Women's soccer topples Clemson 2-0 after slow start

The No. 10 North Carolina women’s soccer team didn’t have many scoring chances against Clemson.

One-on-one runs were thwarted and crosses were deflected out of harm’s way throughout all 90 minutes of play.

So when forward Courtney Jones had a sliver of a look in the 65th minute, she knew she had to take it.

Jones took a long ball that was played up and across the field off the foot of Alyssa Rich. She received the ball, took one settling dribble and ripped a shot from outside the box.

The ball curved just out of reach of Tiger goalkeeper Lauren Arnold and straight into the side netting on the far post. The score gave UNC an advantage it would hold onto for the rest of the game, as the Tar Heels defeated Clemson 2-0.

“The girl trying to stay with me was too far in the middle,” Jones said. “On her way over to mark me, Alyssa played the through ball and I was already gone.

“It was just a one-touch shot. I didn’t want to waste any time.”

Jones’ goal was one highlight of what was an otherwise back-and-forth, mundane affair.

Kealia Ohai scored the other Tar Heel goal in the final minute when her shot bounced off Arnold’s arms and into the goal.

The Tar Heels, who were playing without starters Amber Brooks and Crystal Dunn, entered the game in a recently installed formation that features just one striker rather than its traditional three forwards up front.

Ohai filled the striker position, which presented her with plenty of one-on-one looks. But time after time, a Clemson defender matched her speed and stifled the threat before Ohai could penetrate deep into the box.

“It’s not an easy position to play,” coach Anson Dorrance said. “It was almost like she was carrying us in the first half.”

Dorrance said he was excited for Ohai that she was finally able to net a goal by the end of the game.

“Strikers are delicate beings,” Dorrance said. “If they’re not scoring goals it’s kind of like they’re deprived of oxygen. So they’re always in a panic and they’re always so stressed over it.”

But Ohai’s frustrations in the first half were alleviated by Clemson’s inability to capitalize on the eggs that fell in its basket early in the contest.

On three separate set pieces in the opening 15 minutes, a Tar Heel defender misplayed the ball and put goalkeeper Adelaide Gay in sticky situations.

While UNC was sloppy in clearing the ball, Clemson was equally sloppy in finishing. The only shot the Tigers could muster in its three chances sailed over the goal.

“Honestly, in our game sometimes you dodge a bullet,” Dorrance said. “And honestly, it’s luck.

“Sometimes in the first half we were lucky because the ball didn’t squirt to a Clemson player unmarked inside the six.”

After entering halftime scoreless, the Tar Heels became the aggressors in the second half and dominated possession. UNC outshot Clemson 9-3 in the second half.

Dorrance said he made many personnel changes at halftime, but that wasn’t the difference in the two halves.

“The main thing that made a difference was that we came out and decided to compete,” Dorrance said. “We did that and that turned it for us.”

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@dailytarheel.com.