Kealia Ohai, strong offense lead Tar Heels to win against Virginia Tech

It’s a little early in the season for deja vu. But the North Carolina women’s soccer team is having some anyway.

No. 18 UNC beat No. 8 Virginia Tech 3-1 on Thursday after losing to unranked Maryland and tying No. 5 Virginia last week.

The sequence was strangely similar to North Carolina’s first three games of the year, when the Tar Heels also went 0-1-1 and lost to an unranked team, Portland.

But there’s one big difference between the sequences — offense.

In the first 0-1-1 stretch, the team didn’t score a goal. Now the Tar Heels are getting goals in bunches — they have had six in their last three games.

The Virginia Tech game, though, was UNC’s biggest offensive output of the three games. And the three goals the Tar Heels put up finally got them a win — against a team that had only given up two goals all year and has eight shutouts in 10 games.

Forward Kealia Ohai led the way. She didn’t score against the Hokies, but she was heavily involved in the offense.

Coach Anson Dorrance said Ohai is her teammates’ primary target while on the attack. The offense essentially runs through her.

Ohai was all over the field against Virginia Tech and drew extra defensive attention throughout the game, which she said might have been because she is UNC’s only striker.

But Dorrance said it was because Ohai is so good that UNC’s opponents have to specifically plan for her in every match.

Ohai set up the second Tar Heel goal. About 12 minutes into the first half, Ohai chipped a loose ball in the box and tried to push her way past the last Hokie defender. Fighting for a shot, Ohai forced the defender to take her down and drew a penalty kick.

“I was right in the middle of the box, so the defender had to either foul me or give up the shot,” Ohai said. “She fouled me.”

Amber Brooks converted the penalty, putting a low shot into the middle of the net as the goalie dove past the ball.

The goal, which gave UNC an early 2-0 lead, ended up as the game-winner. Ohai was responsible for all of it.

But Ohai wasn’t the only Tar Heel that contributed. UNC’s three goals against Virginia Tech were scored by three different players, which is especially important since Dorrance has said during the season that the Tar Heels want to spread their attack.

“I have no issue if one player’s scoring all the goals as long as we’re scoring enough goals,” Dorrance said. “But it makes it harder for us to handle if we can’t spread the scoring out.”

Contact the desk editor at sports@dailytarheel.com.