UNC Hosts No. 13 Texas A&M Saturday
Sept. 11, 2009
CHAPEL HILL, N.C.--Just six days after claiming the championship of the 2009 Inn at St. Mary's Soccer Classic in Notre Dame, Ind., the University of North Carolina women's soccer team returns to the pitch this Saturday when the Tar Heels meet the 13th-ranked Texas A&M Aggies at Fetzer Field at 2 p.m.
Admission is free and live stats will be available on TarHeelBlue.com via Gametracker. The Tar Heels (5-0) are ranked No. 1 this week in the NSCAA coaches poll, the Soccer America and the Soccer Times national polls and No. 2 in the Top Drawer Soccer poll. Texas A&M (3-2) is ranked No. 13 by the NSCAA, No. 21 by Soccer America, No. 14 by Soccer Times and No. 15 by Top Drawer Soccer. CAROLINA SOCCER NOTES THIS WEEK •Carolina leads the all-time series with the Aggies 11-1. The Tar Heels have won four in a row against the Aggies since a 1-0 double overtime loss to A&M on August 25, 2006 in College Station, Texas. •Carolina defeated Texas A&M twice last season. The Tar Heels won 3-2 on August 29, 2008 in College Station, Texas as Courtney Jones broke a 2-2 tie with a goal at 82:47 of the game. UNC also defeated Texas A&M 2-1 in the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals at Fetzer Field on November 28, 2008. Ali Hawkins scored the game-winner for the Tar Heels in that match in the 102nd minute of play. •Each of the last six meetings between North Carolina and Texas A&M have been decided by one goal dating back to a 1-0 overtime win by the Tar Heels over the Aggies in Houston, Texas on September 14, 2003. The last time there was a margin greater than one goal was November 29, 2002 when UNC beat A&M 3-0 in the NCAA quarterfinals at Fetzer Field. •UNC is coming off back-to-back weekends in which it won tournament championships. The Tar Heels won the title of the 2009 Carolina Nike Classic on August 28 and 30 with wins over UCF 4-0 and UNC Greensboro 1-0. Carolina finished 2-0 in the tournament while UCF and UNCG were both 1-1 and Duke 0-2. Last weekend, Carolina claimed the championship of the Inn at St. Mary's Soccer Classic in Notre Dame, Ind. by beating Notre Dame 6-0 and Marquette 1-0. Carolina finished the tournament 2-0 while Notre Dame and Marquette were both 1-1 and Milwaukee was 0-2. •Carolina's starting defense of senior goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris, senior defenders Whitney Engen and Kristi Eveland and junior defender Rachel Givan has keyed an incredible effort which has resulted in four straight shutout wins for the Tar Heels. UNC has not allowed a goal in 363 minutes and 21 seconds since UCLA's Sydney Leroux tallied against Carolina at the 86:39 mark of a 7-2 Tar Heel win on August 22, 2009. •Dating back to a 1-0 win over Miami on November 2, 2008 at Fetzer Field, UNC has now posted shutout wins in 12 of its last 15 games. •Carolina has won 15 games in a row since a 2-2 tie with Florida State on October 30, 2008 at Fetzer Field. •Carolina is now on a 29-match unbeaten streak, having gone 27-0-2 since falling 1-0 to Notre Dame on September 5, 2008 at Fetzer Field.
•Carolina had five players named to the All-Tournament Team at the 2009 Inn at St. Mary's Soccer Classic, including junior forward Jessica McDonald, senior midfielder Tobin Heath, freshman forward Alyssa Rich, senior forward Casey Nogueira and senior defender Whitney Engen. •Jessica McDonald was named the offensive Most Valuable Player at the 2009 Inn at St. Mary's Soccer Classic after scoring two goals in UNC's 6-0 win over the host Fighting Irish. That was the first multi-goal game of McDonald's career. Senior Whitney Engen was named the defensive MVP of the tournament after leading the Tar Heels to back-to-back shutout wins. •Several Tar Heels were named to National Teams of the Week after UNC's victory in the Inn at St. Mary's Soccer Classic. Senior midfielder Tobin Heath and freshman forward Alyssa Rich were named to the College Soccer 360 Primetime Performers of the Week squad. Heath was honored for assisting on both game-winning goals in victories over Notre Dame and Marquette while Rich earned membership on the team after assisting on the fourth goal of the first half against Notre Dame and then scoring the game-winner against Marquette and in the process notching her first career goal. Top Drawer Soccer honored UNC's flat back three starting defenders on its Team of the Week, a group that includes senior Kristi Eveland, senior Whitney Engen and junior Rachel Givan. That unit, along with goalie Ashlyn Harris, has now posted four straight shutouts and kept opposing teams off the scoreboard for the past 363 minutes and 21 seconds. Whitney Engen was named to the Soccer America Team of the Week after being named the defensive MVP of the Inn at St. Mary's Soccer Classic. Engen was also named UNC's Progress Energy Performer of the Week for the top individual performance amongst any Carolina sports team in action during the week that ended last Sunday. •Carolina's senior class of Ashley Moore, Tobin Heath, Ashlyn Harris, Sterling Smith, Nikki Washington, Caroline Boneparth, Whitney Engen, Casey Nogueira and Kristi Eveland has the best overall record of any senior class in the country according to research done by College Soccer 360.com. UNC's heads into Saturday's game against Texas A&M with both the most wins of any senior class (76) and the best winning percentage (.912). Texas A&M ranks seventh on the list in total wins by its senior class with 56. UNC is 76-6-3 over the last four years. Based on wins, it is followed by Notre Dame with 73, UCLA with 66, Portland with 61, Florida State and Stanford with 57 and Texas A&M with 56. •UNC enters the Texas A&M match with a record of 5-0. The last time UNC started a season with five straight wins was 2005 when the Tar Heels won their first 13 in a row before losing at home to Duke. •Carolina has scored in the opening minute of two matches this year. Tobin Heath scored 41 seconds into a 7-2 win over UCLA on August 22, 2009 and Courtney Jones scored 23 seconds into a 6-0 win over Notre Dame on September 4, 2009. •Carolina women's soccer players have won the first three weekly Progress Energy Performers of the Week as named by the UNC Athletic Communications office for TarHeelBlue.com. Each week, a UNC student-athlete is selected for the honor. Caey Nogueira won the award on August 24, Tobin Heath shared the award with field hockey player Kelsey Kolojejchick on August 31 and Whitney Engen won the award on September 7. •Senior defender Kristi Eveland was named last month as one of 30 female candidates for the 2009 Lowe's Senior Class Award. The 30 semifinalists will be cut down to a list of 10 finalists for the prestigious award later this month. Carolina has had a finalist for the award in each of its first two years as Jessica Maxwell was so honored in 2007 and Yael Averbuch was so tapped in 2008. Eveland is one of only three ACC players to make the 30 semifinalists. •Casey Nogueira was tapped for ACC Player of the Week honors August 24 after scoring a pair of goals in UNC's season-opening win over UCLA 7-2 on August. •Nogueira was also named the National Player of the Week by Soccer America Magazine on August 24. UNC has had a player named to the Soccer America Team of the Week in each of the first three weeks of the season - Casey Nogueira on August 25, Tobin Heath on September 1 and Whitney Engen on September 8. •Four Tar Heels have been named to the Top Drawer Soccer Teams of the Week so far. Tobin Heath was named to the August 31 team and Kristi Eveland, Rachel Givan and Whitney Engen garnered honors on the September 7 squad. •Three Tar Heels have earned honors on College Soccer 360's weekly Primetime Performers of the Week listings. Whitney Engen was named to the team on September 1 while Tobin Heath and Alyssa Rich made the squad on September 8. •The seven goals scored by the Tar Heels against the UCLA on August 22, 2009 were the most UNC has scored in a match since November 10, 2006 when the Tar Heels defeated UNC Asheville 7-0 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at Fetzer Field. UNC improved to 8-0 against UCLA all-time. The seven goals were the most scored by the Tar Heels against the Bruins, exceeding the five they scored in a 5-2 win over UCLA on September 19, 2003 in Durham, N.C.. The five-goal margin of victory was also the biggest for UNC in the series, exceeding the four-goal cushion in a 4-0 win over the Bruins on October 1, 1999 in San Diego, Calif. •Carolina's six-goal scoring outburst in a 6-0 win at Notre Dame on September 4 marked the most goals UNC has scored against the Fighting Irish in the 17-game history of the series. UNC, which now leads the all-time series 11-4-2, scored five against the Fighting Irish in wins over Irish on September 13, 1998 (5-1) and on November 20, 1994 (5-0). The six-goal margin of victory was also UNC's largest over Notre Dame, exceeding the five-goal separation in the aforementioned 1994 game for the national championship. •With the win over UCLA on August 22, UNC won its second straight season opener after having lost two in a row in 2006 and 2007. The Tar Heels are 27-3-1 all-time in season openers with losses in 1983, 2006 and 2007 and a tie in 1985. •The seven goals scored by UNC against UCLA on August 22, 2009 were the most scored in a season opener by the Tar Heels since August 26, 2005 when UNC opened the season with a 7-1 win over Tennessee in Wichita, Kan. •Three Tar Heels - senior defender Whitney Engen, senior midfielder Tobin Heath and senior forward Casey Nogueira - have been named to the Watch List for the Missouri Athletic Club's 2009 Hermann Trophy. Altogether, nine players from the ACC were named to the list. •Three UNC players were named to the Soccer America preseason All-America first team. They included defender Whitney Engen, forward Casey Nogueira and midfielder Tobin Heath. •Carolina vaunted defense of Ashlyn Harris, Kristi Eveland, Whitney Engen and Rachel Givan has now allowed only four goals over the last 1,403 minutes and 15 seconds of action. •UNC improved to 678-33-21 overall with its win last Sunday over Marquette, a winning percentage of .941. •The Tar Heels have outscored their opponents 2,970 to 349 in 732 games since the origin of the program in 1979. That is a scoring margin of 2,621 goals. •With 111 career points, Casey Nogueira is now 20th in Tar Heel history, one point behind Wendy Gebauer (1985-88) who had 112 points. •Casey Nogueira has now scored 45 goals in her career. She is 16th in career goals, one goal behind Carrie Serwetnyk (1984-87) who had 46. •UNC's average record per year in its first 30 years of soccer was 22.43 wins per year, 1.1 losses per year and 0.7 ties per year heading into the 2009 campaign. •UNC is 2-0 in one-goal games in 2009 and 4-0 in shutout games in 2009. •Carolina was the preseason pick to win the 2009 ACC regular-season championship, receiving all 11 first-place votes in the poll. The remainder of the preseason poll had Florida State at No. 2, Boston College at No. 3, Virginia at No. 4, Duke at No. 5, Wake Forest at No. 6, Virginia Tech at No. 7, Maryland at No. 8, Miami at No. 9, Clemson at No. 10 and NC State at No. 11. |
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