University of North Carolina Athletics
Photo by: NATE SKVORETZ
Lucas: Remember This
December 10, 2024 | Women's Soccer, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
Monday's national title capped an improbable season for the sport's best dynasty.
By Adam Lucas
CARY—They will all remember it differently.
The 2024 University of North Carolina Tar Heels will gather in 10 or 15 years, and maybe some of the details will be fuzzy. What color was that confetti they sprayed when the Tar Heels closed out the 1-0 national championship win over Wake Forest (it was white)? What was the weather like (sporadic rain fell but it was still warmer than the freezing semifinal on Friday night)? Due to attrition and pro departures and the realities of modern college sports, how many players did this team have during spring practice (somewhere between eight and 12 depending on the day)?
But they will all remember this: in the most improbable season in the history of the most dominant program in all of college sports, they were the 2024 national champions.
"I still can't believe," said the nation's leading goal scorer, Kate Faasse, "that this is real."
Then she looked down, and realized she was holding a national championship trophy, and knew that it in fact was absolutely so real.
Carolina had been outplayed in the first half. "I thought it was a win that we went into half at 0-0," said head coach Damon Nahas, and perhaps you will notice what word is not in that title. "And then we came out in the second half with a grit and a fight and a reminder of exactly who they are."
Who are they? "This," said Olivia Thomas, the Most Outstanding Offensive Player of the NCAA Tournament, "is one of the grittiest North Carolina teams in a long time."
Thomas scored the game's only goal. She punched a free kick into the stands in the ACC semifinals against Duke, and spent the last several weeks practicing endlessly in case the opportunity presented itself again. On Monday, it did, and she smoothly knocked it into the net.
She did it while a soundtrack played in her head for the entire 90 minutes. "When I used to run track, they would tell us to sing a song to get through the 400," she said. "So when I got tired tonight, I was singing a song in my head." The song of choice? "2 You" by Mariah the Scientist.
They are not just gritty, as you can see. They are also really fun. You put those two together and you have, well, you have the 2024 national champions. They would have been friends forever anyway. They are smart and hard-working and talented and a little kooky, and the fact that now they get remembered because they stayed and they are champions is a little sliver of beauty in a college sports world that is sometimes ugly. Getting to know some of them over the past few months, with Faasse and Thomas and Maddie Dahlien and Tessa Dellarose and Emerson Elgin and all of them, one through 27, was a reminder that this whole thing can occasionally be very rewarding. And now they are bonded even tighter, the group that finally broke a 12-year title drought. "These people," Faasse said, "will be in my wedding one day."
There were tiny little glimpses of what they might become that were visible back during the spring, even through all the adversity. They would gather for Lego building competitions at the home of a close friend of the program, and the competition would be intense. There would be peals of laughter, but also a passionate desire to win in something even as trivial as Legos.
This is about the most Hoosiers-esque that Carolina women's soccer has ever or could ever be. The Tar Heels had, on a good day, 12 players in the spring. Imagine the Green Bay Packers going to training camp with 24 players.
Then the head coach—the only head coach, the guy the field is named after, the person who invented women's soccer in the United States of America—retired four days before the season started. When does North Carolina women's soccer ever get to be the underdog, ever get to prove people wrong?
This time, they did.
They easily could have given up. For some reason, they didn't. My team, as Gene Hackman would have said, is on the floor.
And now my team is the best team in the country. "That sounds," said Most Outstanding Defensive Player Clare Gagne, who was incredible in goal, "amazing."
Except she might have added another word or two around "amazing."
"Sorry about that," she said. "You can't use that."
But it was perfect. Because for decades this program has been about being unapologetically dominant. Now they are again; they outscored the NCAA Tournament opposition 18-1. And if it feels amazing—or even a little better than amazing—there is no need to apologize.
This is part of the standard in Chapel Hill. Players and coaches from over half the 27 other teams at Carolina drove the half-hour to Cary, in the middle of exams, to root for the Tar Heels. "It shows how much we care about each other and all of the programs," said baseball head coach Scott Forbes, who was sitting in a general admission seat in the corner of the stadium. "I know how hard it is to get to a game like this. It is so important for us to be here cheering for Damon and his team."
"I want our players to watch other Tar Heel teams win a championship," said women's lacrosse coach Jenny Levy. "It helps our team. The attitude and influence is not neutral. We can learn from them, and they learn from us."
So remember all of this. Remember that as soon as Thomas' goal found the back of the net, with much of the second half still to play, Faasse unexpectedly found tears welling in her eyes. Remember the feeling of confetti stuck to the bottom of your shoes. Remember all the tears and the hugs and that feeling of never wanting to leave the field, because even in that moment you knew it was something that was indelible but yet much too short. Remember the team gathering around their coach in front of the Carolina section in the packed stands in the immediate aftermath of the win, and him breaking the news about his impending permanent position, and the team exploding with a louder cheer than anything that happened during or after the match.
And when you remember the 2024 national champions, remember this:
"This is a group of 27 young women that committed to doing this from day one," Nahas said. "I was fortunate to be in front of them. They came to work every day, they loved each other, they trusted me and our staff, and they believed. And today was a really good example of that belief."
CARY—They will all remember it differently.
The 2024 University of North Carolina Tar Heels will gather in 10 or 15 years, and maybe some of the details will be fuzzy. What color was that confetti they sprayed when the Tar Heels closed out the 1-0 national championship win over Wake Forest (it was white)? What was the weather like (sporadic rain fell but it was still warmer than the freezing semifinal on Friday night)? Due to attrition and pro departures and the realities of modern college sports, how many players did this team have during spring practice (somewhere between eight and 12 depending on the day)?
But they will all remember this: in the most improbable season in the history of the most dominant program in all of college sports, they were the 2024 national champions.
"I still can't believe," said the nation's leading goal scorer, Kate Faasse, "that this is real."
Then she looked down, and realized she was holding a national championship trophy, and knew that it in fact was absolutely so real.
Carolina had been outplayed in the first half. "I thought it was a win that we went into half at 0-0," said head coach Damon Nahas, and perhaps you will notice what word is not in that title. "And then we came out in the second half with a grit and a fight and a reminder of exactly who they are."
Who are they? "This," said Olivia Thomas, the Most Outstanding Offensive Player of the NCAA Tournament, "is one of the grittiest North Carolina teams in a long time."
Thomas scored the game's only goal. She punched a free kick into the stands in the ACC semifinals against Duke, and spent the last several weeks practicing endlessly in case the opportunity presented itself again. On Monday, it did, and she smoothly knocked it into the net.
She did it while a soundtrack played in her head for the entire 90 minutes. "When I used to run track, they would tell us to sing a song to get through the 400," she said. "So when I got tired tonight, I was singing a song in my head." The song of choice? "2 You" by Mariah the Scientist.
They are not just gritty, as you can see. They are also really fun. You put those two together and you have, well, you have the 2024 national champions. They would have been friends forever anyway. They are smart and hard-working and talented and a little kooky, and the fact that now they get remembered because they stayed and they are champions is a little sliver of beauty in a college sports world that is sometimes ugly. Getting to know some of them over the past few months, with Faasse and Thomas and Maddie Dahlien and Tessa Dellarose and Emerson Elgin and all of them, one through 27, was a reminder that this whole thing can occasionally be very rewarding. And now they are bonded even tighter, the group that finally broke a 12-year title drought. "These people," Faasse said, "will be in my wedding one day."
There were tiny little glimpses of what they might become that were visible back during the spring, even through all the adversity. They would gather for Lego building competitions at the home of a close friend of the program, and the competition would be intense. There would be peals of laughter, but also a passionate desire to win in something even as trivial as Legos.
This is about the most Hoosiers-esque that Carolina women's soccer has ever or could ever be. The Tar Heels had, on a good day, 12 players in the spring. Imagine the Green Bay Packers going to training camp with 24 players.
Then the head coach—the only head coach, the guy the field is named after, the person who invented women's soccer in the United States of America—retired four days before the season started. When does North Carolina women's soccer ever get to be the underdog, ever get to prove people wrong?
This time, they did.
They easily could have given up. For some reason, they didn't. My team, as Gene Hackman would have said, is on the floor.
And now my team is the best team in the country. "That sounds," said Most Outstanding Defensive Player Clare Gagne, who was incredible in goal, "amazing."
Except she might have added another word or two around "amazing."
"Sorry about that," she said. "You can't use that."
But it was perfect. Because for decades this program has been about being unapologetically dominant. Now they are again; they outscored the NCAA Tournament opposition 18-1. And if it feels amazing—or even a little better than amazing—there is no need to apologize.
This is part of the standard in Chapel Hill. Players and coaches from over half the 27 other teams at Carolina drove the half-hour to Cary, in the middle of exams, to root for the Tar Heels. "It shows how much we care about each other and all of the programs," said baseball head coach Scott Forbes, who was sitting in a general admission seat in the corner of the stadium. "I know how hard it is to get to a game like this. It is so important for us to be here cheering for Damon and his team."
"I want our players to watch other Tar Heel teams win a championship," said women's lacrosse coach Jenny Levy. "It helps our team. The attitude and influence is not neutral. We can learn from them, and they learn from us."
So remember all of this. Remember that as soon as Thomas' goal found the back of the net, with much of the second half still to play, Faasse unexpectedly found tears welling in her eyes. Remember the feeling of confetti stuck to the bottom of your shoes. Remember all the tears and the hugs and that feeling of never wanting to leave the field, because even in that moment you knew it was something that was indelible but yet much too short. Remember the team gathering around their coach in front of the Carolina section in the packed stands in the immediate aftermath of the win, and him breaking the news about his impending permanent position, and the team exploding with a louder cheer than anything that happened during or after the match.
And when you remember the 2024 national champions, remember this:
"This is a group of 27 young women that committed to doing this from day one," Nahas said. "I was fortunate to be in front of them. They came to work every day, they loved each other, they trusted me and our staff, and they believed. And today was a really good example of that belief."
Players Mentioned
Forward
/ Women's Soccer
Midfielder/Defender
/ Women's Soccer
Defender/Midfielder
/ Women's Soccer
Forward/Midfielder
/ Women's Soccer
Goalkeeper
/ Women's Soccer
Forward
/ Women's SoccerCarolina Insider - Interview with Ivan Matlekovic (Full Segment) - October 20, 2025
Monday, October 20
Carolina Insider - Interview with Michael Malone (Full Segment) - October 17, 2025
Monday, October 20
UNC Men's Soccer: Tar Heels Blank Hokies, 3-0
Monday, October 20
UNC Volleyball: Tar Heels Best Syracuse in 4 Sets
Sunday, October 19