UNC women's soccer team falls in ACC quaterfinals

In a season that has presented a lot of disappointing firsts for the North Carolina women’s soccer team, the Tar Heels suffered two more in an overtime loss to Florida State on Sunday.

An FSU corner kick sent a ball into the box, where it bounced around before it was put into the back of the net by Jessica Price. The overtime goal gave the Seminoles a 1-0 win, the first time No. 11 North Carolina has lost in ACC Tournament history.

The Tar Heels were previously 58-0-4 in the tournament, three times failing to advance on penalty kicks and once advancing. It’s also the first time the Tar Heels have ever lost three games in a row.

History couldn’t have predicted a UNC loss, but the overtime period could have hinted at the result.

Sunday’s match was the sixth overtime game this season. UNC is now 1-4-1 in those games and haven’t scored the golden goal since their matchup with Notre Dame in August.

Contrary to regulation, No. 17 Florida State controlled the run of play in both overtime periods.

The Seminoles outshot UNC 6-2 in bonus time and had better looks on goal. One shot had to be cleared by defender Caitlin Ball inches away from the goal line in the 94th minute.

Crystal Dunn and coach Anson Dorrance said UNC’s overtime record was in the back of everyone’s mind as the last seconds ticked off the game clock. Dorrance credits the lack of overtime execution to a fitness issue.

“We’ve lost so many overtime games, and that’s indicative of a lack of fitness and conditioning,” Dorrance said. “It’s not like it’s entirely a confidence issue, because it’s not. It’s honestly a there’s-nothing-left-in-our-legs issue.”

The Tar Heels outplayed FSU for most of regulation. Dorrance said his team played better on Sunday than it did in its first game against the Seminoles, a 2-0 win.

UNC had a 16-8 shot advantage in the first 90 minutes and also had the advantage in possession.

“We had our opportunities, we just didn’t put them away,” Dunn said. “I had a chance. I didn’t finish.”

UNC’s best look of the game was a Dunn breakaway in the 67th minute. Dunn stole a free kick and dribbled the full length of the field with no defender in sight. As she approached the Florida State goalkeeper, she tried to lay the ball off to Emmalie Pfankuch who was running alongside her. The ball was out of Pfankuch’s reach and rolled out of bounds harmlessly.

“In a one-v-one with the goalkeeper, you should probably take the goalkeeper on,” Dorrance said. “You’re hoping she’s going to take her on. I should have screamed that as she was running at the goalkeeper. That was a wonderful chance for us.”

The missed chance put the air back in FSU’s lungs.

The Seminoles nearly scored twice in the final 10 minutes of regulation before getting the game-winner in overtime.

“As the game goes on the gaps get a littler bigger,” Florida State coach Mark Krikorian said. “If we’re able to kind of deal with the early pace of the game, then the seams and gaps will open up if we’re good enough to find them.”

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