in the College Cup.
In 2023, North Carolina is returning 69.8% of its goals scored from a year prior, as well as 85.7% of its assists, 74.7% of its points, 84.6% of its shots and 81.7% of its shots on goal.
Key statistical returners include Avery Patterson (13 goals, eight assists, 24 points) and Sentnor (10 goals, two assists, 22 points), both who were named to the 2022 College Cup All-Tournament Team. Emmie Allen is back between the posts having made 70 saves for a .805 save percentage last year.
Meza (two goals, four assists, eight points) was named Third Team All-America last year, and Bell, an All-America selection from 2021, returns to the lineup after being sidelined last year due to a season-ending injury.
“I’m excited for this season. It gives me chills thinking about how many people we’re returning this year and how many pieces are coming back from injury. There are so many pieces that are slowly starting to fit into place. We have so many people returning, but we also have added so much more that it’s going to be entertaining for anyone who watches.”Avery Patterson, senior forward/midfielder
Top Class
Carolina’s freshman class, which signed back in November 2022, is the top-ranked cohort in the country according to Top Drawer Soccer. Led by associate head coach and lead recruiter Damon Nahas, the Tar Heels have signed a top-four recruiting class for six consecutive years and have had a top-five class in eight of the last nine seasons.
The class includes forward Melina Rebimbas (No. 3), defender Evelyn Shores (No. 6), defender Savy King (No. 10), forward Olivia Thomas (No. 12) forward Mia Oliaro (No. 18) and goalkeeper Abby Gundry (No. 24), as well as midfielder Ella Smith.
The Tar Heels also added one graduate transfer in defender/midfielder Alexa Wojnovich, a Chapel Hill native who had a standout four-year career at Villanova before joining her hometown team.
Competitive Schedule
The Tar Heels have arguably the toughest schedule in the country, facing 13 teams that played in the 2022 NCAA Tournament. Of UNC’s 18-game regular-season slate, 13 of its opponents competed in the 2022 NCAA Tournament. Florida State and Alabama also played in the College Cup, while Arkansas, Notre Dame, Duke and Virginia advanced to the quarterfinals.
UNC will battle nine teams that finished in the top-25 of the final United Soccer Coaches poll last year, including seven in the top-10. Those teams include Florida State (No. 3), Alabama (No. 4), Notre Dame (No. 5), Duke (No. 6), Virginia (No. 7), Arkansas (No. 8), South Carolina (No. 9), Penn State (No. 13) and USC (No. 24).
At the conclusion of the 2022 campaign which saw the Tar Heels earn a national runner-up finish, Carolina ranked third in NCAA DI women’s soccer for its RPI. That ranked second in the ACC behind Florida State. Nine of UNC’s opponents this season ranked in the top-25 for PRI last year, including six in the top-10.
University of National Champions
North Carolina owns 21 NCAA titles, plus an AIAW title in 1982 for 22 total national championships. No other Division I women’s soccer team has more than three.
One of the preeminent programs across all of college sports, UNC’s unrivaled women’s soccer dominance saw nine straight NCAA titles between 1986-1994. The team’s 21 NCAA championships are tied for the fifth-most by any program in DI history.
Carolina is the only team in the country to appear in all 41 NCAA Women’s Soccer Tournaments since the first one was held in 1982. The Tar Heels have appeared in 31 NCAA College Cups, 18 more than the second closest team.
The Tar Heels have also won 22 conference titles, plus 25 regular season titles. No other ACC women’s soccer team has more than nine conference championships, and no one else has more than five regular season titles.
Red, White & Carolina Blue
Sophomores Maddie Dahlien, Tessa Dellarose, Ally Sentnor and freshman Savy King represented Team USA on the 21-player roster at the 2023 Concacaf Women’s U-20 Championship, held in the Dominican Republic from May 24-June 3. Sentnor was one of four players on the U.S. squad with a previous U-20 Women’s Youth National Team cap.
The foursome led Team USA to a runner-up finish in the Dominican Republic. Sentnor –the team’s co-captain – and Dahlien were the USA’s leading scorers with four goals each. Dellarose scored once while King started all five matches, and Dahlien and Dellarose accounted for all four goals in a 4-0 win over Jamaica.
Sentnor was also part of the USA’s FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup roster in 2022. She played in all three matches at the U-20 World Cup in Costa Rica, even scoring against Ghana. King was part of the U.S. 2022 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup team.
Current freshmen Abby Gundry, Mia Oliaro, Melina Rebimbas and King played together on the 2022 United States U-17 WYNT that won the Concacaf U-17 Championships in the Dominican Republic.
Additionally, Dellarose, Nona Reason, Sentnor, King, Oliaro, Rebimbas and Evelyn Shores were called in for the 2023 WYNT U-18/U-19 combined training camp at the U.S. Soccer National Training Center in California back in January. All of them are age-eligible for the 2024 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup next summer.
“When you’re getting recruited by Anson [Dorrance], he lays it all out for you. He shows you all the rings and all the trophies, all the players who have gone on to play for national teams and the NWSL, and it’s more than any other team in the NCAA. Coming in, that’s the expectation for you. You’re coming here to win, and you’re coming here to compete with other people who share the same goal of wanting to win. A national championship is always in the back of everyone’s head, and we’re looking to make it 23 this year.”Avery Patterson
