Amber Brooks plays a key defensive role on a Tar Heel team which has allowed only two goals all season.
 
Amber Brooks plays a key defensive role on a Tar Heel team which has allowed only two goals all season.
 
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No. 1 Carolina Faces SEC Foes At Duke Nike Classic
 
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Sept. 17, 2009

This Week's Tar Heel Women's Soccer Games

@Duke Nike Classic, Koskinen Stadium, Durham, N.C.

Friday, September 18, 5 p.m. LSU (4-1-1) vs. No. 1 North Carolina (6-0)

Sunday, September 20, 12 Noon Auburn vs. No 1. North Carolina

Looking Ahead To This Weekend
Just six days after winning a hard-fought match against No. 13-ranked Texas A&M 2-0 last Saturday, the University of North Carolina women's soccer team returns to the pitch this Friday and Sunday to compete in the 2009 Duke Nike Classic at Koskinen Stadium in Durham, N.C. On Friday, UNC (6-0) will play LSU (4-1-1) at 5 p.m. followed by the game between Duke and Auburn at 7:30 p.m. The teams switch opponents on Sunday with Carolina taking on Auburn at 12 Noon followed by the match between LSU and Duke at 2:30 p.m. The Tar Heels 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. Neither of Carolina's opponents this weekend from the Southeastern Conference are in the current national polls.

Highlighting Head Coach Anson Dorrance
Head Coach Anson Dorrance is in his 31st season as the Tar Heel head coach. His teams have an all-time record of 679-33-21 (.941). Under Dorrance, UNC has won 19 NCAA Tournament championships, one AIAW Tournament championship, 19 ACC regular-season championships, 19 ACC Tournament championships, appeared in 27 NCAA Tournaments and advanced to 24 of 27 NCAA College Cups. During his tenure, Dorrance's teams are 132-7-4 (.937) in ACC regular-season games, 54-0-3 (.974) in ACC Tournament matches and 100-7-1 (.931) in NCAA Tournament games. In 733 games, the Tar Heels have outscored their opponents 2,972 to 349, a margin of 2,623 goals.

 

 

Scouting The Tar Heels
2009 Record: 6-0, ACC 0-0
Current Streak:  Won 16 (dating back to 2008 season)
Head Coach: Anson Dorrance
Record at UNC: 679-33-21 (31st year)
Career Record: 679-33-21 (31st year)
Chief Assistant Coach: Bill Palladino
Goalkeeper Coach & Recruiting Coordinator: Chris Ducar
Volunteer Assistant: Cindy Parlow

2009 Statistical Leaders
Goals:
Courtney Jones, Tobin Heath, Casey Nogueira, Jessica McDonald, 3
Assists: Courtney Jones, Tobin Heath, 5
Points: Courtney Jones, Tobin Heath, 11
GWG: Courtney Jones, Nikki Washington 2
Saves: Ashlyn Harris, 9

2009 Individual Accolades
Soccer America Preseason All-Americas:
Casey Nogueira, Sr., F; Tobin Heath, Sr., MF; Whitney Engen, Senior, Defender
M.A.C. Hermann Trophy Watch List: Casey Nogueira, Sr., F; Tobin Heath, Sr., MF; Whitney Engen, Senior, Defender
Inn At St. Mary's Soccer Classic All-Tournament Team: Jessica McDonald, Jr., F (Offensive MVP); Whitney Engen, Sr., D (Defensive MVP); Alyssa Rich, Fr., F; Tobin Heath, Sr., MF; Casey Nogueira, Sr., F.
College Soccer 360 Primetime Performers Of The Week: Whitney Engen, Sr., D (Sept. 1); Alyssa Rich, Fr., F (Sept. 8); Tobin Heath, Sr., MF (Sept. 8); Nikki Washington, Sr., M (Sept. 15).
Top Drawer Soccer Team Of The Week: Tobin Heath, Sr., MF (Sept. 1); Kristi Eveland, Sr., D (Sept. 8); Whitney Engen, Sr., D (Sept. 8); Rachel Givan, Jr., D (Sept. 8).
Soccer America Team Of The Week: Casey Nogueira, Sr., F (Aug. 25); Tobin Heath, Sr., MF (Sept. 1); Whitney Engen, Sr., D (Sept. 8).
Progress Energy UNC Performer Of The Week: Casey Nogueira, Sr., F (Aug. 25); Tobin Heath, Sr., MF (Sept. 1); Whitney Engen, Sr., D (Sept. 8).
ACC Player Of The Week: Casey Nogueira, Sr., F (Aug. 25).
Soccer America National Player Of The Week: Casey Nogueira, Sr., F (Aug. 25).

Carolina's Probable Starters & Top Reserves
Starting Strikers

54, Casey Nogueira, Sr. ; 84, Courtney Jones, So.; 47, Jessica McDonald, Jr.
Off The Bench Up Front
6, Brittani Bartok, So.; 00, Alyssa Rich, Fr.; 11, Merritt Mathias, So.; 40, Emmalie Pfankuch, So.; 37, Sterling Smith, Sr.
Starting Midfielders
Attacking Center Mid, 98, Tobin Heath, Sr.; Playmaking Center Mid, 76, Ali Hawkins, Jr.; Left Mid, Meghan Klingenberg, 4, Jr.; Right Mid, Nikki Washington, 26, Sr.
Off The Bench In the Midfield
22, Amber Brooks; Fr.; 91, Maria Lubrano, So.; 12, Lucy Bronze, Fr.; 10, Erin Mikula, So.
The Defensive Flat Back Three
9, Whitney Engen, Sr.; 32, Kristi Eveland, Sr.; 16, Rachel Givan, Jr.
In The Goal
18, Ashlyn Harris, Sr.
Backup
21, Hannah Daly, Fr.

CAROLINA SOCCER NOTES THIS WEEK

•Senior midfielder Tobin Heath and sophomore forward Courtney Jones are tied this week in NCAA Division I statistics for 10th place in assists per game with 0.83 per contest. Each has five assists in six games.

•Senior goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris is seventh in the nation this week in goals against average at 0.182. Harris has played in six games, allowing only one goal in 493 minutes. Harris is 22nd in NCAA Division I in save percentage having made nine saves and allowing only one goal in 493 minutes for a percentage of .900. •North Carolina is tied for 10th in scoring offense in NCAA Division I statistics this week with an average of 3.50 goals per game. UNC has scored 21 goals in six games so far.

•The Tar Heels are currently ranked 16th in goals against average as a team at 0.333. UNC has allowed two goals in 540 minutes so far this season.

•Carolina is tied for ninth in shutout percentage amongst NCAA Division I teams. UNC has five shutouts in six games for a percentage of .833.

•The Tar Heels are tied for first this week in winning percentage amongst NCAA Division I schools at 1.000.

•Carolina and LSU will be meeting for the first time in history in Friday's match.

•Sunday's match with Auburn will mark the second meeting in history between the two teams. The only previous meeting was September 28, 2001 when the Tar Heels defeated the Tigers 2-0 in Auburn, Ala.

•The Duke Nike Classic will be the third tournament the Tar Heels have played in this year. Carolina has won the championship of the first two tournaments it has played in. 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. On September 4 and 6, 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 five straight shutout wins for the Tar Heels. UNC has not allowed a goal in 453 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 13 of its last 16 games.

•Carolina has won 16 games in a row since a 2-2 tie with Florida State on October 30, 2008 at Fetzer Field.

•Carolina is now on a 30-match unbeaten streak, having gone 28-0-2 since falling 1-0 to Notre Dame on September 5, 2008 at Fetzer Field.

•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 heads into Friday's game against LSU with both the most wins of any senior class (77) and the best winning percentage (.913). UNC is 77-6-3 over the last four years. Based on wins, it is followed by Notre Dame with 73, UCLA with 67, Portland with 62, Florida State and Stanford with 58 and Texas A&M with 56.

•UNC enters the LSU match with a record of 6-0. The last time UNC started a season with six 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.

•Senior defender Kristi Eveland was tapped in August 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 on October 5. 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.

•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 ND 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. They were the most goals scored by the Tar Heels in a home opener since September 6, 2002 when the Tar Heels defeated Guilford 9-0.

•Carolina's vaunted defense of Ashlyn Harris, Kristi Eveland, Whitney Engen and Rachel Givan has now allowed only four goals over the last 1,493 minutes and 15 seconds of action.

•UNC improved to 679-33-21 overall with its win last Saturday over Texas A&M, a winning percentage of .941.

•The Tar Heels have outscored their opponents 2,972 to 349 in 733 games since the origin of the program in 1979. That is a scoring margin of 2,623 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 5-0 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.

•UNC has won 20 or more matches in a season in 19 of the past 20 seasons. In three of the six non-20 win seasons in Carolina history UNC still won the NCAA championship. Carolina won NCAA championships in 1982, 1983 and 1988 despite not winning 20 games in those seasons.

•Of the 31 players on the Tar Heel roster in 2009, nine are seniors. This group formed the core of a group which won a national championship in its freshman year in 2006 and then came back to win another national title in 2008.

•The Tar Heels returned players with starting experience at all 11 positions on the field.

•Starters returning from 2008 on defense were Whitney Engen, Kristi Eveland and Rachel Givan. Ashlyn Harris, who alternated starts a year ago with Anna Rodenbough, returns as the full-time starter in the goal.

•Midfielders Ali Hawkins and Tobin Heath returned but Yael Averbuch and Allie Long did graduate off last year's squad. Averbuch and Long have been replaced in the midfield by Nikki Washington and Meghan Klingenberg, both players with significant starting experience in their careers. The duo missed the end of the 2008 season while playing in the U20 World Cup in Chile on the winning American side.

•UNC's starting forward crew from 2008 of Casey Nogueira, Jessica McDonald and Courtney Jones also returned for the Tar Heels.

•Senior forward Casey Nogueira, senior midfielder Tobin Heath and senior defender Whitney Engen were named to the Watch List for the 2009 Missouri Athletic Club Hermann Trophy. Nogueira was one of three finalists for the award last year. Heath was a semifinalist for the award in 2008.

•UNC has had 10 selections for the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America first, second and third teams in the past four seasons. Those 10 selections came on only 12 total nominations for the Academic All-America teams by the UNC Athletic Communications Office during those four seasons. Carolina also had seven women's soccer players named Academic All-Americas from 1983-2001, giving the program 17 selections since the program began in 1983.
•Following is a summary of those 10 selections in the past four seasons.
•2005 - Heather O'Reilly, second team; Lindsay Tarpley, third team.
•2006 - Heather O'Reilly, first team; Anna Rodenbough, second team; Yael Averbuch, third team.
•2007 - Yael Averbuch, second team; Anna Rodenbough, second team.
•2008 - Kristi Eveland, first team; Yael Averbuch, first team; Anna Rodenbough, second team.

•Since a 1-0 loss at Miami on September 30, 2007, the Tar Heels have gone 17-0-1 in ACC regular-season matches. UNC had a 16-match ACC winning streak halted October 30, 2008 when the Tar Heels played to a 2-2 tie with Florida State at Fetzer Field. Carolina has gone 32-1-1 in ACC regular-season matches since a 2-1 loss to Duke at Fetzer Field on October 9, 2005.

•Casey Nogueira scored 25 goals in the 2008 season, eight more than she scored in her first two seasons combined as a Tar Heel. The 25 goals equaled the eighth most in a season in Carolina history. The last time a Tar Heel had as many as 25 goals in a season was 2000 when Meredith Florance scored 26.

•Carolina's automatic bid to the 2008 NCAA Tournament ensured that it played in The Big Dance for the 27th successive year. Only North Carolina and Connecticut had made the NCAA Tournament field in each of the first 26 years of tournament play. However, the Huskies did not make the tournament field last season so Carolina now has the distinction of being the only team to make the NCAA field in all 27 years. •UNC has an all-time record of 26-5-20 all-time in overtime games in its history.

Carolina was 1-0-2 in overtime in 2008. Carolina lost only two overtime games in the first 21 years of its history from 1979 through 1999. UNC's last overtime loss came in the season opener at Texas A&M 1-0 in 1996.

•Nineteen current and former UNC players are members of different full and youth U.S. National Soccer Teams in 2009 as part of their player pools.
•Full National Team members include Lori Chalupny, `05, D; Kendall Fletcher, `05, D; Tobin Heath, `09, MF; Kristine Lilly, `92, MF; Heather O'Reilly, `06, MF; Lindsay Tarpley, `05, MF; Kacey White, `05, MF; Cat Whitehill, `03, D.
•U23 National Team members include Yael Averbuch, `08, MF; Whitney Engen, `09, MF; Meghan Klingenberg, `10, MF; Allie Long, `08, MF; Jessica McDonald, `10, F; Casey Nogueira, `09, F; Nikki Washington, `09, F.
•U20 National Team members include Brittani Bartok, `11, F; Amber Brooks, `12, D; Courtney Jones, `11, F; Alyssa Rich, `12, F; Rachel Wood, `12, MF.