 Carolina Blanks Stanford To Claim Its 21st
Women's Soccer Title
UNC posts 19th shutout of the season as McDonald scores winning goal in
third minute.
Dec. 6, 2009
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 COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS -
It never gets old.
That was the feeling of North Carolina head coach
Anson Dorrance and his senior-laden team after the third-ranked Tar
Heels pitched a shutout at top-ranked Stanford Sunday afternoon, prevailing
1-0 in the 2009 NCAA Women's Soccer Tournament championship game at Aggie
Soccer Stadium before a stadium record crowd of 8,536.
The victory, powered by a goal by junior forward
Jessica McDonald in the third minute of play, gave the Tar Heels their
20th NCAA title in the 28-yard history of the NCAA Tournament, and
Carolina's 21st championship in the sport overall when the 1981 AIAW title
is included in the mix. UNC finished the season 23-3-1 overall and won the
NCAA title with the fewest wins since the 2000 team won the title with a
21-3 mark.
In the process, Carolina, the only school to have won a national
championship while going unbeaten and untied, denied Stanford the
opportunity of joining that elite club as the Cardinal saw its season end at
25-1. Ironically, a year ago in the national championship game, the Tar
Heels did the exact same thing, beating an unbeaten and untied Notre Dame
team 2-1 in the national title game in Cary, N.C.
The title was the third for a nine-member group of UNC seniors who were
also on title teams in 2006, 2008 and now 2009. It was also the third title
for UNC redshirt junior
Ali Hawkins who missed the 2007 campaign with an ACL tear. The
nine-member UNC senior class includes
Ashley Moore,
Tobin Heath,
Ashlyn Harris,
Sterling Smith,
Nikki Washington,
Caroline Boneparth,
Whitney Engen,
Casey Nogueira and
Kristi Eveland.
Nogueira, who assisted on McDonald's game-winning goal, was named the
tournament's Most Valuable Player on Offense as she had also scored the
game-winning goal in UNC's NCAA semifinal win over Notre Dame Friday night.
Senior
Whitney Engen was named the Most Outstanding Player on Defense and other
Tar Heels on the Women's College Cup All-Tournament Team included senior
midfielder
Tobin Heath, junior forward
Jessica McDonald, junior defender
Rachel Givan and senior goalkeeper
Ashlyn Harris.
Ironically, in a game that by rule had to go 90 minutes, the only goal of
the match came less than three minutes into play and came on the first shot
taken in the game by either side. It was
Tobin Heath, the senior midfielder from Basking Ridge, N.J., who jump
started the playing, earning the second assist on the goal for the second
time in the College Cup weekend. Heath fed Nogueira on the left side of the
pitch, allowing Nogueira to go 1v1 with her defender.
Meanwhile,
Jessica McDonald split her defenders on a run into the box and
Nogueira's service found McDonald's foot in stride and the junior from
Glendale, Ariz. one-timed into the left side of the frame from inside the
six-yard box.
While both teams mounted serious attacks from that point on, no one would
scratch again. UNC became the only team to shutout Stanford all year and in
the process posted the squad's 19th clean sheet of the campaign in 26
matches. The UNC defense of senior goalkeeper
Ashlyn Harris, senior defenders
Whitney Engen and
Kristi Eveland and junior defender
Rachel Givan, allowed only 12 goals all season, the fewest allowed by a
UNC side since the 2003 team gave up 11 while going 27-0-0 and becoming the
last team to win an NCAA title unbeaten and untied.
Exactly two minutes after the Tar Heels scored,
Courtney Jones had an excellent chance to double the lead but her strike
went just wide to the right of the frame from the top of the 18. Carolina
would hold the high-powered Stanford attack without a shot for the first
17:15 of the match before Teresa Noyola's shot went high. The Tar Heels
ended the first half with a 10-2 edge in shots and a 7-0 edge in corner
kicks but they were unable to extend their lead in the match.
Jessica McDonald and
Amber Brooks both had a pair of headers go wide off corner or direct
kicks and Nogueira missed wide on another try. Stanford, meanwhile, was
struggling to stay onside and it burned the Cardinal when what initially
looked like a goal by Courtney Verloo was called back. At the 42:29 mark,
Verloo had a shot which forced Harris to make her first save of the game and
was only the second shot of the half for the Cardinal. UNC ended the half
with a brilliant chance to make it 2-0 but a header by
Ali Hawkins off a corner kick by
Rachel Givan was knocked away at the last second by Stanford goalkeeper
Kira Maker.
The intensity in the second half picked up right from the opening whistle
as both teams pressed the other squad's defense to either get the equalizer
or provide separation. UNC would end the second period with a 9-7 edge in
shots and a 4-3 margin in corner kicks.
Stanford's first-team All-America forward Kelley O'Hara had a great shot
inside the 18-yard box at the 52:59 juncture but the effort went wide.
Stanford continued to press the issue and on a fast break, UNC's
Meghan Klingenberg was slapped with a yellow card at 55:47 just outside
the penalty area on the right side. Stanford's ensuing free kick was cleared
out of danger by UNC midfielder
Lucy Bronze.
With 32:09 to play in the match, Christen Press of the Cardinal had an
open shot from 25 yards out but it sailed high. Nogueira was high with a
shot at 62:42 of the match and then Maker made back-to-back saves on strikes
by Nogueira at 65:42 and 67:09, respectively. UNC reached the second half TV
timeout with a 15-6 edge overall in shots and an 8-1 advantage in corner
kicks.
A key play in the game came at the 68:40 mark when O'Hara, a top
candidate for National Player of the Year honors, was issued a yellow card
after taking down UNC's
Kristi Eveland.
Less than four minutes later, O'Hara merited her second yellow, earning
her an automatic red card and dismissal from the pitch. On the second foul,
she took down UNC defender
Whitney Engen from behind after Engen had successfully tackled the ball
away. The red card came at 72:15 and meant the Cardinal played a man down
for the final 17:45 of the match.
The red card, if anything, seemed to inspire the Cardinal. Just over a
minute later,
Ashlyn Harris had to make a difficult save on a long, hard, line drive
shot by Christen Press. Harris was able to knock the ball to the ground and
then gobble it up before any Stanford player could get to the rebound.
UNC had two excellent chances to extend the lead but
Tobin Heath had her shot turned away by Kira Maker at 75:46 and 27
seconds after that Nogueira fed McDonald for a one-on-one with the Stanford
goal but McDonald pushed her shot just to the right of the frame.
The Cardinal had two dangerous corner kicks in the final four minutes of
play. Harris punched the ball out of danger on one of the efforts and the
Tar Heels cleared the other out of harm's way at the 89:16 mark. One last
gasp effort by the Cardinal came with 1:39 left when Christen Press made a
run past the UNC defense and punched the ball into the goal off the left
post. But Press had mistimed her run and the play resulted in Stanford's
sixth and final offside call of the day in the 89th minute.
2009 WOMEN'S COLLEGE CUP ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
1. Lauren Fowlkes, Notre Dame, D/M
2. Lauren Cheney, UCLA, F
3. Sydney Leroux, UCLA, F
4. Kelley O'Hara, Stanford, F
5. Christen Press, Stanford, F
6.
Tobin Heath, North Carolina, MF
7.
Jessica McDonald, North Carolina, F
8.
Rachel Givan, North Carolina, D
9.
Ashlyn Harris, North Carolina, GK
Most Outstanding Player on DEFENSE
Whitney Engen, North Carolina, D
Most Outstanding Player on OFFENSE
Casey Nogueira, North Carolina, F
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