Carolina women’s soccer, the gift that keeps on giving.

Anson Dorrance begins his 43rd season as head coach Thursday night at home vs. Washington, one of the three teams the Tar Heels shut out in the COVID-delayed 2020 NCAA Tournament last spring before losing to eventual  national champion Santa Clara in the semifinal, match, 3-1.

The convoluted season that began in September was another masterpiece for the Dorrance Dynasty, finishing at 18-2 (8-0 in the ACC) with the conference tournament cancelled due to the epidemic.

Dorrance sees both a benefit and a challenge to the quick turnaround into the new season. He says his team finished in great physical shape and built on that over the summer. But he lost a load of seniors, some off to the professional leagues, plus leading scorer Brianna Pinto, the All-American who turned pro after her junior year.

With perhaps the top recruiting class in the country on-boarding, the iconic, Hall of Fame coach believes his team can again contend nationally but it will take a while since he calls it “extraordinarily young” and faces six preseason top 25 teams that return almost everyone, including fifth-year seniors with an extra COVID year.

As usual, Dorrance isn’t shying away from such a slate, as he believes that is just the kind of competition his women need to be tournament-ready.

And he is uber-excited to have maybe his toughest and most glamorous home schedule that he hopes will fill Dorrance Field beginning with No. 19 Washington Thursday at 7 pm and No. 13 Arkansas Sunday at 1 to test his third-ranked Tar Heels.

Here are teams coming to Chapel Hill in 2021, after Washington and Arkansas: No. 24 Stanford, No. 6 Duke, No. 7 Clemson, No. 4 Virginia, No. 1 Florida State and annual ACC rival Notre Dame.

“We’re looking forward to what this new life will look like with people back in the stands,” Dorrance said. “We’re going to see if we can set a home attendance record. And we’re hoping our fans jump in with us to help us do that, as well.”

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