[COLLEGE WOMEN: Weekend] No. 8 Notre Dame beat No. 1 North Carolina, 1-0, on freshman star
Morgan Andrews' header in the
21st minute before a crowd of 3,742 fans at Fetzer Field in Chapel Hill. It was the first meeting between the teams, who have 24 NCAA national titles between them, since the Irish joined the ACC.
North Carolina finished with an 18-5 edge in shots, but freshman goalkeeper
Kaela Little anchored the Irish defense, making five saves to record her
third career shutout.
“It was classic Notre Dame-Carolina,” Notre Dame coach
Randy Waldrum said. “Every time we play one another,
it’s going to be a hard-fought, physical match that’s probably going to come down to one or two plays, and that’s exactly what happened today. I thought we handled the moment much
better than the first time we played a ranked team [a 1-0 loss to then-No. 2 UCLA] and executed the way we’re capable of."
The Irish did what few teams dare to do and that is take
the game to Tar Heels.
"We looked very strong in the first half, particularly in the midfield, and did a great job of putting them under some pressure,” he added.
The
lone goal came when Andrews, the two-time Gatorade High School Girls Soccer Player of the Year, scored on a header off a cross from
Brittany Von Rueden.
“Morgan’s goal and Brittany’s service were top shelf, added Waldrum, "and it certainly gave our team an added lift and the confidence we needed to weather the storm in the
second half.”
Waldrum said the player of the match, though, was sophomore midfielder
Cari Roccaro, who helped shut down 2012 Soccer America
Women's Player of the Year
Crystal Dunn, with whom she played on the same club team, Albertson Fury, and the 2012 U.S. Under-20 World Cup championship team.
“I thought Cari was the player of the match, no question about it,” Waldrum said. “The work she put in to track Crystal was exceptional. Our center backs,
Katie [Naughton] and
Sammy [Scofield], also played a very strong game for us, and Kaela had another solid day in goal.
It was great to see so many young players coming along and developing in a hostile environment, especially one that only a handful of them had every played in before.”
Top 25 Upsets ... --
Natalia Ledezma scored a goal with 30 seconds left to give UC Irvine a 1-0 win over No. 5 BYU,
handing the Cougars their first loss of the season.
-- A goal from freshman
McKenzie Muchow -- the first of her career -- gave Butler
arguably the best win in the women's program history as the Bulldogs defeated No. 14 Michigan, 1-0. The loss was the first for the Wolverines after six wins.
--
Lynn Williams scored her third game-winner of the season to give Pepperdine a 1-0 overtime win over No. 23 USC in the first regular-season meeting between the Southern California schools
since 1998.
--
Dagny Olson,
Rachel Tejada and
Allie Newsom scored
in the first 29 minutes for Illinois State, and the Redbirds held off No. 25 Marquette, which rallied for two goals by
Emily Jacobson, for a 3-2 win.
SEMINOLES END DURHAM DROUGHT. Kristin
Grubka’s header in the 87th minute was the difference as No. 7 Florida State remained unbeaten at 6-0-2 with a 2-1 victory over No. 12 Duke for its first win in 10 meetings in Durham. The
Blue Devils struck on a goal by
Kim DeCesare in the 19th minute, but the lead was short lived however as
Berglind
Thorvaldsdottir found the equalizer just 48 seconds later on a blast from 20 yards.
“It is a tough trip,” Florida State head coach
Mark Krikorian said. “We knew coming up and playing at Wake [0-0 tie] and then at Duke would be very challenging games for us and they proved to be. It’s another step in the
right direction for this program to come up here and get four big points.”
Freshman Watch ... Freshman
Savannah Jordan scored a pair of second-half goals to give the No. 19 Florida a 2-0 win over previously undefeated Minnesota. She has eight goals in eight games, including three
multi-goal matches.
PIONEER RECORD. Kristen Hamilton scored two goals and
added an assist to lead No. 20 Denver to a 3-0 victory over previously unbeaten and untied Colorado. Hamilton tied and broke Denver’s all-time record with 43 career goals, passing
Taryn Hemmings (2004-08) and
Kathy Conklin (1989-92).
Unbeaten and untied
... Denver (7-0-0)
Georgetown (7-0-0
)
Iowa (7-0-0)
Virginia (7-0-0)
Penn (4-0-0)