To continue an undefeated season, the No. 2 North Carolina women's soccer team defeated No. 10 Stanford 2-1 in overtime on Sunday, while 2,756 fans watched at Dorrance Field.
North Carolina had not faced Stanford since the 2019 NCAA championship game, which UNC lost. Despite the Tar Heels holding what was a 9-3-3 all time series lead against Stanford, the Cardinal had won the last three matches against North Carolina in 2014, 2018 and 2019.
The game started off slow but picked up speed as these talented teams fought for the win.
Stanford began strong with midfielder Andrea Kitahata scoring the first goal of the game, forcing both teams to pick up the pace as the Tar Heels fell behind.
“When they scored, we took it up a level and when we scored, they took it up a level,” first-year forward Emily Murphy said. “Normally I think you’ll find that the reaction from teams, especially when you’re on the losing side, emotions are high and everyone is just kind of in a down state, whereas I thought we really took the game to Stanford.”
And that they did. Despite no more goals being scored in the first half, the Tar Heels gained confidence as the half went on, and they responded to the pressure coming from the Cardinal.
As the Tar Heels entered the second half, they had an explosive start when they tied the game just four minutes into the half. First-year midfielder Emily Colton took a shot that was saved by Stanford’s redshirt junior goalkeeper Katie Meyer, but sophomore forward Emily Moxley was there to receive the rebound and pass the ball to Murphy for the Tar Heels' first goal of the game.
The heat didn’t die down as North Carolina continued to dominate on the field for the remainder of the half. Even though they were not able to score, the Tar Heels outshot Stanford 11-3 in the second half.
With the Tar Heels on top of their game, Stanford was not able to move the ball forward nearly as much as it did in the first half, leading to a 1-1 score as regulation time came to a close.
