Women's soccer excels in Calif.

STANFORD Calif. — In a match as statistically close as the final score would indicate No. 3 Stanford and No. 5 North Carolina battled to a 1-1 tie in women's soccer action Friday night in the first match of the Stanford Invitational.

The Tar Heels scored in the 30th minute of play and nursed that lead until less than four minutes remained in the match when the Cardinal scored the tying goal.

After tying the match Stanford kept the pressure on the Tar Heels. The play of junior goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris in the final three minutes of regulation and in the opening minutes of overtime kept the draw intact.

Harris came on at halftime in relief of Anna Rodenbough and finished with six saves in the final 65 minutes her career high save total for a game.

The redshirt junior kept the score tied with three saves in the final three minutes of regulation.

In the first overtime period the Cardinal outshot the Tar Heels 6-2 but Harris made back-to-back stops on shots by Christen Press in the 100th minute of play to keep the score at 1-1.

Neither team could generate much offense in the second overtime period with the Tar Heels taking the only two shots of the period.

UNC (5-1-1) outshot the Cardinal 18-16 in the match and had a 7-2 edge in corner kicks.

Sunday afternoon against its fifth top 15 opponent in only its seventh game North Carolina put together its best overall effort of the season blanking No. 15 Santa Clara 5-0.

North Carolina's defense posted its third shutout of the season as junior forward Nikki Washington scored a pair of goals and Yael Averbuch Courtney Jones and Casey Nogueira notched single tallies.

It was a satisfying win for the Tar Heels as the Broncos (3-4) had won four of the previous five meetings going into Sunday's match.

UNC opened the scoring just 55 seconds into the match on Nikki Washington's second goal of the season.

The goal came off a corner kick by sophomore Meghan Klingenberg.

It marked the fourth goal UNC has scored off a corner this season after scoring only once off corners during the entire 2007 season.

UNC outshot the Broncos 21-8 and had a 7-0 edge in corner kicks.

North Carolina will return to the pitch this weekend at the Duke Adidas Classic in Durham. The Tar Heels will play Georgia at 5 p.m. Friday at Koskinen Stadium and they will meet Fordham at noon Sunday.



Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.