Women's soccer uses second half to defeat Boston College

Each time the North Carolina women’s soccer team faced Boston College in the past two years, UNC emerged with a nail-biting 1-0 victory.

This year was no different.

The No. 4 Tar Heels (12-2, 6-2 ACC) defeated the Eagles (7-7, 4-5 ACC) 1-0 Sunday afternoon to clinch their fifth victory in a row and third consecutive against Boston College.

But according to coach Anson Dorrance, UNC was lucky to come out of Chesnut Hill, Mass. with a win.

“I’ve got to give Boston College credit because they came out like they were on fire,” Dorrance said. “They put us under tremendous pressure, and we weren’t responding. There was definitely a lack of cohesion in the first half, and we didn’t really feel comfortable in the game until we had a chance to chat with them at halftime.”

In the first minute of the game, junior defender Satara Murray was taken down by Boston College’s Lauren Bernard and forced to leave the game. The Tar Heels were also missing junior defender Caitlin Ball, who had started every game she’d played this season, but failed to suit up Sunday due to injury.

“There is an inevitable confusion that occurs when you have to take a starter out, especially in the back,” Dorrance said. “When you dislodge a regular piece in the back, your base is just unstable.”

And unstable it was.

At the half, each team had only taken a few shots at the goal with the Eagles possessing a 5-4 advantage — something UNC hasn’t often experienced this season. The Tar Heels headed into the game having allowed only 55 total shots on the year compared to taking 280 of their own.
The second half, however, belonged to UNC.

The Tar Heels fired nine shots, and with fewer than 25 minutes remaining in the game, senior midfielder Crystal Dunn beat three Boston College players and dished a pass to senior defender Kelly McFarlane who one-timed it low across the goal frame and into the back of the net.

“Normally I’m not much of a goal scorer. I’m more of a defensive player, but all the credit goes to Crystal on that goal,” McFarlane said. “She played me a perfect ball, and I was just able to one time it like Anson talks about and get the goal.”

McFarlane said she believed the Tar Heels’ ability to turn it around in the second half is what saved them.

“Boston College dominated us at first and that’s definitely something we still want to work on — no matter what the game or who we’re playing we still need to come out ready to play,” she said.

Dunn said she believes the win means a lot to the team as it continues moving forward with the season.

“It was definitely a battle field,” Dunn said. “BC played really well. They took over the game, and we had to earn it back in the second half.”

sports@dailytarheel.com