Year in Review: UNC's fall sports wrap up their 2015 season

As this semester comes to an end, we take the time to look back on another fall of North Carolina athletics.

While three UNC teams could not bring a national title back to Chapel Hill, there was a plethora of accomplishments to be recognized, and one team still has a shot at winning an NCAA championship.

Men's soccer

After being ranked in the top five for most of the season, the men’s soccer team finished the campaign at 15-2-3 after bowing out in the third round of the NCAA Tournament.

At times, the Tar Heels had trouble scoring goals this season but found a spark in super-sub Tucker Hume.

Despite starting only four games, Hume led the team in goals with 11.

“The advantage for a guy like Tucker is that he hasn’t logged as many minutes as our starters,"  said Coach Carlos Somoano about Hume after a 2-1 win over North Florida on Sept. 21. "It’s great to have a player that is fresh."

Hume joined a sextet of Tar Heels earning All-ACC honors, including first-team selection Jonathan Campbell.

Women’s soccer

Injuries plagued the North Carolina women's soccer team, which had five players suffer torn ACLs this season.

Even so, the team finished the season at 15-5-1 after falling to Texas A&M in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

After the Tar Heels' 1-0 loss to the Aggies, Coach Anson Dorrance expressed his disappointment in the team's injury-riddled season.

“It hurts, because these are just great kids," he said. "It’s just horrifying for us to see five of our girls go down with the same injury. It’s the incredible hazard of a girl trying to change direction.”

Four Tar Heels garnered All-ACC honors, including first-team selection Katie Bowen.

UNC will lose five seniors heading into the 2016 campaign, all of whom started this season.

Field hockey

For the seventh straight year, the North Carolina field hockey team reached the Final Four. But once again, the Tar Heels fell short of a national title, losing to top-seeded Syracuse in the championship match.

UNC faced adversity early in the season with the loss of 2014 leading scorer Emma Bozek to injury. But the Tar Heels saw many different players contribute to their 21-3 campaign, which included the 19th ACC title in school history.

Coach Karen Shelton earned her 600th win this season, and she said this year’s squad provided the perfect company to reach the milestone with.

“These kids have been a very, very special team to me,” she said.

Four members of the team earned All-ACC honors, including first-team selections Nina Notman, Emily Wold and Julia Young.

Volleyball

After snapping its 12-game winning streak in its regular-season finale at Duke on Saturday, the North Carolina volleyball team will look to start another winning streak in the NCAA Tournament.

The season started off rocky for the Tar Heels, as the team sat at 3-6 entering ACC play. But UNC's winning streak from Oct. 18 through Nov. 25 propelled UNC back into the top-25 rankings.

The Tar Heels' 17-3 ACC record helped them earn an opportunity to host the opening rounds of the NCAA Volleyball Championship at Carmichael Arena, where UNC will host UNC-Wilmington on Dec. 4.

sports@dailytarheel.com