Tar Heel women's soccer take two at Duke Nike Classic

DURHAM — In the first half of North Carolina’s women soccer contest against the University of Florida, UF’s Tahnai Annis tussled with UNC’s Meg Morris.

To retaliate, Morris leveled Annis but received no yellow card on the foul.

The incident was just one of a number of physical encounters as the Tar Heels beat the Gators 2-0 at the Duke Nike Classic.

“I love to set the tone,” Morris said. “I like to let it be known that I am on the field and I will attack you.”

The game got heated on the sideline, too.

With his team down by two goals and a player on the ground in pain, UF associate head coach Victor Campbell yelled for attention. He was ejected from the game and escorted from Koskinen Stadium by police.

Coaches, fans and players from both teams were frustrated with the referees’ calls. Officials whistled UNC for 12 fouls during the game and Florida for 13.

Despite the games’ physical nature, the Tar Heels were able to handle the ball with finesse.

Elizabeth Burchenal scored UNC’s second goal with a trick shot, tapping the ball into the back of the net using only her heel.

“We aspire to play like Arsenal, the British pro team, and there was one goal like Arsenal,” UNC coach Anson Dorrance said. “That is the team I aspire to play like offensively. Some of the stuff we did was really, really elite.”

Most of the action was concentrated in the midfield, which resulted in an uncharacteristically low number of goals for UNC. The Tar Heels have averaged 3.56 goals per game this season.

“It was tough to get into the flow, but finally we got to grind out two fine goals,” Dorrance said.

Tennessee State

Friday’s match against Middle Tennessee State University was not nearly as competitive. The Tar Heels outshot MTSU 30-2 en route to a 7-1 stomping.

The victory was a complete team effort. Four Tar Heels got in on the scoring and Alyssa Rich racked up a hat trick. One goal was particularly impressive because almost every one of UNC’s outfield players was involved in the build-up.

“The fourth goal we scored was one of the finest goals I have seen in collegiate soccer,” Dorrance said. “There were eight one-touch passes and a one-touch shot.”

Dorrance was pleased with his team’s performance and had enough faith in his back-ups to make a complete lineup change halfway through the MTSU game.

“The game against MTSU gave us the opportunity to play a lot of reserves and they all stepped up,” redshirt senior midfielder Ali Hawkins said.

With non-conference play complete, the Tar Heels head into the ACC season 7-0-1. UNC is waiting in anticipation for the start of conference play next week, especially senior midfielder Meghan Klingenberg.

“We have good momentum going into the ACCs,” said Klingenberg. “ACC is the best conference in the country I think. Everyone’s going to be coming after us, but we’ll be going after them.”

Contact the Sports Editor

at sports@unc.edu.