Playing as underdogs for the first time in this NCAA Tournament, the UNC women’s soccer team appeared plenty motivated to reassert itself as the dominant team in the sport.
The sixth-ranked Tar Heels knocked off the No. 3 South Carolina Gamecocks 1-0 on the road Friday night in NCAA Quarterfinals–riding a familiar formula to earn a place in the Final Four for the first time since 2012.
Freshman forward Madison Schultz–the team’s “super-sub”–scored the game’s only goal in the 21st minute. It was her third game-winning goal in UNC’s four tournament matches, and fifth goal since the Tar Heels’ regular season finale.
Perhaps the most crucial play of the night was made by UNC goalie Lindsey Harris, a redshirt senior who made eight saves in total on her way to a fourth consecutive shutout.
Annie Kingman assisted on Schultz’s early goal, which proved to be all the Tar Heels would need to beat South Carolina. (Jeffrey A. Camarati/ UNC Athletics)
Awarded a penalty kick in the 54th minute, South Carolina’s Sophie Groff struck a ball hard and low to Harris’s right–but the experienced senior was able to extend and make the save, keeping the Tar Heels’ lead alive.
“When she stepped up, I was surprisingly calm,” Harris said after the game. “I thought I would be freaking out. She stepped up and I had in my mind that I wanted to go right. I decided before she kicked it that I wanted to go right. Luckily, I dove right, and the ball was there.”
Harris also broke the school record for saves in a season, reaching 91–which is two more than the previous record of 89 set by Molly Current in 1980.
It was just the second loss of the season for the Gamecocks (21-2), who were the No. 1 seed in the Tar Heels’ section of the bracket.
UNC (17-3-4) had seven shots on target during the match, becoming one of just six teams to even get three on net against South Carolina this year.
Now head coach Anson Dorrance and the Tar Heels will head to San Jose next week after snapping the longest Final Four drought in program history.
With two games standing in between them and a national championship that has eluded them since 2012 as well, Dorrance had one simple request for Schultz–the freshman who keeps finding ways to score when it matters most.
“Madison Schultz has found the magic touch,” he said. “She has five game winners in the last eight games. It’s absolutely unbelievable. She’s a freshman.”
“I asked her if she had two more in her, and she assured me that she did.”
Up Next:
The Tar Heels will take on the winner of Duke and West Virginia in their Semifinal match on Friday, Dec. 2.
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