Women's soccer team blows out Flames

The North Carolina women’s soccer team was the last No. 1 seed to kick off in the NCAA Tournament, but when it did, the Tar Heels reminded everyone of one thing.

Their offense is dangerous.

UNC tied its season high for goals in a game with a 4-0 shutout of Liberty Saturday. The team was hitting on all cylinders in the offensive outburst, and while leading scorer Crystal Dunn was sidelined for the second straight game with a hamstring injury, UNC’s second leading scorer — Kealia Ohai — took the opportunity to shine.

“What I really liked, is with Dunn out, Kealia, who is our resident superstar along with Dunn, she just took the game over,” coach Anson Dorrance said. “She had an absolutely brilliant first half. This is one of the best games (Ohai) has played all year.”

The senior forward scored the first two of UNC’s four goals, the first came in the 15th minute. Sophomore forward Summer Green stole the ball from a Liberty defender and showed off some fancy footwork, weaving her way between two defenders, before tapping it through to Ohai who finished from just 10 yards away.

With UNC still leading 1-0 in the 51st minute, Ohai scored her second goal of the game. She received the ball on the left side of the field on a throw-in from redshirt senior Megan Brigman . Once she settled it, she turned to her left, losing the defender that was on her back, and fired a shot from 15 yards that soared past the keeper’s hands and just inside the far post.

“I think it started just with me deciding that I was gonna go 1-v-1 every time I got the ball,” Ohai said, “And I think that confidence kind of began to build and I was able to score two goals.”

While Ohai was certainly a key cog in the offensive onslaught, she was far from the only one. Green was another big contributor, tallying another assist on sophomore Paige Nielsen’s goal in the 68th minute that gave UNC a 3-0 lead.

“My main goal was to try and set some people up,” Green said. “I was really happy and proud of our team, we played out of our minds.”

And finally it would be Nielsen’s turn to set up a teammate, when she found Cameron Castleberry alone on the right side, and the freshman midfielder beat the goalie in the lower right corner for UNC’s fourth and final goal of the game.

The Tar Heels can expect to get goals and assists from Ohai and Green, as they’ve both been viable weapons for the team as long as they’ve worn a UNC jersey. But with Nielsen and Castleberry both scoring goals off the bench, it’s a true example of the depth that North Carolina boasts. Depth that was also showcased by the fact that 21 Tar Heels saw action in the game.

UNC might have been the last No. 1 seed to kickoff, but it followed the example set by the previous three: win in convincing fashion.

sports@dailytarheel.com