North Carolina Women Check In At No. 3 In Soccer America Poll
Aug. 20, 2006 OAKLAND, CALIF. - The North Carolina women's soccer team enters the 2006 season with one of its most inexperienced teams in its history but Coach Anson Dorrance's team has still earned the No. 3 preseason ranking from Soccer America magazine as announced Sunday by the magazine's editors. The Tar Heels have lost 10 seniors, including five starters off the 2005 team which won the Atlantic Coast Conference regular season and tournament championships while advancing to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament. Carolina returns 14 letter winners from the 2005 squad, eight of whom have had extensive starting experience during their careers. UNC welcomes 13 red-shirt and true freshmen to the roster as well as an upperclassman who has earned a spot on the team as a walk-on. UNC will be a mixture of experience and youth that Coach Dorrance believes could be a very good team by the month of November. The Tar Heels will have to play parts of the season without four players who will be competing and training with various national teams. Senior forward Heather O'Reilly is a member of the U.S. National Team and junior defender/mdifielder Robyn Gayle is a member of the Canadian National Team. Freshman forward Casey Nogueira and freshman midfielder Tobin Heath are currently playing with the U.S. Under-20 National Team at the World Championship in Russia. The Tar Heels open their season this coming Friday at No. 9 Texas A&M. The Tar Heels play at SMU next Sunday before opening their home season against UNC Greensboro at Fetzer Field August 29. UNC trails 2005 NCAA runnerup UCLA and 2005 NCAA champion in the preseason Soccer America ranking. Following is the complete ranking. Ranking, Team, 2005 Record
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