University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Virginia Tech
Tar Heels Score Twice Late To Get By Hokies, 3-1
October 16, 2005 | Women's Soccer
Oct. 16, 2005
BLACKSBURG, VA. - The third-ranked North Carolina women's soccer team continued its season-long trend of scoring late in matches to pull out victories as the Tar Heels tallied on a pair of penalty kicks in the final 13 minutes of regulation to beat Virginia Tech 3-1 Sunday afternoon at Virginia Tech Soccer Stadium. Senior midfielder Kacey White and junior forward Heather O'Reilly had the decisive goals in the 78th and 88th minutes as North Carolina improved to 15-1 overall and 7-1 in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
The Tar Heels have been a second half team all year and that was borne out again in the win over the Hokies, who fell to 5-10-1 overall and 1-7 in the ACC. UNC has now scored 39 of its 61 goals this season after halftime. UNC did get an early goal this time and for over 73 minutes the Tar Heels were able to hold the lead on the basis of that goal. Virginia Tech then scored a goal in the 77th minute only to see UNC score the game winner just 33 seconds after the Hokies had tied the match.
At the 3:31 mark of the match, senior forward Lindsay Tarpley stole the ball from Virginia Tech defender Kimberly Hickey and scored past Tech goalkeeper Mallory Soldner to put UNC up 1-0. Heather O'Reilly sent a through ball to Tarpley which Hickey gained control of but then lost to Tarpley to beat Soldner one-on-one. The goal was Tarpley's sixth of the season and the 50th of her Tar Heel career.
UNC yielded the tying goal at the 76:57 mark as Laurie Beth Puglisi scored her sixth goal of the season off assists by Erin Moore and Molly McCall. Moore served a long pass from the center into the box that bounced over the head of UNC defender Kendall Fletcher allowing Puglisi to pounce on it and score before UNC goalkeeper Aly Winget could gather the ball in.
However, just 33 seconds later, Virginia Tech was called for a hand ball in the penalty area and White stepped up and scored on the penalty kick. It was White's third goal of the season on a penalty kick and her sixth goal overall. White has now converted all six of her penalty kick chances over the past two seasons.
A little less than 10 minutes later, UNC's Heather O'Reilly was taken down in the box and she converted the ensuing penalty kick into her 14th goal of the season. O'Reilly's goal was her 43rd of her career and she moved into a tie for No. 15 on the all-time list with Laurie Schwoy (1996-2000) in that category in UNC history.
The Tar Heels outshot the Hokies 22-6 in the match. Soldner went all the way in goal for the Hokies and she made seven saves.
UNC freshman Anna Rodenbough earned the first start of her career and played the first 45 minutes making one save. Senior Aly Winget played the final 45 minutes in goal for the Tar Heels and she improved her season record to 14-1-0.
Carolina will return to action on Thursday when the Tar Heels play host to NC State at Fetzer Field at 7 p.m. If the Tar Heels are able to beat the Wolfpack and then defeat Wake Forest on October 28 they will clinch no worse than a tie for the ACC regular-season championship and claim the No. 1 seed in the 2005 ACC Tournament at Cary, N.C., November 2-6.
