UNC women's soccer advances to quarter?nals

The ball sailed wide left, and North Carolina women’s soccer goalie Bryane Heaberlin sprinted toward the pack of her exhilarated teammates to celebrate.

They jumped and yelled near the top of the 18-yard box at Fetzer Field, and some players fell to the ground in happiness, knowing they’ll play at least one more game this season.

The miss, from the foot of Baylor midfielder Karlee Summey, was the Bears’ last shot of the penalty shootout — and season — and sent No. 2-seeded UNC (12-5-3) into next weekend’s NCAA Tournament quarterfinals.

UNC and the No. 3-seeded Bears (19-1-5) played to a 1-1 tie through 90 minutes of regulation and two 10-minute overtime periods, and the Tar Heels prevailed in the ensuing shootout to advance past the third round of the tournament for the first time since 2009.

“It was clinical,” coach Anson Dorrance said of his team’s 4-2 penalty kick win. “We’ve been practicing them daily for the last few weeks. I was very comfortable going into PKs.”

All four UNC players who stepped up to the line for a penalty kick — Maria Lubrano, Alyssa Rich, Kelly McFarlane and Katie Bowen — put away their shots with relative ease, and neither of the Bears’ last two kickers put the ball on frame.

Heaberlin, whose before-the-kick routine includes hopping and waving her arms to intimidate the shooter, had replaced starting keeper Adelaide Gay solely for the shootout.

“I move side-to-side to put as much pressure on the striker as I can, and I think it gets in their head a little bit,” she said. “It definitely worked today.”

Had it not been for all-everything player “Crystal Dunn”:http://www.dailytarheel.com/article/2012/11/dunns-role-not-crystal-clear’s heroics in the second half, the game wouldn’t have even reached penalty kicks.

Dunn was UNC’s most active player the entire game, creating multiple chances with quick turns and surging runs into the box. With less than nine minutes left in the half, she tied the game at one.

“I saw an opportunity where I could take someone one-v-one, and she didn’t have cover,” Dunn said of the build-up before her powerful on-the-ground strike past the Baylor goalkeeper and into the net.

The goal was Dunn’s third of the season and gave the Tar Heels momentum for the rest of regulation and overtime, where they dominated possession and created the lion’s share of chances.

But that attacking style of play was missing in the first half. UNC appeared apprehensive of going up for 50-50 balls and hesitant facing the Bears’ aggressive defense and midfield.

“We played an incredibly poor first half, and I was actually embarrassed,” Dorrance said. “The worst way to lose in my opinion is to just lose without any physical presence or any courage. That’s the way we were losing in the first half. I was really upset.”

When the second half started, the Tar Heels’ hesitation had subsided, and they looked the better team. The fear was gone, the runs were harder — and the goal came.

Contact the desk editor at sports@dailytarheel.com.