University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels Keep On Keeping On
October 2, 2005 | Women's Soccer
Oct. 2, 2005
By Dan Findlay
Athletic Communications Student Assistant
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - The numbers don't lie.
Twenty-six losses in 27 years.
Just five conference defeats in almost two decades of play.
A staggering 18 national championships.
Still, when the University of North Carolina women's soccer team failed to make the Final Four last year - for the first time in the program's history - the whispers could be heard.
After all, the loss marked the third time in four years the Heels had fallen short of the national title, a previously unimaginable drought for the proud program.
Unsurprising, then, were the comments that spread like wildfire throughout the college soccer world.
Had the greatest program in women's soccer history been usurped as the unchallengeable king? Was the shine on the Carolina dynasty wearing off?
Were the Tar Heels, after decades of total domination, at last reduced to just another team?
Put simply, absolutely not.
Just look at the numbers.
A simple review of the last few seasons resoundingly refutes the ludicrousness of any argument claiming the Tar Heels have slipped. In the past four years, the so-called "decline" of the Carolina Empire, the Tar Heels have compiled a 92-4-6 record.
Yes, that's right: four losses in four seasons, including a perfect 27-0 campaign (matching an NCAA record for wins in a season, originally set by the 1997 team) just two years ago by debatably the best team in women's college soccer history.
That's hardly representative of a program on any sort of downslide. True, the most recent years may not quite match the mind-boggling totals of Carolina's past - at least in terms of national titles - but considering the vast influx of talent across the board that the women's game has experienced in the last decade, such a mark of excellence is arguably rendered even more impressive.
In fact, a strong case can be made that the "slump" of recent years has actually featured the Tar Heels' highest quality of play ever. In that time, incredible talent and skill have graced the field at every single position, and multiple players who figure prominently into the U.S. National Team's present and future have proudly donned the Carolina uniform.
The thing is, the Tar Heels' competition has improved dramatically at the same time.
With the pool of women's college soccer players larger and more talented than ever, programs have evolved to consistently threaten and challenge Carolina, which forces the Tar Heels to play their absolute best in essentially every game to emerge victorious. And they know it.
"Programs across the nation are getting better," said senior defender Kendall Fletcher. "But we truly welcome that challenge." Senior midfielder Lori Chalupny agreed.
"We're the team everyone wants to beat," she said. "We're the school I honestly think everybody circles on their schedule."
This year's team has certainly embraced the challenges entailed in being a target, racing out to an 12-0 start and a No. 1 ranking in their quest to prove that Carolina is still what it's always been: the team to beat.
"It's tough to say that we're slipping when you look at our records," said junior forward Heather O'Reilly. "We average one loss a season - that's a pretty good statistic. Not many schools have anything close to that." Indeed - but it's not enough to satisfy the insatiable hunger to improve that is the very hallmark of the Carolina program. That this unrelenting mentality is still so pronounced is perhaps the best indication that the Tar Heel dynasty is as alive and kicking as ever.
"We've got to try to get it down to zero losses," O'Reilly said. "We need to bring another nationalcChampionship back. This program deserves it."
This program.
The one who some say has had its heyday.
The one with the numbers that say otherwise.
And most importantly, the one whose players do, too.
"There're other great schools out there, but this is Carolina," said Fletcher. "This is where you come in order to win and push yourself as a player."
