UNC Women’s Soccer Battles No. 1 Bruins To Scoreless Tie

Courtesy of GoHeels.com

LOS ANGELES, CAL – In a rematch of last year’s NCAA quarterfinals, ninth-ranked North Carolina and top-ranked UCLA fought for 110 minutes Friday night at Drake Stadium, but neither team was able to dent the scoreboard as the match ended in a 0-0 tie in collegiate women’s soccer action.

UNC is now 1-1-1 on the season after playing its second overtime match against a Pac 12 Conference foe in the first three games of the season. The defending NCAA champion Bruins are now 2-0-1. The two teams had met last November 30 in the NCAA quarterfinals at Fetzer Field with the Bruins prevailing 1-0 in double overtime en route to winning their first national championship.

Friday’s game was the 11th in history between the two teams and Carolina now leads the all-time series 9-1-1.

Not unexpectedly, the game was a defensive-oriented encounter. UCLA ended with a 12-4 edge in shots and a 5-3 advantage in corner kicks. In its opening two games, UCLA had beaten Maryland and UC-Irvine by 3-0 scores, while outshooting its two opponents 44-1. None of UNC’s four shots were on frame, only the second time that has happened to UNC’s offense in history, and UCLA has not conceded a shot on goal in three games this year.

The game was only the 11th scoreless tie in Carolina’s history, the last being a 0-0 stalemate between Florida and Carolina at Fetzer Field on August 24, 2012.

The Bruins outshot the Tar Heels 6-0 in the opening half of play but junior goalkeeper Bryane Heaberlin kept the Bruins off the scoreboard with five saves in the opening 45 minutes. Those five saves set a career high for Heaberlin. She had four saves in Carolina’s 1-0 victory at Boston College on October 13, 2013.

Lindsey Harris came on in the second half in the goal for UNC and she made one save as the Bruins outshot Carolina 6-4 in the second half and overtime. Harris made a spectacular save on a shot by Sam Mewis in the 64th minute of play. Carolina’s best chance to score in the second half came on a hard shot by Summer Green in the 81st minute that went high.

Carolina had one shot in the first overtime and UCLA had two shots in the second overtime. Four minutes into the second overtime, Megan Oyster had a dangerous shot from distance for the Bruins but it skipped wide. The Bruins had one more shot in the waning seconds but it went high and the game ended at 0-0.

UNC will continue its West Coast trip on Sunday when it plays at #17 Pepperdine at 1 p.m. PDT (4 p.m. EDT). The Waves are 3-0 this season after routing Florida Atlantic 4-0 Friday night.

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