The No. 1 North Carolina women’s soccer team defeated Syracuse, 2-0, on the road Thursday night to improve to 5-0 on the season.
What happened?
Following a two-week hiatus, the Tar Heels returned to action to face the Syracuse Orange (0-4) with the hopes of remaining unbeaten. There were little signs of rust early on, as UNC attempted four shots in the first eight minutes of the contest.
Although Syracuse goalkeeper Lysianne Proulx diluted UNC’s early offensive persistence with a number of saves, the Tar Heels got on the board in the 20th minute. After junior midfielder Rachel Jones’ shot attempt hit the right post, the ball found the foot of first-year Talia Dellaperuta, who corralled the rebound and shot past a diving Proulx to open up the scoring.
With just two minutes remaining in the first half, UNC was able to add to its lead. After receiving a pass from sophomore midfielder Aleigh Gambone, fellow sophomore midfielder Libby Moore danced right and fired a low shot from just outside the penalty area. The ball hit the inside of the right post and trickled into the back of the net to give the Tar Heels a 2-0 lead before halftime.
The second half was more of the same for the Tar Heels, as a number of scoring chances gave the team an opportunity to blow the game open. Jones and junior forward Brianna Pinto each had a good look to extend the Tar Heels’ lead, but two big saves from Proulx kept it close through the middle of the second period. From there, the UNC defense shut down Syracuse to preserve a 2-0 victory.
Although UNC led at halftime, head coach Anson Dorrance challenged the team to make some offensive adjustments.
“I liked how we evolved from just serving the box with crosses to moving the ball a bit and looking for combinations to see if we could get a higher tempo,” Dorrance said. “In the second half, even though we didn’t score, I thought we played a more quality game.”
