Sept. 14, 2007

Box Score

RICHMOND, VA. - North Carolina's women's soccer team won its fourth successive game Friday night as the Tar Heels shutout Virginia Commonwealth 4-0 in the second game of the 2007 VCU/Ewing Sports Invitational at VCU's Sports Backers Stadium before a crowd of 683 fans.

The game featured a coaching matchup between Tar Heel head coach Anson Dorrance, in his 29th season at UNC, and one of his former players, Tiffany Roberts Sahaydak, an All-America midfielder for the Tar Heels from 1995-98. Roberts Sahaydak is the co-head coach of the Rams, sharing duties with her husband Tim Sahaydak, a former men's player at UNC for coach Elmar Bolowich.

North Carolina improved to 4-1 with the victory while the Rams fell to 1-3-1.

Carolina broke the game open with two goals less than two minutes apart in the first half. At 16:38, junior midfielder Yael Averbuch scored her first goal of the season off an assist by sophomore forward Whitney Engen. Averbuch gathered in a ball from Engen in front of the box and sent a shot from 25 yards out into the top left corner of the goal.

Less than two minutes later, Carolina's lead doubled to 2-0 on sophomore forward Casey Nogueira's second goal of the season. Sophomore forward Nikki Washington won a pair of 50-50 balls in the right side of the box despite being constantly pressured by the defense and then sent a feed from the goal line that Nogueira headed into the bottom right of the goal from five yards out.

The Tar Heels outshot the Rams 8-6 in the first half with six corner kicks to the Rams' three. Both teams kept pressure on the opposing team's goalkeepers with Emily Niman making three saves in the first half for VCU and junior Anna Rodenbough making three saves for the Tar Heels.

Rodenbough went on to play all 90 minutes in goal for Carolina, making four saves and posting her second successive solo shutout after blanking UNC Greensboro 3-0 on Wednesday night.

The Tar Heels put the game away with two second-half goals. At 48:56, junior midfielder Allie Long scored her third goal of the season on a header from eight yards out. Senior defender Jessica Maxwell sent a ball to sophomore forward Whitney Engen who carried the ball down the left side and then sent a feed into the box that Long finished.

Carolina's final goal came at 66:06. Senior forward Jaime Gilbert fired a shot that was saved by Niman but Gilbert pounced on her own rebound and sent the ball into the back of the net on the rebound for her first goal of the season. The goal was the 27th of Gilbert's career, moving her into a tie for 33rd place in UNC history.

For the game, UNC outshot VCU 20-9, including 12-3 in the second half. Twenty-three different Tar Heel players saw action and only two starters played more than 67 minutes in the match.

Carolina will return to action on Sunday when the Tar Heels meet William & Mary at 3 p.m. in the final game of the VCU/Ewing Sports Invitational. The Tribe is 3-2 after beating Navy 4-0 in the first game of the night on Friday.