For the second game in a row, the scoreboard shouted a zero at the No. 5 North Carolina women’s soccer team from high above the pitch.
This time, UNC matched up against No. 3 Florida State, and again the vaunted attack had been held scoreless by an ACC foe.
Despite a constant flurry of shots from North Carolina, FSU kept the Tar Heels off the scoreboard and held on for a 1-0 win.
“FSU put us under a lot of pressure,” coach Anson Dorrance said. “But we were the masters of our own fate tonight. We should’ve had an opportunity to put away at least two or three (goals).”
FSU junior Jamia Fields scored the lone goal of the game in the 82nd minute, as she dodged her defender senior Megan Brigman and beat sophomore goalie Bryane Heaberlin in the far corner.
Dorrance’s Tar Heels haven’t lost two games in a row since 2011 when they lost three straight games. That three-game skid also included a loss to Florida State.
Despite a spirited attack in the final seven minutes, UNC failed to find the equalizer before the final buzzer. The win for Florida State was their fifth against UNC, the second-most of any team in the country.
During one of those late attacks on goal, UNC freshman Emily Bruder injured her shoulder in a fall after being challenged by a FSU defender. She left the game with what a team spokesman called a sore shoulder. She will likely be able to play in Sunday’s game at Miami.
It was a tale of two halves for UNC’s leading goal scorer senior Crystal Dunn. Dunn didn’t take a single shot in the first half, instead spending more time trying to find her teammates. In the second half she tried to beat her defender more in one-on-one soccer. But neither strategy could break through.
