UNC women's soccer team tops Duke on road

DURHAM — Duke’s crowd overwhelmed North Carolina’s in Thursday night’s women’s soccer match at Koskinen Stadium.

But the Blue Devil players couldn’t back their fans up.

No. 7 UNC (9-3-2, 5-2-1 ACC) took an early lead, added to it in the second half and held on to beat No. 6 Duke 2-0.

Playing in front of a raucous crowd that swallowed up Tar Heel fans’ cheers, the Blue Devils (11-4-1, 5-3-2 ACC) dominated the first ten minutes of the match.

But at the very end of the 10th minute, Meg Morris put UNC ahead when she ripped a shot past goalkeeper Tara Campbell from just outside the box.

The Tar Heels never gave up the lead.

“We tried to do what we could with our kids to stay with them for the first 20 minutes,” coach Anson Dorrance said. “We were hoping we could ride through the collective Duke emotion, and hopefully if we continued to play the ball quickly and effectively we would make it difficult for them.”

Duke and UNC each came into the match ranked in the top 10 nationally, and they played up to their rankings.

Both teams played solid defense, created chances on offense and played with high energy.

But North Carolina made more plays when it mattered. Morris’ goal stopped the momentum Duke had built early, and Kealia Ohai’s goal early in the second half secured the lead.

“We definitely came out flat and had a little bit of a letdown, so I think my goal definitely helped us get amped up and ready to play,” Morris said.

Ohai’s goal gave UNC the breathing room it needed to stay back and shut Duke down, even when the Blue Devils opened up their offense in an attempt to make a late push.

Ohai and Summer Green, UNC’s two best scorers, had been mostly stymied by Duke’s back line in the first half — the Blue Devils played strong one-on-one defense on the two forwards and stuck to them tightly when they got the ball.

But Ohai and Green teamed up for a pretty goal in the second half. Green made the play, then
Ohai finished it off.

“Whenever I’m getting — not beat — but stopped by a defender, I know that if you stop me 10 times, one more time and I can score,” Ohai said. “I think that’s what happened with Summer. We kept getting frustrated, but it finally clicked, and I scored that goal.”

About eight minutes into the second half, Green ran down an Amber Brooks ball down the right side of the box and dribbled toward the end line, drawing the defense to her. She then fed the ball across the mouth of the goal and hit Ohai, who was sprinting into the penalty area, perfectly in stride. Ohai calmly slid the ball into the bottom left corner of the net.

But Ohai also said Morris’ goal made all the difference.

“I think my goal took some pressure off of us. But Meg Morris’ goal was insane,” Ohai said.
“They’re always going to bring an intense game, and their crowd is always loud. So that goal is what — won us the game, obviously — but also let us really take off from there.”