UNC Beats USD With Another Clean Sheet
DURHAM, N.C. – Summer Green scored twice and three players had two assists each as #14 North Carolina beat San Diego 5-0 in women’s soccer action Sunday afternoon in the Duke Nike Classic at Koskinen Stadium before a crowd of 1,045 fans.
Green scored the game-winning goal for the second straight game and she finished the weekend with four goals in wins over #8 Marquette (4-0) and USD. Maria Lubrano, Alyssa Rich and Amber Brooks also scored for the Tar Heels while Ranee Premji, Meg Morris and Brooke Elby each had two assists for UNC. Carolina improved to 4-1-1 on the season while San Diego fell to 3-5 on the campaign.
The Tar Heels have posted six successive shutouts (including a 1-0 overtime exhibition win against the University of Montreal on August 26) and UNC has gone 647 minutes without allowing a goal. The last team to score on Carolina was Portland in the fifth minute of a 1-0 win by the Pilots on August 17.
Four Tar Heels were named to the Duke Nike Classic All-Tournament Team — Summer Green, Amber Brooks, Ranee Premji and Maria Lubrano.
Carolina outshot the Toreros 28-6 on the afternoon and it had a 13-1 edge in corner kicks. Three Tar Heel goalkeepers combined on the clean sheet as Adelaide Gay went 45 minutes, Anna Sieloff 23:02 and Hannah Daly 21:58. Daly made the only save on the day for the Tar Heels stopping a free kick by Meghan O’Rourke in the 87th minute. McKenna Tollack went the whole way in goal for USD and she recorded six saves while allowing five goals.
The Tar Heels dominated the early stages of the game but it took until the 25th minute to break through on the scoreboard. Off a throw-in, Meg Morris fed the ball to Summer Green from the right side. Green deked a defender and sent a left-footed laser from 20 yards out into the upper left corner at 24:10. The goal was her fourth of the season.
Just as against Marquette on Friday when the Tar Heels carried a 1-0 lead into halftime, UNC exploded in the second half for multiple goals for the second time in three days. At 52:50, Carolina made it 2-0 on Maria Lubrano’s second goal of the season. Midfielder Kelly McFarlane back-heeled a ball in the box to Lubrano who finished from the six-yard line in the center of the penalty area.
The next two Tar Heel goals were both set up by midfielder Ranee Premji. In the 61st minute, she stole a ball 25 yards out, dribbled in and then sent a through ball to Green just inside the right side of the penalty box. The freshman striker touched the ball ahead to herself to avoid the goalkeeper and then finished from close range for her fourth goal of the weekend and fifth of the season.
Just over two minutes later, Alyssa Rich secured her first goal of the season on a sequence set up by Brooke Elby and Ranee Premji. Elby sent a square pass across the top of the box that Bianca Gray dummied. Premji charged in to sweep it up and with the USD goalkeeper committed to defending her, Premji slid a pass to her right and Rich finished from 15 yards out into the unguarded net.
Carolina finished off the scoring in the 88th minute when Amber Brooks scored her second goal of the season off a free kick. Katie Bowen sent a long ball from UNC’s side of midfield after a Torero foul. The USD defense froze in its tracks waiting for an offside call but none came and Brooks, finding herself in the free, ran on to the ball and finished past Tollack from 15 yards out into the lower right corner of the frame.
Next up for the Tar Heels is the start of the 2012 ACC season. Carolina will look to break a two-match losing streak against Maryland when the Tar Heels face the Terrapins Thursday at 7 p.m. at Ludwig Field in College Park, Md. Three days later, UNC will meet seventh-ranked Virginia at 2 p.m. at Klockner Stadium in Charlottesville, Va.
The Tar Heels have a raft of personnel changes this week as forwards Crystal Dunn and Kealia Ohai and goalkeeper Bryane Heaberlin return to the squad Monday after winning the U20 Women’s World Cup Saturday in Japan as the U.S. defeated Germany 1-0. Summer Green departs on Tuesday to play for the U.S. Team in the U17 Women’s World Cup in Azerbaijan and will miss the next seven games for the Tar Heels.
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