After losing its first game of the season last week against Arkansas, the No. 4 North Carolina women’s soccer team (8-1, 1-0) rallied to a 3-0 win over No. 20 Louisville (7-1, 0-1) Saturday night, giving Louisville its first loss of the year.
What happened?
First-year goalkeeper Marz Josephson made scoring hard on the Cardinals by blocking three shots on goal in the first half, one of which was a penalty kick. Junior Emily Fox was whistled for a foul in the penalty box, giving Louisville's Emina Ekic a chance to get the first goal of the game. Josephson made a great save, deflecting the ball off the cross bar to preserve a scoreless game.
Junior Alessio Russo got North Carolina on the board with a goal in the 21st minute, getting the offense started early. Russo’s goal came off a feed from sophomore Brianna Pinto, allowing Russo to dribble past defenders and beat Louisville’s goalkeeper Gabrielle Kouzelos to find the back of the net from about 14 yards out.
Josephson’s denial of three shots on goal held the Cardinals scoreless to preserve UNC's 1-0 lead at the break. Sophomore Claudia Dickey went in goal for North Carolina after the first half.
The dominating North Carolina offense continued into the second half. First-year Alexis Strickland made the score 2-0 when she scored her third goal of the season in the 66th minute, thanks to an assist from senior Ru Mucherera.
UNC’s offense continued to pressure, and Russo netted her second goal of the game and sixth of the season off a corner kick by junior Lois Joel in the 81st minute. Dickey made one save in the second half, helping to secure UNC’s seventh shutout victory of the season.
UNC finished with 10 shots to Louisville’s seven, and seven shots on goal to the Cardinals' four.
