University of North Carolina Athletics
Post Game Notes
December 3, 2006 | Women's Soccer
Dec. 3, 2006
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*North Carolina won its 18th NCAA Championship in the 25 years of the tournament. The Tar Heels have compiled a 92-6-1 mark in the NCAA Tournament, including an 18-3 record in championship games.
*The Tar Heels' 27 wins match a school record also set in 1997 (27-0-1) and 2003 (27-0).
*Senior forward Heather O'Reilly was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Offensive Player while junior defender Robyn Gayle was the tournament's Most Outstanding Defensive Player. O'Reilly also won the offensive award in 2003 as a freshman on North Carolina's 17th NCAA championship team. Sophomore Yael Averbuch, and freshmen Tobin Heath, Casey Nogueira, and Kristi Eveland also made the College Cup All-Tournament Team.
*O'Reilly scored her 15th career NCAA Tournament goal in the first half to tie Mia Hamm for the second most NCAA Tournament goals in school history. Only Portland's Christine Sinclair with 25 and North Carolina leader Lindsay Tarpley with 16 have scored more tournament goals.
*O'Reilly's goal was also 59th of her career, tying her with Tarpley and Meredith Florance for 10th most in school history.
*Casey Nogueira became just the second Tar Heel freshman to start her first game in the national championship game. The first to do so was Catherine Reddick in 2000. Reddick scored the game-winning goal in that game against UCLA, while Nogueira scored the game-winner in Sunday's contest. Both games were decided by 2-1 margins.
*The Tar Heels started the second half with seven freshmen on the field (Nogueira, Heath, Eveland, Whitney Engen, Nikki Washington, Ali Hawkins, and Ashlyn Harris). That is the most freshmen ever to start a half in school history.
*Seniors O'Reilly, Elizabeth Guess, Jennifer Perkins, and Elizabeth Lancaster concluded their college careers with a four-year record of 97-3-3.
*Carolina is 5-1 against Notre Dame all-time in NCAA Tournament games and 9-2-2 against the Irish overall. This was the first meeting between the two teams since 2000 when Carolina beat the Fighting Irish 2-1 in the NCAA semifinals.
