CARY — Despite missing its leading scorer in Crystal Dunn, North Carolina’s potent offense was once again on display Friday night, scoring all three goals against Florida State.
UNC lost 2-1 in overtime.
After scoring in the third minute of the second half, the Tar Heel defense twice deflected the ball past UNC goalkeeper Anna Sieloff to end the team’s ACC tournament run in the semifinals.
A sequence of pinpoint passes led to UNC’s only goal of the evening. In the third minute of the second half, senior Kealia Ohai found freshman Amber Munerlyn, who was posting up on her defender a few yards outside the box. Munerlyn then turned left, and sent a ball between two FSU defenders, finding a sprinting Meg Morris on the right side of the box. Morris then scored on a rocket of a shot into the net at the bottom of the far post, her first goal of the season.
“I thought it was a great series between Ohai and Munerlyn and Meg, who finished a great chance,” said coach Anson Dorrance.
Despite the own goals, UNC still had stellar defensive play across the board. The Tar Heels’ back line held FSU to seven shots in the game, only three of which were on goal, and gave up only two corner kicks. Multiple times throughout the game Ohai, a forward, played defense all the way back in UNC’s defensive third of the field. The defensive effort across the board was good enough to keep any FSU player from scoring.
“The whole team, the philosophy is to defend at a sprint,” Dorrance said, “And I thought in general we did.”
But that leads to the backbreaking stat for the Tar Heels — they still made mistakes, two of which resulted in own goals. The Tar Heels were four minutes away from sealing a 1-0 victory and a berth in the ACC Championship game, when FSU’s keeper took a free kick near midfield. The ball sailed into the box and into a crowd of players, before bouncing off sophomore Caroline Lindquist’s head toward the goal and right over the outstretched arms of Sieloff.
Dorrance said it’s UNC’s lack of composure that makes it difficult to hold on to close leads, and that it allowed FSU to tie the game.
