Tar Heels top Duke with second-half burst

In the first half of nearly every game this season, the No. 4 North Carolina women’s soccer team has underperformed in terms of goal scoring.

But every time the Tar Heels come out of the locker room for the second half, it’s almost as though they are a different team.

In UNC’s Halloween rivalry match against Duke, the same was the case as the Tar Heels dominated the Blue Devils 3-0, scoring two goals in the second half.

“We try to play the game at a sprint. When you play the game at a sprint other teams don’t like to,” coach Anson Dorrance said. “What we’re hoping to do when we play at that pace is where them out.”

Dorrance added that a very strategic substitution pattern allows the Tar Heels to maximize efficiency and play at a consistently high pace.

First-time goal scorer Cameron Castleberry seconded her coach’s thought process and added that it’s not just the offense that allows the Tar Heels to dominate second halves.

“Honestly I think it’s our defense and our pressure,” Castleberry said. “We just wear teams down over time, and in the second half, they’re dead.”

And they did just that against Duke on UNC’s senior night.

While it took UNC 36 minutes to score its first goal , it took the Tar Heels just moments in the second to finish against Duke’s 6-foot-2 goalkeeper Meghan Thomas.

Less than two minutes after the intermission, a series of passes inside the box left junior Brooke Elby open at the top of the 18 for a low strike that looked like more of a pass than a shot.

But it still went in.

“Low and far corner is Anson’s major philosophy,” Elby said after her first goal of the season. “So I just thought about it in my head, ‘Keep it low. Go for corners. Even if it’s just a pass that’s not even powerful, it’s about placement.’”

Of the 35 goals UNC had scored before Thursday night’s game, 22 came after the first half.

A look at the Tar Heels’ shooting production reaps similar results. While UNC has rattled off 157 shots in the first half of games this season, they have 202 in the second half of games.

According to Dorrance, stat lines like these aren’t uncommon for a UNC team, but he added that this team isn’t quite like most.

“(Playing at a sprint) is a part of our philosophy that’s been the way we’ve played from the beginning,” Dorrance said but conceded. “This roster is not only deep, but the quality is extraordinary.”

sports@dailytarheel.com