Sept. 23, 2007

No. 8 North Carolina Downs San Fran For Its Second Straight Win

On a steamy afternoon at Koskinen Stadium, the eighth-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels were able to beat the heat and the San Francisco Dons for a 2-0 victory in the third game of the Duke/adidas Classic. Carolina unleashed a season-high 30 shots on the offensive end, while also collecting its fourth shut out of the year along the back line. The win helped the Heels improve to 6-2 on the season and 22-2 all-time in the Duke/adidas Classic.

The Tar Heels took 14 first-half shots before breaking through in the 40th minute when junior Yael Averbuch scored from 20 yards out. Sophomore Tobin Heath started the play by winning the ball from the San Francisco defense and then finding Averbuch in the center of the field. The Upper Montclair, N.J. native pivoted and fired a shot past Dons keeper Katie Hodgson.

Heath struck again in the 73rd minute when she worked a nifty give-and-go with sophomore Sterling Smith along the left end line. Heath passed the ball to Smith from the left wing and then charged into box where she received the return pass and curled a shot past Hodgson for the goal. The shot was Heath's first goal of the season and brought her into a tie for third place on the team with 7 points.

Blue Devils Close Duke adidas Classic With 2-1 Win Over Ohio State

The Blue Devil Women's Soccer team continued its winning ways on the final day of the Duke adidas Classic on Sunday with a 2-1 victory over 29th-ranked Ohio State at Koskinen Stadium. The Blue Devils battled the heat to win their fourth straight and fifth out of their last six matches as they improved to 5-1-2, while the Buckeyes fell to 6-3-0 on the season.

For the tournament, North Carolina and Duke tied for the team champion honor with two victories each but with the Tar Heels scoring seven goals to the Blue Devils six, UNC received the team champion honor. In the first match on Sunday, UNC knocked off San Francisco, 2-0.

Duke came out in the first half and were a little sluggish and didn't get its offense into a good grove early. Ohio State had an excellent opportunity in the 10th minute as the Buckeyes were able to get open in front of the goal, but Blue Devil defender Christie McDonald hustled to tackle the OSU attacker and knock the ball away. Lisa Collison of the Buckeyes grabbed the errant ball and shot towards the Duke goal were Blue Devil defender Sara Murphy blocked the shot.

Parrilla's Header Gives NC State Win over VCU, 1-0

Meredith Parrilla's goal early in the first half stood up as the game winner for NC State in a 1-0 victory over Virginia Commonwealth Sunday afternoon at Method Road.

NC State (5-1-2) posted its second shutout of the weekend after blanking Elon on Friday. The Pack also extends its unbeaten streak to six matches, while VCU (3-4-1) had its two-match winning streak snapped.

Similar to Friday's win at Elon, sophomore Katie Ruiz again played a significant role in the winning goal for the Wolfpack. In a direct kick that basically set up like a corner kick, Ruiz's blast deftly found the head of Parrilla, who promptly deposited the ball into the unmanned left side of the net at the 7:50 mark of the first half.

Wake Tops No. 13 West Virginia 2-1

The Wake Forest women's soccer team defeated No. 13 West Virginia 2-1 on the road for the Demon Deacon's highest ranked win of the season to date. The Deacons became only the second team to defeat the Mountaineers in Morgantown through W.Va's last 23 home matches.

West Virginia's Deana Everrett was the first striker to break through, scoring the first goal of the game in the 16th minute. The Mountaineers held the Deacs scoreless through the rest of the half, but the Wake offense fired five shots before the end of the first period.

WFU sophomore Jill Hutchinson tied the contest in the 63rd minute, finishing passes from Sarah Winslow and Kaley Fountain. With three minutes left in regulation, Ashley Burney headed a corner kick from Fountain to net the game-winner. The goal was Burney's first of the season.

Lady Tiger Soccer Team Blanks Wofford 8-0 Sunday Afternoon

The Clemson women's soccer team defeated Wofford 8-0 on Sunday afternoon at Riggs Field. With the win, the 20th-ranked Lady Tigers improve to 7-1 overall, while Wofford falls to 4-3-1.

Clemson scored five first-half goals and added three more in the second half against the Terriers. The eight goals were the most scored by the Lady Tigers since the team defeated East Carolina 8-0 on September 9, 2004.

The Lady Tigers struck first at the 10:56 mark when Nuria Zufia sent a pass over to Courtney Foster who collected the ball on the left side of the box and sent a left-footed shot past Terrier keeper Katie McChesney. It was Foster's second goal of the season and Zufia's first assist.

At the 13:23 mark, Julie Bolt took advantage of a steal deep in Terrier territory and shot the ball past the keeper to the short side from just inside the box on the right side. It was Bolt's second goal of the season.

No. 4 Cavaliers Down No. 24 William & Mary in Overtime

The fourth ranked Virginia women's soccer team posted its fourth consecutive win, topping No. 24 William & Mary 1-0 in double overtime Sunday at Klöckner Stadium. Julia Falk's (Clifton, Va.) golden goal in the 106th minute gave the Cavaliers the win, as they close out the non-conference portion of the schedule with a 6-1-1 record.

The Cavaliers had the better of the chances throughout regulation, outshooting the Tribe (5-3-0) 17-3 over the first 90 minutes. However, on William & Mary's best chance of the game, Cavalier goalkeeper Chantel Jones (Midlothian, Va.) made a difficult save on Mary Carter Jacocks' shot that was headed for the upper corner in the 35th minute.

Virginia continued to pressure in the overtime periods and finally broke through in the 106th minute. Caitlin Miskel (Boca Raton, Fla.) got the ball on the flank, beat her defender on the dribble and served a ball to Falk who one-timed a shot into the net to give Virginia the victory.