Women's Soccer Championships
November 7, 2002 | Women's Soccer
1981, '82, '83, '84, '86 | 1992, '93, '94, '96, '97 | 1999, 2000
1987 Women's Soccer Championship
It's difficult to decide what was the top story of the Carolina's 1987 championship season, the stifling defense that anchored UNC throughout the year, or the brutal cold it weathered in winning the final four. Either way 1987 was an extremely memorable season for the Tar Heels.
Of the first five NCAA Final Four's, none had been held north of the Mason Dixon line. But that streak ended in 1987, as Amherst, Massachusetts played host to the women's soccer semifinals and championship game. Carolina survived the weather and a tough California team to advance to the finals against host team Massachusetts.
The game was played in seemingly arctic weather conditions, the wind being so strong that that it made attacking going into the gusts a practical impossibility. Carolina went into the wind for the first half, putting the pressure on its record-breaking defense to hold off Massachusetts and keep the score knotted at zero. As it had been all year the defense was up to the challenge, and the Heels entered halftime knowing the wind would be at their backs in the second half of a till then scoreless match.
In the second half Carolina received the crucial goal it was looking for as sophomore midfielder Shannon Higgins found the back of the net. Massachusetts did everything it could to try and even the score, but Carolina held on for the 1-0 victory, an undefeated 23-0-1 season and another NCAA title.
It could be considered apropos that the final ended in a Carolina shutout, because defense was the Heel's forte in 1987. Carolina allowed only two goals during the entire season and posted an unprecedented NCAA record 22 shutouts. Defensive leader and Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year Lori Henry, sweeper Carla Werden Overbeck and goalkeeper Anne Sherow anchored a defense that allowed only 52 shots on goal all year.
The only goals Carolina allowed on the season were to George Mason in a 4-1 victory and N.C. Weslyan in a 10-1 blowout. Sherow would only personally give up one of the goals while playing over 1700 minutes in the net, finishing the year with an unbelievable .05 goals against average. Carolina's only non-win was a scoreless tie against William & Mary halfway through the year.
1988 Women's Soccer Championship
Carolina faced one of the stiffest challenges it had ever known in 1988, and it came from a school just a few miles down I-40. The Tar Heels battled against the North Carolina State Wolfpack three times in 1988, including a contest for the NCAA championship.
Carolina stood at an impressive 5-0 when they traveled to Raleigh to face conference rival NC State. The Heels had bested the Wolfpack 3-0 the year before to claim the first ACC championship. This game would prove to be a sign of things to come, as the Wolfpack battled UNC and was able to emerge with a 1-1 tie against the Tar Heels.
The teams would meet again in the ACC finals, also held in Raleigh. Once again the game would officially end in a 1-1 tie. While the game officially ended as a tie, penalty kicks were employed to determine an ACC champion, and State would edge the Tar Heels to win the only ACC championship ever to be wrestled from Carolina.
After defeating first Central Florida in the quarterfinals and then Wisconsin in the semifinals, by scores of 2-1 and 3-0 respectively, Carolina geared up for a third meeting with NC State. But this game would be unlike the previous two. Firstly it would be for the NCAA championship, and secondly this game would be held not in Raleigh, but in Chapel Hill.
The final would not hold the same drama as the two 1-1 ties earlier in the season. Carolina would put four goals past the NC State defense, with the game winner coming from junior center midfielder Shannon Higgins, who scored three times on the day. Higgins would be named Soccer America National Player of the Year after leading the Heels in points with 13 goals and 17 assists on the season. When the final whistle sounded Carolina had secured a 4-1 victory and its sixth NCAA title.
During the regular season Carolina set NCAA records for collegiate soccer unbeaten streaks. First the team broke their own NCAA women's record of 57 consecutive games without a loss. Eight games later the record of 65 in a row held by the Penn State men's team also fell to the Tar Heels.
1989 Women's Soccer Championship
The 1989 season saw the Tar Heels continue their unmatched streak of victories, as the Heels claimed yet another National Championship by streaking to a 24-0-1 record. Seniors Shannon Higgins, Julie Guarnota, Ava Hyatt and Carla Werden Overbeck provided Carolina soccer with one of its most impressive statistics by closing out their four year careers with a staggering undefeated record of 89-0-6, in addition to a quartet of championship rings.
The championship came on the home field of rival NC State, who the Tar Heels faced down and defeated in the semifinals 2-0 after first disposing of Hartford by a score of 9-0. The win put Carolina in the finals against a familiar opponent, Colorado College, the school Carolina defeated in 1986 for the NCAA championship.
The result in 1989 would be the same as it was in 1986, with the Tar Heels winning the match 2-0. The game winner was scored by Shannon Higgins, amazingly the third consecutive year the goal that gave Carolina the NCAA title had come from the Carolina midfielder, who wound up winning just about every piece of hardware available that season.
Higgins led the Tar Heels in scoring with 48 points. She was named National Player of the Year once again by Soccer America, in addition to taking home the Hermann Trophy and the Honda Award. The heady midfielder was named ACC Player of the Year and became the first-ever recipient of the Mary Garber Award, given to commemorate the ACC Female Athlete of the Year.
On the year Carolina claimed the ACC championship via a 4-0 shutout win over Duke and a 5-3 victory versus NC State at the ACC tournament held in Durham. The Heels only stumble for the year came in their last regular season game, a 0-0 overtime game at Stanford.
In addition to the impressive accomplishments and statistics compiled by the 1989 seniors, the year will also be remembered as the freshman efforts of future Tar Heel stars Mia Hamm and Kristine Lilly, who scored 21 and 20 goals respectively in their first seasons in Chapel Hill.
1990 Women's Soccer Championship
Jill Jakowich was the first Tar Heel to find the back of the net in Carolina's 6-0 rout of Connecticut in the finals of the 1990 NCAA women's championship. Five other Tar Heels joined her in the scoring column, as UNC ran away with its eighth national championship in front of 3,200 on a newly renovated Fetzer Field. The win was sweet, but at the same time almost anticlimactic considering the dramatic game North Carolina played just to reach the title match.
North Carolina and NC State had met in the NCAA tournament each of the previous two years and four times in all over the two seasons. Three of the games had been close, two ending in ties, but the 1990 quarterfinal game was easily the most dramatic of the series.
Late in regulation the Heels trailed State 2-1, and it looked like State might finally defeat its old ACC rival. But UNC sophomore Kristine Lilly scored without much time remaining to force overtime. In the extra session the Wolfpack took the lead once again, only to see Lilly find a way to answer once again.
Finally, with just over two minutes left before penalty kicks would have decided the game, Mia Hamm lofted a curving corner kick that forward Rita Tower redirected with her head for the game winning goal. Carolina survived 4-3 in what Soccer America would later call the "Greatest Game in Women's Soccer History."
The Tar Heels would get a few days to savor the win before facing Colorado College in the semifinals. The Heels won the match 2-1 on goals by Tower and Lilly, leading into the 6-0 finals victory over Connecticut. The Connecticut rout was payback for a loss the Heels had suffered to the Huskies earlier that year in Storrs. The 3-2 overtime defeat was the first loss by a Carolina women's soccer team in 103 games, a seemingly unbreakable NCAA record. November 24, 1985 was the last time the heels had been outscored, and the loss dropped UNC out of the number one spot in the ISAA poll for the first time since the second week of the 1986 season.
Carolina would not wait long before ascending to the top spot in the poll once again, reclaiming the position following a 3-0 victory over first ranked Virginia late in the season. The Heels would beat the Cavaliers again in the ACC tournament title game.
In all, the Heels went 20-1-1 for the season, the only tie being a two all stalemate against Central Florida. Sophomore Mia Hamm led the Tar Heels in scoring with 24 goals and 19 assists.
1991 Women's Soccer Championship
In 1991 the North Carolina Tar Heels faced a stiff challenge, defending its NCAA title without many of its top players and the man who had led them to each of their nine NCAA titles, head coach Anson Dorrance. The Heels would once again be up to the task, defeating two ACC rivals and then Wisconsin 3-1 in the finals to capture the NCAA title.
The US National Team came calling to Chapel Hill in 1991, as Kristine Lilly and Mia Hamm were invited to play in the World Cup in China. Lilly would participate in the teams first 19 games, while Hamm took a redshirt and did not play at all. The National team coach would be UNC head man Anson Dorrance. In addition, forward Rita Tower and midfielder Jill Jakowich were both rehabbing knee injuries that prevented either from playing a minute that season, meaning UNC would go at it without their top four scorers from the previous season.
The Tar Heels didn't allow the absence of so many of its top names to keep them from once again reaching the programs lofty standards. And when sophomore Paige Coley found the back of the net for the game winner over Wisconsin it completed a perfect 24-0 championship season.
Carolina defeated NC State in consecutive games late in the 1991 season. The first was a 5-1 victory that gave the Heels another ACC championship. Just shy of two weeks later the two teams faced off again in Chapel Hill in the NCAA quarterfinals. This time the Heels dispatched the Wolfpack by a score of 4-1. UNC defeated another ACC rival in the semifinals, a 5-1 victory over Virginia.
For the season only two teams came within a goal of matching the Tar Heels. Southern Methodist University came within a goal of the Heels in a 2-1 contest in the SMU classic at the start of the season, and Radford played Carolina close before losing 1-0.
The Heels were led by midfield sensation Tisha Venturini and senior forward Pam Kalinoski, who herself was coming back from a serious knee injury. Venturini was the nation's leading scorer with 21 goals and 58 total points, good enough to earn her National Freshman of the Year honors. She would split MVP honors with Kalinoski in the NCAA tournament. Kalinoski's 28 assists set what was at the time a national record. UNC assistant coach Bill Palladino steered the Tar Heels through the final ten games of the undefeated campaign.