Playing through a rainy Seattle evening, the No. 2 North Carolina women’s soccer team was able to pull out a narrow 3-2 win against Washington on Thursday, extending its early season record to a perfect 3-0. After playing from behind for most of the game, senior Madison Schultz's 71st minute goal lifted the Tar Heels to victory.
What happened?
The Tar Heels got off to a slow start, producing almost no real goal-scoring opportunities in the first 30 minutes of play. Taking advantage of North Carolina’s flat start, the Huskies were able to capitalize on their chances early.
Washington’s Summer Yates drew first blood, scoring on a line drive free kick in the 22nd minute of play. Skipping off the wet turf and past Tar Heel goalkeeper Marz Josephson, the ball found its way into the bottom right corner.
This Husky goal seemed to serve as a wakeup call to the Tar Heels, as they were able to respond with a goal of their own fairly quickly. Washington’s keeper Dani Hansen was unable to corral a shot ripped by North Carolina’s Brianna Pinto from outside the box. The deflection from the initial save found the head of a streaking Ru Mucherera, who executed a perfectly placed header in the 37th minute to tie the game.
Just five minutes later in the 44th minute, the Huskies were awarded another free kick outside of the box. The free kick nearly found the back of the net, ricocheting off of the crossbar and back out in front of the goal. After a botched clearance by the Tar Heels, the ball found its way to the foot of Mireya Grey, who assisted Mary Johnston with a ground pass across the box just before the whistle blew for halftime. At the break, Washington held a 2-1 lead.
The Tar Heels looked much sharper coming out after halftime, and proved it with an equalizing goal in the 58th minute. Sticking with the recurring theme of set piece goals in this game, North Carolina’s second score came off of a beautiful free kick ball, sent into the box by Lois Joel and headed in by Bridgette Andrzejewski.
The Tar Heels finally took the lead in the 71st minute thanks to an incredible individual effort by Madison Schultz. The senior forward and Edmonds, Washington native made a fantastic one-on-one move towards the end line and shot the ball from a difficult angle over Hansen’s head, off the right post and in. That was enough to give North Carolina the comeback victory.
