Women's soccer advances to NCAA Tournament quarterfinals

The North Carolina women’s soccer team has sometimes had trouble starting off strongly.

Sunday that was not the case.

Sophomore Summer Green came out firing early in UNC’s 2-0 second round NCAA Tournament win against Texas A&M. And after she stole the ball from an Aggie around midfield, she took the ball down the field and launched a rocket of a shot toward the goal. It careened off a Texas A&M defender and bounced into the goal. Just two minutes and 51 seconds after kickoff.

UNC has also had trouble holding on to leads in the past, most recently giving up a 1-0 lead to Florida State in the ACC semifinals. Coach Anson Dorrance has even said that some of his players play “like a cat on a hot tin roof.”

Sunday that was not the case.

The Tar Heels held on to the early lead behind Green, who struck again early in the second half, scoring on a penalty kick just more than a minute into the second half. Green earned the penalty kick when one of her shots deflected off the hand of an Aggie defender in the box.

Green has been an offensive spark for the UNC lately, scoring five goals and tallying five assists in her last 10 games. She said she’s focused a lot more on the little details in her recent stretch of success.

“That’s what I think I needed to change and get better,” Green said, “And I think it pays off.”

But if Green was the offensive spark, senior goalkeeper Anna Sieloff was her counterpart on the defensive end. Sieloff recorded four saves in the shutout.

“I think that was one of our greatest improvements,” Sieloff said. “I think our team was very composed passing the ball around not getting flustered.”

UNC earned the opportunity to play Texas A&M with a 4-0 win in Friday’s game against Indiana, a game that featured goals from four different Tar Heels. The game also featured the return to action of senior Crystal Dunn, UNC’s leading scorer. Dunn made her return late in the first half, and just more than three minutes later she put away the first goal of the game. However, Dunn’s return was short-lived, and she had to leave Sunday’s game against Texas A&M with an ankle injury.

UNC has played without Dunn several times this season, but two of the Tar Heels’ four losses have come without her in the lineup.

But even without Dunn for most of the game, the Tar Heels still punched their ticket to the quarterfinals, where they will have a rematch against UCLA, a team UNC beat 1-0 in the fifth game of the season. And with a maximum of three games left, Dorrance made a prediction for his team.

“If we can just get a couple more kids healthy,” Dorrance said, “I think we still have the potential to make a great run in this event.”

sports@dailytarheel.com