North Carolina Tar Heels women's soccer

North Carolina Tar Heels
women's soccer
North Carolina Tar Heels; women's soccer
2023 North Carolina Tar Heels women's soccer team
University	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Head coach	Anson Dorrance (47th season)
Conference	ACC
Location	Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Stadium	Dorrance Field ; (Capacity: 4,200)
Nickname	Tar Heels
Colors	Carolina blue and white;
Home	Away
NCAA Tournament championships
	1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2012
NCAA Tournament runner-up
	1985, 1998, 2001, 2018, 2019, 2022
NCAA Tournament Semifinals
	1995, 2002, 2016, 2020
NCAA Tournament appearances
	1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023
Conference Tournament championships
	1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2017, 2019
Conference Regular Season championships
	1987, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022

The North Carolina Tar Heels women's soccer team represent the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the Atlantic Coast Conference of NCAA Division I soccer.^[3] The team has won 22 of the 35 Atlantic Coast Conference championships, and 21 of the 41 NCAA national championships. The team has participated in every NCAA tournament.

History

The UNC women's soccer team began as a club team established by students looking for high level competition. In 1979, they petitioned the UNC Athletic Director, Bill Cobey, to take the club to the varsity level. Cobey asked Anson Dorrance, then the UNC men's soccer coach to assess the club's ability to transition to varsity status. Dorrance was impressed enough by the club, then coached by Mike Byers, to recommend that the school form a women's soccer team. Cobey agreed and hired Dorrance as head coach, with Byers as an assistant, for the 1978 season. That year, the Tar Heels played an essentially club schedule, including games against high school teams. However, in 1979, the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women, at the prompting of Dorrance and University of Colorado coach, Chris Lidstone, established a national women's soccer program.^[4]

At the time, UNC had the only varsity women's soccer team in the Southeast and this allowed Dorrance to recruit the top talent in the region. In 1981, he recruited one of the most talented freshman squads in the history of women's soccer. Eight of those recruits won starting positions and took the team to the first, and only, AIAW national championship. This group would set the tone for Tar Heels soccer for down through its history. As Dorrance recalls it, "These were the true pioneers. They were given nothing. They were accustomed to taking things and so they weren't as genteel as the sort of young ladies we can recruit now. . . They were the sort of girls who would go downtown, burn it to the ground, . . . But then, they were on time for every single practice and in practice they worked themselves until they were bleeding and throwing up. They had a tremendous commitment to victory and to personal athletic excellence. And for that I admired them because they were a tremendous group. And even though, off the field, I think they all hated each other. But once the game began, there was a collective fury that just intimidated everyone they played against."^[5] Building on that competitive drive, the Tar Heels went on to win the first three NCAA championships, and dominate the sport for years to come.

All-time record

Year	Head Coach	Overall	ACC	ACC Tournament	NCAA Tournament
1979	Anson Dorrance	10–2–0	–	–	–
1980		21–5–0	–	–	AIAW Semifinals
1981		23–0–0	–	–	AIAW Champions
1982		19–2–0	–	–	Champions
1983		19–1–0	–	–	Champions
1984		24–0–1	–	–	Champions
1985		18–2–1	–	–	Runner up
1986		24–0–1	–	–	Champions
1987		23–0–1	3–0–0	–	Champions
1988		18–0–3	1–0–1	Runner up	Champions
1989		24–0–1	4–0–0	Champions	Champions
1990		20–1–1	4–0–0	Champions	Champions
1991		24–0–0	4–0–0	Champions	Champions
1992		25–0–0	4–0–0	Champions	Champions
1993		23–0–0	4–0–0	Champions	Champions
1994		25–1–1	5–1–0	Champions	Champions
1995		25–1–0	7–0–0	Champions	Semifinals
1996		25–1–0	7–0–0	Champions	Champions
1997		27–0–1	7–0–0	Champions	Champions
1998		25–1–0	7–0–0	Champions	Runner up
1999		24–2–0	7–0–0	Champions	Champions
2000		21–3–0	4–3–0	Champions	Champions
2001		24–1–0	7–0–0	Champions	Runner up
2002		21–2–4	4–1–2	Champions	Semifinals
2003		27–0–0	7–0–0	Champions	Champions
2004		20–1–2	9–0–0	Runner up	Third round
2005		23–1–1	9–1–0	Champions	Quarterfinals
2006		27–1–0	10–0–0	Champions	Champions
2007		19–4–1	9–1–0	Champions	Third round
2008		25–1–2	9–0–1	Champions	Champions
2009		23–3–1	9–3–0	Champions	Champions
2010		19–3–2	9–3–0	Semifinals	Third round
2011		13–5–2	6–3–1	Quarterfinals	Third round
2012		15–5–3	6–3–1	Quarterfinals	Champions
2013		20–5–0	10–3–0	Semifinals	Quarterfinals
2014		14–4–2	9–0–1	Semifinals	Third round
2015		15–5–1	7–3–0	Semifinals	Second round
2016		17–4–4	6–2–2	Runner up	Semifinals
2017		17–3–2	8–0–2	Champions	Third round
2018		21–4–2	10–0–0	Runner up	Runner up
2019		24–1–2	9–0–1	Champions	Runner up
2020		18–2–0	8–0–0	Runner up	Semifinals
2021		12–3–3	5–2–3	—	First round
2022		20–5–1	8–2–0	Runner up	Runner up
2023		13–2–8	5–0–5	Quarterfinals	Quarterfinals

Current roster

As of November 29, 2023^[6]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
0	GK	USA	Nona Reason
2	DF	USA	Evelyn Shores
3	DF	USA	Savannah King
4	DF	USA	Paige Tolentino
5	FW	USA	Maddie Dahlien
6	MF	USA	Emerson Elgin
7	DF	USA	Julia Dorsey
8	FW	USA	Emily Moxley
9	FW	USA	Tori DellaPeruta
10	MF	USA	Samantha Meza
11	MF	USA	Makenna Dominguez
12	DF	USA	Sydney Cheesman
13	FW	USA	Isabel Cox
14	MF	USA	Kai Hayes
15	FW	USA	Avery Patterson
16	MF	USA	Melina Rebimbas
18	MF	USA	Bella Sember


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
19	MF	USA	Emily Colton
20	FW	USA	Olivia Thomas
21	FW	USA	Ally Sentnor
22	FW	USA	Mia Oliaro
23	MF	USA	Maci Teater
24	FW	USA	Talia DellaPeruta
25	DF	USA	Maycee Bell
26	FW	USA	Kate Faasse
30	DF	USA	Kayleigh Herr
31	MF	USA	Ella Smith
32	GK	USA	Emmie Allen
33	MF	USA	Riley Quinlan
34	DF	USA	Tessa Dellarose
39	FW	USA	Asha Means
40	GK	USA	Abby Gundry
44	DF	USA	Alexa Wojnovich

Individual honors

National Coach of the Year:

Anson Dorrance – 1982, 1986, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2006

ACC Coach of the Year:

Anson Dorrance – 1982, 1986, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2018, 2019

Hermann Trophy:

Shannon Higgins – 1989
Kristine Lilly – 1991
Mia Hamm – 1992, 1993
Tisha Venturini – 1994
Cindy Parlow – 1997, 1998
Cat Reddick – 2003
Crystal Dunn – 2012

ACC Player of the Year:

Mia Hamm – 1990, 1992, 1993
Cindy Parlow – 1998

ACC Defensive Player of the Year:

Crystal Dunn – 2013

ACC Offensive Player of the Year:

Heather O'Reilly – 2005
Yael Averbuch – 2006
Crystal Dunn – 2013
Alessia Russo – 2018

ACC Rookie of the Year:

Tisha Venturini – 1991
Cindy Parlow – 1995
Laurie Schwoy – 1996
Lindsay Tarpley – 2002
Maycee Bell - 2019

NCAA Tournament MVP:

April Heinrichs – 1984 (last year overall MVP named)

Offensive Player of the NCAA Tournament:

April Heinrichs – 1985, 1986
Kristine Lilly – 1989, 1990
Mia Hamm – 1992, 1993
Tisha Venturini – 1994
Debbie Keller – 1996
Robin Confer – 1997
Susan Bush – 1999
Meredith Florance – 2000
Heather O'Reilly – 2003, 2006
Kealia Ohai – 2012

Defensive Player of the Tournament:

Suzy Cobb – 1983
Carla Overbeck – 1988
Tracy Bates – 1989
Tisha Venturini – 1991
Staci Wilson – 1994
Nel Fettig – 1996
Siri Mullinix – 1997
Lorrie Fair – 1999
Cat Reddick – 2000, 2003
Robyn Gayle – 2006
Satara Murray – 2012

First Team All-America Selection: As of 2011, North Carolina had 70 players gain first-team All-American recognition. The next two schools with the greatest number of All-Americans were tied with twenty-two each.^[7]