North Carolina and Florida State tied in double overtime 1-1

No team had ever won four matches in a row against North Carolina women’s soccer program before Florida State did it in the 2013 season.

On Thursday night, the No. 5 Tar Heels (10-2-2, 7-0-1 ACC) held the No. 2 Seminoles (14-1-1, 7-0-1 ACC) to a 1-1 tie after double overtime, preventing them from extending that streak to five straight.

“That tie doesn’t hurt us,” coach Anson Dorrance said. “In fact, I think it’s indicative of our progress this year that we can play a superb team like Florida State more or less dead even.”

The Tar Heels entered the game with a nine- game win streak and had won all seven ACC matchups. The only team in the top 25 with a better win streak was FSU, who had won 10 straight.

UNC started the game out slowly, tallying just three shots and failing to find the net in the first half for the first time in six games.

Instead, UNC gave up a goal to the Seminoles in the 32nd minute off of a well-placed header from Icelandic senior Dagny Brynjarsdottir — her 10th score of the season.

“(Brynjarsdottir) is one of the best players that’s ever played in the ACC,” Dorrance said. “That kid had one sniff and she finished it.”

The Tar Heels have a different weapon — their bench.

In the 63rd minute, freshman midfielder Annie Kingman evened up the score with a shot on the ground across the goalmouth and into the far corner of the net.

She and the two players who assisted her entered the game just 29 seconds earlier.

“It’s good to see a freshman like Annie Kingman step up and score such an important goal,” Dorrance said. “If you look at her progress from the first week she got here in August to where she is now, she’s improved dramatically throughout the season.”

Florida State remains the only other team besides UNC still unbeaten in the ACC. Its elite players and calculated game plan have made it a constant nemesis for UNC.

The Tar Heels were only the second ACC team to score on the Seminoles in seven conference games.

“The whole game was a physical battle,” Kingman said. “It was tough to win in the air so we really had to try to find the seams between them, and they were well organized so it was hard.”

Defender Satara Murray and the rest of the senior class have not beaten the Seminoles since their freshman year.

“To tie them tonight... It’s a huge weight off of our shoulders,” Murray said. “It’s not a loss. It’s not a win, but anything is better than a loss.

Dorrance echoed that sentiment, and said he was satisfied by his formidable defense and the rest of the team’s ability to meet the challenge.

“I’m incredibly proud of the kids because if you’d seen us in August, it wasn’t that much of a team,” he said.

“But now I think we’re gonna give anyone a good game just like we gave Florida State today.”

sports@dailytarheel.com