Radford hung with the North Carolina women’s soccer team for much of its NCAA tournament opener.
But the Tar Heels shot so much that they finally shot themselves onto the scoreboard.
No. 13 UNC beat the Highlanders 2-0 on Saturday and moved on to the second round of the tournament. North Carolina will play next Friday at 6:30 p.m against the winner of Saturday night’s match between Missouri and Illinois.
Amber Brooks and Crystal Dunn scored second-half goals for the Tar Heels, who put up 29 shots — 13 of which were on target.
The game was scoreless through the first half, and neither team got many good scoring opportunities.
Forward Kealia Ohai missed a shot wide from short range, but UNC came closest to scoring when a Radford defender — trying to clear the ball from in front of the net — rang the ball off her own post and out of bounds.
With the team struggling to create chances, the Tar Heels moved usual defender Crystal Dunn to forward to start the second half. Dunn, UNC’s most versatile player, had already been playing at midfield against Radford despite anchoring the back line for most of the season.
North Carolina started shooting from all over the field, and all the shooting finally paid off with a goal 12 minutes into the second half. A Summer Green shot from the left baseline got blocked in front, but Brooks jumped in to clean up the rebound.
The Tar Heels added an insurance goal with 18 minutes left when Crystal Dunn dribbled to the upper-right corner of the box and slid a shot back across the goal, off the left post and in. It was her first goal of the season.
There was a scary moment for UNC when Ohai — the team’s best player on offense — injured her ankle when a Radford defender tackled her with about 10 seconds left in the game.
Ohai’s ankle was wrapped after the game and she was not walking on it, but coach Anson Dorrance said he did not know if Ohai would miss any time.
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