Summer Green isn’t being fair.
Not to the North Carolina women’s soccer team’s opponents — during the Tar Heels’ current three game winning streak, she has three goals and two assists.
Green isn’t giving them a chance.
Last weekend, she scored or assisted on every goal in No. 18 UNC’s wins against Connecticut and Notre Dame.
Then on Friday night against No. 12 Marquette, Green blew the game open with two goals early in the second half, pushing the Tar Heels’ lead from 1-0 to 3-0.
On the first goal, Green controlled a loose ball at the top of the box with her back to the goal. She pivoted then put a left-footed shot over the top of the goalkeeper.
A little more than 10 minutes later, Green took a feed from Ranee Premji that split a few defenders and scored again, easily grounding the ball past the keeper and into the bottom right corner of the net.
Between her two goals, Green almost notched another, but her shot from the lower left side of the box tipped off the crossbar.
North Carolina cruised to a 4-0 win, outplaying the Golden Eagles from start to finish behind Green’s offensive effort.
“Summer Green is the real deal,” UNC coach Anson Dorrance said. “She created all kinds of chances for herself and finished a couple. She’s a very special player.”
In fact, UNC hasn’t lost since Green returned from the U.S. Women’s U17 National Team training camp. North Carolina has outscored its opponents 7-0 in that span.
But Green isn’t being fair to herself, either. She refused to take any credit for the Tar Heels’ success since she rejoined the team.
“I’m just trying to keep up with my teammates,” Green said. “Everyone was going after it. They were the ones getting the ball. My goals came off the hard work of everyone else.”
Green’s teammate Amber Brooks, though, recognized her strong play.
“She’s carrying a lot of the load,” Brooks said. “But she’s just that good of a player.”
And Green’s performance against Marquette — which turned a close game against a top-15 team into a blowout — made it look like her teammates are the ones trying to keep up with her, not the other way around.
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