University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Texas A&M
Tar Heels Rally In Second Half To Advance To College Cup For First Time Since 2003
November 25, 2006 | Women's Soccer
Nov. 25, 2006
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - In one of the most dramatic games in Fetzer Field history, the No. 1-seeded University of North Carolina women's soccer team had to rally twice from one-goal deficits to defeat No. 13 Texas A&M 3-2 in the NCAA quarterfinals before 4,487 fans on a sun-drenched day in the Tar Heel State. With the win, the Tar Heels (25-1) earn a trip to the NCAA Women's College Cup next Friday where the Tar Heels will meet UCLA in a semifinal match at SAS Soccer Park in Cary, N.C.
Friday's lineup of games will feature North Carolina versus UCLA at 3:30 p.m. in a match that will be nationally televised on ESPN2. The second semifinal game will have Florida State going up against Notre Dame at 6 p.m.
The trip to the College Cup will be North Carolina's 23rd in the 25-year history of the tournament but its first since 2003. But it took everything UNC has in its arsenal to beat a Texas A&M squad which was seeking to become the first college varsity team in history to beat Carolina two times in the same season. The Aggies had defeated the Tar Heels in College Station, Texas on August 25 in the season opener for both teams. Texas A&M's 1-0 double overtime win in that match was UNC's only loss of the season to date as the Tar Heels have run off 25 wins in a row since the setback. The win also gave UNC 25 or more wins in a season for the eighth time in its 28-year history.
The win also marked the 799th overall win of Coach Anson Dorrance's storied career at UNC. He is now 627-28-18 in his 28th year as the women's head coach. He also coached the Tar Heel men for 12 years from 1977-88, compiling a 172-65-21 mark. He will seek his 800th career win when the Tar Heels play UCLA in the NCAA semifinals.
The Aggies struck for the opening goal of the match at the 29:42 mark after Laura Grace Robinson was able to win a 50-50 ball in the box from UNC defender Ariel Harris and Tar Heel goalkeeper Anna Rodenbough. Robinson received a through ball and dribbled into the penalty area. Harris got her foot on the ball in an attempt to clear it out of danger and Rodenbough came off her line to try to snare the loose ball. But Robinson persevered and got a solid shot off that was deflected but had plenty of pace on it as it ended up crossing the line into the back of the goal with ease. The goal was Robinson's fifth of the season and it marked the first time this UNC had fallen behind in a match since its 2-1 overtime win over Florida State in the ACC Tournament championship game earlier this month.
Exactly five minutes after Robinson's goal, the Aggies had a golden opportunity to make the score 2-0. Kat Krambeer took a centering pass at the five-yard line after a teammate had chased down the ball near the end line in a numbers advantage situation but Krambeer's quick, point blank shot was saved by Rodenbough.
The Aggies outshot the Tar Heels 4-1 in the first half. The single shot by UNC was the fewest it has ever taken in a single half in the team's 28-year history. The shot was off a free kick by Yael Averbuch at 35:59 of the match that was saved by A&M keeper Kristin Arnold.
The Tar Heels came out with more resolve in the second half. In the first minute of the second half the Aggies fouled the Tar Heels at midfield. Jessica Maxwell sent a long free kick deep into the box that was ping-ponged off the heads of several players before it squirted out to the 15-yard line on the left side. Heather O'Reilly used her speed to her advantage and ran on to the ball unmarked and blasted a shot that found the lower right corner just 47 seconds into the second half. It was the 10th goal of the season for O'Reilly.
The Aggies immediately reseized the momentum after the Carolina goal as the next four shots in the match were taken by A&M. Ashlee Pistorious had two shots blocked in the box by the Tar Heel defense in the 52nd minute, both on close in scoring chances.
Less than three minutes later, UNC's Tobin Heath committed a foul just outside the box on the right side about 25 yards out. In the tangle up of bodies after the foul, UNC starting defender Jessica Maxwell was severely injured, suffering a broken left ankle. With Maxwell's injury, Tar Heel head coach Anson Dorrance had to reconfigure his back line and Robyn Gayle came off the bench to play the center back spot for the remainder of the game.
The Aggies took advantage of the foul as Allison Martino launched the direct free kick and sent a shot into the upper left 90 of the goal just under the bar. The shot was perfectly placed and although Rodenbough got back to her line she was not able to get a hand on the shot to knock it away. It was Martino's first goal of the season. She had eight assists coming into the match. The official time of the goal was 54:28.
It was two minutes later that UNC would make a goalkeeper change as redshirt freshman Ashlyn Harris entered the match at the 56:30 mark. Harris would figure in one of the biggest plays of the match later on.
The A&M goal seemed to spark Carolina as it earned two corner kicks and had a shot by Ali Hawkins in the next four minutes. The intensity paid off just minutes later.
Eventually, the Tar Heels answered the second A&M goal within eight minutes as Carolina tied the match at 2-2 at 61:53. Whitney Engen and Elizabeth Guess teamed up on a give-and-go play to set up the goal. Engen sent a ball down the left side that Guess corralled, carrying it deep into the penalty box. Rather than push the ball to the end line, Guess paused, allowed her defender to run by and then sent a cross from the left to an unmarked Engen who had sprinted to the center of the box after initially feeding Guess. Engen settled the ball after an awkward hop and then sent a shot past Aggie goalkeeper Kristin Arnold into the left side of the goal for her 12th goal of the season.
Carolina had two outstanding opportunities to take the lead at 63:55 and 72:44 only to be denied by key saves by Arnold. O'Reilly got behind the A&M defense and had a one-on-one chance against Arnold on the first occasion and attempted to chip the goalkeeper but Arnold came up with the save.
In the 73rd minute, Casey Nogueira was unmarked by the defense at the 25-yard line and she sent a bullet that was heading top shelf only to be punched over the bar by Arnold. The ensuing corner kick did factor in the winning Carolina goal, however.
Nikki Washington took the corner from the right side but the ball was cleared out initially by the A&M defense. UNC sent the ball back into the attacking end from around 40 yards away. Washington was there to contest A&M's Madison Klovstad for possession on the right side of the penalty area. Klovstad got her foot on the ball for a clearing attempt but she was unable to control the ball and Washington pounced on it and one-timed a shot from a seemingly impossible angle that crossed the line and hit the left side netting. The goal was Washington's third tally of the season and it officially came at 73:33.
The game was far from over, however. A&M had two good looks at the Tar Heel goal in the 82nd and 83rd minutes. Off a corner kick by Allison Martino, Paige Carmichael had her shot blocked at the 81:51 mark and Suzette Devloo's header went high at 82:35 later in the same sequence.
UNC seemed to be killing the clock effectively but an offside call against the Tar Heels at 89:02 gave A&M one last chance. The Aggies were able to move the ball upfield and serve a ball to the top of the box. Ashlyn Harris came out to punch the ball away at the 15-yard line but the ball deflected off an A&M player and was headed for the back of the net on the left side. Washington, however, had retreated to the line and was able to clear the ball away with less than 20 seconds remaining. A&M regained possession but its last serve into the penalty area with just a couple of seconds remaining was cleared over the end line by Robyn Gayle.
The game marked only the second time in history the Tar Heels have been down twice in an NCAA Tournament game and come back to win. The other occasion was the 1990 NCAA quarterfinals against NC State when the Tar Heels faced deficits of 2-1 and 3-2 against the Wolfpack but rallied to win in the 118th minute of the second overtime period 4-3.
Had A&M won it would have been the first college varsity team to beat UNC twice in the same season. In 1979, in UNC's first varsity season, Carolina lost twice to the McLean Grasshoppers, a club team from McLean, Va. In 1980, the Tar Heels fell three times to the Virginia Select Team, an all-star team of players from the state of Virginia.
