The Tar Heel women are not messing around on the pitch this season. Head coach Anson Dorrance’s team won its fifth consecutive game to start the year with a clinical 2-0 defeat of Northwestern in Chapel Hill Thursday night.
As in three of their five games so far, the Tar Heels opened the scoring in the first half, with senior forward Rachel Dorwart deflecting in a free kick from sophomore midfielder Avery Patterson in the 17th minute. Dorwart expertly kept her cool after the initial ball was deflected by a Wildcats defender, recovering in time to knock in the goal. It was Dorwart’s third game in a row putting the ball in the net. Her three goals in five games leads the team.
The Tar Heels continued to knock on the door throughout the 90 minutes, dominating possession and keeping the Wildcats from any chances. ACC Defensive Player of the Week Claudia Dickey only had to make one save on the evening, and none in the second half. Carolina has not allowed a goal in the second half this season.
The Tar Heels finally were able to add the game-sealing second goal with under five minutes remaining. Freshman forward Emily Murphy fought off a Northwestern defender before beating the goalkeeper and finding teammate Rachel Jones wide open in front of the net, who rolled in the easy finish. Though Jones has taken 13 shots so far this season, it was just the first goal for the preseason All-ACC forward.
Carolina will likely face a stiffer challenge Sunday, as No. 10 Stanford will visit Chapel Hill at 1 p.m. Before the season, head coach Anson Dorrance mentioned Stanford as one of the programs that “consistently out-recruits us.”
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