University of North Carolina Athletics
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O'Reilly's Golden Goal Lifts UNC To Win Over No. 5 Virginia
October 6, 2005 | Women's Soccer
Oct. 6, 2005
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - North Carolina's Heather O'Reilly poked in a rebound after an intense scramble in front of the net to lift No. 1 North Carolina to a 2-1 victory over No. 5 Virginia in women's soccer action Thursday night at soggy Fetzer Field. The game was played in a steady downpour but both teams were still able to generate tremendous scoring opportunities in a game that wasn't decided until the second overtime period after 104 minutes and 19 seconds of play.
The play that set up the winning rebound for O'Reilly was a wild one indeed. Tar Heel freshman midfielder Yael Averbuch took a corner kick from the left side that was placed perfectly in the box about four yards in front of Virginia goalkeeper Christina deVries, who ended with a career high 14 saves on the night. UNC senior striker Lindsay Tarpley fired at deVries twice and it appeared the ball had already gone over the line for the game-winner on both occasions. After the second Tarpley shot, which de Vries knocked down while appearing to be standing two steps into the goal, the players on both teams appeared to relax, with several Tar Heels already celebrating, expecting the officials to stop play but the whistle did not come. O'Reilly then swiftly gathered the loose ball on the carom off de Vries on the left side of the net and sent it back into the goal for the winning tally from about the two-yard line. O'Reilly's goal set off a mass celebration by the UNC players in front of the goal and thrilled most of the crowd of 842 who had sat through the miserable weather conditions for nearly 105 minutes.
The win by Carolina keeps UNC undefeated and untied this season at 13-0-0 and 5-0-0 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Virginia fell to 9-3-1 overall and 4-1-0 in the ACC. UNC is ranked this week by all four major polls as the No. 1 team in the nation which Virginia stands No. 5 nationally in all four polls.
The win was the 100th ACC regular season victory for UNC since the league started play in women's soccer in 1987. The Tar Heels now stand 100-5-3 in all-time ACC regular season matches.
North Carolina had the edge in most statistical categories as the Tar Heels outshot the Cavaliers 28-8 and had 11 corner kicks to one for Virginia. But the masterful play of de Vries kept the game going for extra time as the junior recorded 14 saves, eight above her previous career high of six set against Clemson in 2004 The Virginia school record is 22 set in 1987 a match against NC State. During the night, de Vries repeatedly stopped the Tar Heels in one-on-one situations and both goals Carolina did put on the board came via rebounds off initial de Vries' saves.
Carolina was the first to score at the 17:50 mark as UNC junior Elizabeth Guess was able to get behind the Wahoos' defense before having her initial shot from 12 yards stopped by de Vries. But de Vries was not able to control the ball and Guess kept her footing and then pounded the rebound home with her left foot from about eight yards away. The goals was the seventh of the season for Guess.
The Tar Heels kept pounding away and finished the first half with a 12-0 shot advantage. de Vries finished the first half with six saves. The Cavaliers began to establish possession in the midfield more in the second half and got off five shots to 11 for UNC. One of those found the back of the net at 63:57 to tie the game. Shannon Foley gained control on the left side and dribbled by a UNC player to center the ball into the middle of the penalty area. Noelle Keselica was there to redirect the cross with her head and the ball went inside the right post past Tar Heel goalkeeper Aly Winget, who finished with three saves, to tie the score.
It marked the eighth straight game in the series between the two teams that Virginia has scored one goal against Carolina and for the second straight time a Virginia goal was good enough to force overtime. The two teams battled to a 1-1 draw after double overtime in the 2004 ACC Tournament final in Cary, N.C. Virginia ended up claiming the ACC championship in a sudden death penalty kick shootout in that game 6-5. UNC now leads the series 35-0-1 with the first 34 games being decided in regulation before the back-to-back overtime tussles.
By scoring in its eighth straight game against Carolina, Virginia became only the second team in history to score against in the Tar Heels in as many as eight straight matches. Duke is the only other school to do so, scoring in eight successive games against the Tar Heels from 1992-95, including regular-season, ACC Tournament and NCAA Tournament clashes.
The Tar Heels will return to action when they host arch-rival Duke Sunday at 2 p.m. at Fetzer Field in a Carlyle Cup matchup. The Blue Devils are ranked No. 11 and boast an 8-2-1 mark, 2-2-0 in the conference. The match will be worth one point in the Carlyle Cup standings, the all-sports trophy the two schools play for each school year. Duke currently leads the 2005-06 standings 2-0.
Virginia will return home Sunday to Klockner Stadium in Charlottesville, Va. for a 2 p.m. match against Clemson.
