WOMEN'S NEWS ... North Carolina ended its two-game losing streak with a 3-0 win over Clemson. The Tar Heels got two goals from 2008 Player of the Year Casey Nogueira, who had only one goal in her 12 previous games.

Nogueira, who scored 25 goals in 2008 but only has six this season, was one of eight seniors to start in the Tar Heels' last home game of the regular season. Nikki Washington, whose senior year ended against LSU last month when she tore her right ACL, started the game in uniform wearing a brace on her right knee. Clemson, in a show of sportsmanship, intentionally kicked the ball out of play so sophomore Maria Lubrano could replace Washington 31 seconds into the match. The only senior not to start was midfielder Tobin Heath, who was with the U.S. women's national team in Germany for its exhibition match against the Germany.

The other six Tar Heel seniors, all part of one of the most celebrated classes in UNC's long history, were defenders Whitney Engen and Kristi Eveland, goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris, midfielder Sterling Smith and forwards Ashley Moore and Caroline Boneparth. Both Moore and Boneparth earned the first starts of their careers.

* THURSDAY TOP 25 RESULTS:
ACC: No. 4 North Carolina 3 (Nogueira 12, 54, McDonald 52) Clemson 0.
ACC: No. 6 Boston College 1 (Caldwell  25) Duke 0.
ACC: No. 8 Maryland 1 (Hutchinson 3) No. 17 Wake Forest 3 (Hutchinson 3, Farrell 75, Fountain 86).
Indiana 1 (Moses 70) No. 25 Penn State 2 (Toney 21, Nairn 80).

Weekend Schedule

* TOURNAMENT WATCH. Conference tournament play began Thursday with a huge first-round game in the Big East Tournament between Villanova and Connecticut. The Huskies are hoping to return to the NCAA Tournament after missing out for the first time ever in 2008, but they fell at 'Nova, 4-1, in a shootout after their 1-1 tie. Villanova (11-4-5) travels to Milwaukee to face Marquette on Sunday. UConn will have to wait to see whether it gets an at-large bid, though its No. 19 in the last RPI Index puts it in good shape. In the other Big East first-round game, Chelsea Klotz scored late to give host South Florida a 1-0 win over DePaul.

Conference Tournament Scoreboard

* CMU STREAK OVER. Central Michigan's shutout streak ended at 1,238 minutes when Paige Sheridan scored 11 minutes into Eastern Michigan's Mid-American match with the Chippewas on Thursday. CMU rallied for a 1-1 tie with the Eagles to extend its school record unbeaten streak to 14 matches. The 13-game shutout streak was tied for the second longest in NCAA Division I women's history. The Chippewas, the MAC regular-season champions, return home to begin their quest for their first conference tournament championship against Kent State on Sunday.