Meredith Florance

Position:
Forward
Height:
5-7
Class:
Senior
Hometown:
Dallas, Texas
High School:
Highland Park

General - Three-year letter winner who started for the Tar Heels as a sophomore and junior...heads into this season ranked 26th in career points at UNC with 90...she is tied for 20th in career goals at the University with 33...was arguably one of the top high school players in the nation coming out of the prep ranks in 1997...possesses great speed, power and strength...she strikes the ball beautifully and is a physically intimidating player.

National Team Experience - Was named by UNC alumna Lauren Gregg to the 1997 United States' Under-21 women's national team Nordic Cup roster...that team competed in Denmark, August 4-8, 1997...she again competed for the under-21 national team this in 1999 at the World Championships in Iceland...both times Florance played on that team the U.S. won the gold medal...played one game with the full U.S. National Team in 1997, playing 45 minutes.

1999 Season - Had a tremendous junior season for UNC...named an honorable mention All-America by College Soccer Onlinea first-team...second-team All-Southeast Region selection by Soccer Buzz...was named to the All-Tournament Team at the NCAA Championship after scoring the game-winning goal in the NCAA title game against Notre Dame...named second-team All-ACC...named to Soccer America Team of the Week September 7, 1999...named to All-Tournament Team at Notre Dame KeyBank Classic...started 24 games for the Tar Heels as a junior...had 13 goals and nine assists for 35 points...scored two game-winning goals, ironically both against Notre Dame...had two goals in the comeback win at Duke...had a goal and an assist against Florida State in the regular season game...had a goal and an assist against both UCLA and Central Florida...had two assists against Hartford.

1998 Season - Started all 26 games for the Tar Heels in 1998...scored 10 goals, the same total as her freshman year, but increased her assist output from four as a freshman to 11 as a sophomore...had 31 points, making her the fourth-highest scorer on the team...scored game-winning goals against San Francisco, Maryland and Portland...her goal in the 150th minute against Portland gave the Tar Heels a dramatic 1-0 win over the Pilots in the fourth overtime period of the 1998 NCAA semifinals...she scored her 10 goals in 10 different games last season...had two-assist efforts against Hartford and against Duke in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals...third-team Soccer Buzz All-Southeast Region selection...named to All-Tournament Team at 1998 NCAA Division I Championship.

1997 Season - Played in all 28 games for the Tar Heels, starting against Florida and SMU in her hometown of Dallas...had 10 goals and four assists for 24 points...scored three goals in her first ever home game against Tennessee...had two goals against St. Mary's and two assists versus N.C. State...in NCAA Tournament games against Wake Forest and Florida she had one goal and one assist...was named a third-team freshman All-America by Soccer Buzz...was named to the Soccer Buzz All-Southeast Region Freshman Team.

Prep - Played four years of varsity soccer at Highland Park High School in Dallas, Texas...graduated from HPHS on May 22, 1997...was a four-year starter at Highland Park at forward...also played for the Sting Soccer Club from the under-11 to under-19 level and started at forward on a consistent basis for her club team...her list of high school accolades is quite staggering...as a freshman, she was a varsity starter and MVP of the state high school championship game...she led Highland Park to the '94 Texas high school state championship...was named to the All-State Tournament Team, the All-State Team and the All-Region Team...was also the offensive MVP of the district...as a sophomore, she was a starter and the 1995 Dallas Morning News Player of the Year...she was the district most valuable player and was named to both the All-State and All-Region teams...she repeated as the Dallas Morning News Player of the Year as a junior when she scored 50 goals for Highland Park High School...she was also named All-State and All-Region and was tapped as the district MVP...she also co-captained the HPHS varsity team as a junior...as a senior, she led HPHS to the state title and was named MVP of the state championship game...she thus led Highland Park to two state championships in four years...those titles were the school's first state team titles since 1947...she was the MVP of the title game both times and named to the All-Tournament team both times...besides starting as a senior, she was also the varsity team's captain for the second year...she was the district MVP, offensive player of the year in the state and she was named to the All-District, All-Region and All-State teams...she also was tapped for the Dallas Morning News area team...she ended up with a Texas state high school record of 150 goals scored in four years.

Club Soccer - As a member of the Dallas Sting, she led the team as an under-15 entry to the title game of the under-16 tourney in '94, finishing as runner-up...played on teams which won the WAGS Champions super group tournament twice as under-16's and under-19's...she led the Sting to the '95 national club championship and was MVP of the tournament...she captained the Sting her senior year and also led them as an under-19 unit to the Dallas Cup '96 championship.

Personal - Given name is Meredith Grace Florance...is the daughter of Eric and Martha Florance...was born May 10, 1979 in Dallas, Texas...she has one brother and one sister...her father played baseball at SMU...enjoys running and rollerblading in her spare time...says her biggest sports thrill involved scoring a goal in the 1995 national championship club game against the Mission Viejo Shamrocks...the goal was so meaningful to her because the prior year the Dallas Sting had been to nationals as an under-15 team playing against under-16's...she had a shot with a minute left in the game that would have tied the score and forced overtime but she missed it to the left by just inches, dooming the Sting to a second-place finish...the team returned a year later and Florance scored the first goal of the game on a one-on-one...she went on to be selected MVP of the 1995 national championship game while leading the Sting to the title...she possesses a gift for remembering famous movie lines and is very entertaining as she acts them out like Forrest Gump...is undecided on what her major will be at UNC.

Meredith Florance's Career Statistics