Crystal Dunn off to sizzling start for women's soccer

DURHAM — With fewer than 12 minutes left before the final buzzer Friday night, senior midfielder Crystal Dunn controlled the ball at the top of the box in a game knotted at zero against No. 3 UCLA.

Rocking her defender one way and rolling the other way, the 2012 consensus National Player of the Year opened herself up for a hard, low shot just outside the mitts of a slightly out of position UCLA keeper.

It was the first goal of the game, and it gave the No. 1 North Carolina women’s soccer team a lead it wouldn’t lose in the opening game of the Duke Nike Classic at Koskinen Stadium.

“(Dunn has) amazing energy, (an) ability to beat players on the dribble and an insatiable desire to score important goals,” coach Anson Dorrance said.

“I mean, look at us this year. How many games has she won for us?”

She’s won two, and she’s tied one.

With UNC wins against West Virginia, 4-2, and UCLA, 1-0, during the weekend, Dunn has tallied six goals in the five games that she’s played, missing one game to play with the U.S. Women’s National Team in a match against Mexico, which the U.S. wound up winning 7-0.

She has also led the Tar Heels to a 6-0 non-conference record that has helped the team maintain a No.1 ranking before the beginning of conference play, which begins this Thursday against Virginia Tech.

Dorrance said Dunn could have folded under the pressure and high expectations that come from being a player of the year.

But leading North Carolina in goals early in the season — after switching from her former defensive position to a more offensive role this season — Dunn has proven that she isn’t fading away.

She’s already exceeded her goal total from the entirety of a 2012 season that garnered her a nomination from ESPN’s ESPY awards.

The Tar Heels’ 2012 leading scorer Kealia Ohai thinks she knows why.

“She’s almost impossible to mark,” Ohai said.

“If they try to back off of her, she’s going to shoot it. If they try to step, she’s going to dribble around (them).

“I would never want to defend her. So I feel really bad for the defenses that have to go against her.”

Dunn said that learning her new position in a team setting was difficult in and of itself, but she isn’t against the idea of playing more than one position in her time at UNC.

She’s moved around quite a bit in her college career, playing in the backline, in the midfield and at forward — wherever Dorrance and the Tar Heels have needed her most.

“It’s hard. I mean, my legs are a little heavy,” Dunn said. “(But) I love being diverse.”

“I think it’s brought out the best in me as a player.”

sports@dailytarheel.com