Women's soccer team overpowers University of Florida in Duke Nike Classic

The No. 1 North Carolina women’s soccer team received a blessing in disguise toward the end of the first half of its 2-0 victory Sunday against then-No.5 Florida at the Duke Nike Classic.

With the score knotted at zero, UNC defender Crystal Dunn was the victim of a hard foul and had to come out of the game.

This gave redshirt senior midfielder Ali Hawkins, who is still recovering from an injury of her own, a chance to reclaim her leadership role.

“We lost Crystal Dunn… so we made a change and flew the Hawk in,” coach Anson Dorrance said of Hawkins. “And that made all the difference in the world.”

Hawkins contributed to the first goal UNC put on the scoreboard, assisting Alyssa Rich with 30 minutes left to play.

“I just came up front and tried to organize the front line to get us in shape defensively,” Hawkins said. “That put us on the same page offensively, too.”

Hawkins’ substitution wasn’t the only difference between the first and second halves. The Tar Heels also had to change their approach to create more scoring opportunities after having more fouls than shots in the first half.

“As the game wore on, we got a little bit better and better, and finally ground out a couple of fine goals and created many more chances than just the two we finished,” Dorrance said.

UNC midfielder Meghan Klingenberg said the Tar Heels also had to be more aggressive to adjust to Florida’s physical style of play.

“We didn’t have our best game in the first half,” Klingenberg said. “We weren’t being as tough as we needed to be, but I think in the second half we picked it up, we played better and finished some of our chances.”

Klingenberg also said the team answered Dorrance’s challenges at halftime.

“Anson got on us. He said, ‘I don’t understand why you’re letting them run into you,’” she said. “I think we took his advice and we got stuck in the second half, and played a lot better and didn’t let them push us around as much.”

Hawkins added that Dorrance said the team was playing like “bunnies” after coming out flat in the first half.

“We weren’t fighting for the ball,” she said. “But we got back in the second half and tried to fight for each other, and that turned the game around for sure.”

Dorrance said he was pleased with how the team continued to play better throughout the game.

“I was happy with us fighting our way to that victory,” he said. “I feel really good about the weekend.”

Contact the Sports Editor

at sports@unc.edu.