The No. 2 North Carolina women's soccer team (6-0) claimed an overtime victory over the No. 10 Stanford Cardinal (3-2), 2-1, at Dorrance Field on Sunday afternoon to remain undefeated.
What happened?
This game was bound to be a good match as both the Cardinal and the Tar Heels are two of the nation's most consistent programs. The Cardinal started off strong as first-year Andrea Kitahata received a through ball and tapped the ball past UNC goalkeeper Claudia Dickey to net the first goal of the game.
Following Kitahata’s goal, there was an obvious increase in the intensity of the game as both teams picked up their pace. Though North Carolina was struggling to move the ball up the field, the Tar Heel defense played aggressively to stop Stanford from further advancing down the field
After injuring her ankle in the first half, first-year forward Emily Murphy came into the second half at full force and scored North Carolina’s first goal of the game in the 50th minute. Despite no more goals being scored in regulation, the Tar Heels' offensive attack appeared to be in much better rhythm than the first half, racking up 11 shots after the break.
Entering overtime, Stanford and North Carolina both played hard as they attempted to score the final winning goal of the game. With about five minutes remaining in the first overtime period, first-year midfielder Lauren Wrigley was fouled and sophomore forward/midfielder Avery Patterson took the kick.
Patterson passed the ball to Wrigley as Wrigley attempted to score the winning goal, but it was blocked by Cardinal goalkeeper Katie Meyer.
With less than four minutes left, the pressure was on as the Cardinal tried to get the ball away from their goal and up the field. In a scramble, several North Carolina players — including Murphy, sophomore defender Abby Allen and junior defender Maycee Bell — attempted to get the ball into the goal, which was eventually pushed just past the goal line by Bell to give the Tar Heels the overtime victory.
