CHAPEL HILL, N.C. –  After playing to a tough 1-1 draw against No. 2 Florida State last Thursday, the fifth-ranked North Carolina women’s soccer team needed a boost of energy in the second half to emerge victorious over gritty Miami 3-0 Sunday afternoon at Fetzer Field.

 

After a listless start, Carolina got on the board via a penalty kick by Paige Nielsen in the 29th minute and then got second half goals from Emily Bruder and Megan Buckingham to finally put away the Hurricanes who did their best to pressure the UNC goal all day.

 

The win keeps UNC tied atop the ACC standings at 8-0-1 with Florida State.  Carolina has one more regular-season match left when it plays at Syracuse next Sunday at 1 p.m.  Carolina is 11-2-2 overall and has gone 10-0-1 in its last 11 matches.  Miami is 3-13-1 and 1-7-1 in the ACC but it has played a lot of close matches all season.

 

Seven seniors played their final regular season home game at Fetzer Field and senior co-captain Brooke Elby, who tore an ACL last month against NC State, received an honorary start before coming off the pitch in the first minute.

 

For the first 28 plus minutes of the game there frankly wasn’t much action that resulted in stats although both teams were creating some danger in each other’s end.  The game turned in the 29th minute, however, when Paige Nielsen was taken down in the penalty area as she was slicing through two defenders at the 15-yard line with the chance for a one-on-one opportunity with Miami goalkeeper Emilly Lillard.  Nielsen then calmly stepped to the 12-yard spot and sent her PK into the lower right side for her third goal of the season.  All three of Nielsen’s goals this season have been game-winners.

 

In the 33rd minute, UNC freshman midfielder Megan Buckingham hit a strike from distance that appeared to be curling into the upper right corner of the goal, but it ended up being denied by the cross bar.  Miami’s best chance of the first half came at 42:25 when Katie Bourgeois won a 50-50 ball at the top of the box but her shot sailed high.

 

Early in the second half, Amy Schmidt got behind the UNC defensive line and was one-on-one with Carolina goalkeeper Bryane Heaberlin but fortunately for UNC, Schmidt hit her shot wide left from close in.  Given a reprieve, UNC was opportunistic just five minutes later.  Joanna Boyles found Emily Bruder with a perfect through ball.  Bruder took it in stride and from the right side of the box finished past Lillard into the upper left 90 of the frame.  It was Bruder’s team-leading fifth goal of the season, all in the past four games.  It was also Boyles’ team-leading sixth goal of the campaign.

 

At 75:17, Miami had a golden opportunity to cut Carolina’s lead to a single goal as Amy Schmidt stayed onside to take a lofted ball from midfield.  She found herself one-on-one with Heaberlin from 10 yards out with no defender close to her, but the UNC goalie made a kick save to keep the Tar Heels’ clean sheet intact.

 

Just 1:10 later, Carolina struck for its third goal to put the game away.  Satara Murray hustled to earn possession, 10 yards into the attacking end and sent a ball down the right side to Cameron Castleberry.  The sophomore midfielder carried the ball to the end line and centered a perfect cross to Megan Buckingham whose header went off the right post, caromed off the Miami goalie and spurted into the left side of the goal.

 

It was goal No. 4 of the season for Buckingham and it was the first scored by a Tar Heel who started a game in over 393 minutes.  The last Tar Heel starter to score was Cameron Castleberry in the second half of a 3-0 win over Wake Forest on October 9.  Since that time, all nine Carolina goals had come from players who did not start matches.

 

Carolina finished with a 17-5 edge in shots and a 6-0 edge in corner kicks.  The win was the fifth straight for Carolina over Miami since 2010.  This was the closest of those decisions and the third shutout in the streak in which Carolina has outscored the Hurricanes 22-2.