Women's soccer grabs pair of 1-0 wins

Huge displays of offensive depth from the North Carolina women’s soccer team have characterized the first several games of the season.

But with 1-0 wins against Cal Poly and San Diego State this weekend, the Tar Heels (6-0-1) proved that sometimes one goal is all it takes.

Compared to last week’s 7-2 victory, the matchups in California were anything but easy for North Carolina.

“We were hoping that we could score some, but honestly the teams we played out here presented us with some challenges,” coach Anson Dorrance said.

“Everyone presents a different puzzle for us to solve, and we just didn’t do a very good job solving these puzzles we had out here.”

Against Cal Poly on Friday, UNC got off to a late start. Although the Tar Heels outshot the Mustangs 11-0 in the first half, both teams went into intermission scoreless.

But right out of the gate in the second half, junior Courtney Jones broke the monotony, when the striker sent a ball to the top of the net from 20 yards out in the 49th minute for UNC’s first and only score of the game.

The long shot was Jones’ third goal of the season and the second straight time she had the game-winning goal.

Jones had four of UNC’s 19 shots in the game, and freshman Kealia Ohai had three.

Though the Tar Heels are used to putting up big numbers on the scoreboard this season, Ohai said they weren’t upset about the lack of scoring this weekend.

“We’re not disappointed at all,” Ohai said. “Sometimes you have to win ugly. We just are happy that we found a way to win. Nothing hurt us on this trip.”

Sunday’s matchup against San Diego State was oddly familiar, as the Tar Heels struggled to put multiple points on the board.

But this time, UNC didn’t have to wait so long to see the game-winning score.

In the tenth minute, freshman defender Crystal Dunn passed a ball to sophomore Alyssa Rich from the midfield. Rich dribbled before crossing it to Ohai, who scored her fifth goal of the season.

The freshman striker’s goal proved to be enough to carry UNC to a win, a blessing against a much-expected strong Aztec counterattack.

San Diego State held the Tar Heels to just seven shots on goal — their fewest so far this season.

“We knew that they were really organized defensively and that they were going to come out and play the game of their lives against us so we were prepared for that,” Ohai said.

The Tar Heels will prepare to take on Middle Tennessee State and No. 6 Florida next weekend — their second ranked opponent so far this season.

And after a strong showing from the Tar Heels defense this weekend, Dorrance can rest knowing that to win games, he doesn’t have to depend on just scoring alone.

“Both of our goal keepers and defense hung in there like grim death,” Dorrance said.

“It’s nice to certainly be able to win games by a large margin, but it’s also wonderful to know you can win a game 1-0, as well. We saw that when called upon, our defense and goal keeping can shut teams out.”

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