University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Women's Soccer Falls to UNC Chapel Hill, 7-0
11.10.2006 | Women's Soccer
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Top-ranked UNC Chapel Hill simply was too much for UNC Asheville Friday night in the first round of the NCAA Women's Soccer Tournament at Fetzer Field. The Tar Heels scored three goals in the first half and four in the second en route to a 7-0 victory.
The Bulldogs finish the season with a 10-7-3 overall record. UNC Chapel Hill won its 23rd straight game of the season to improve to 23-1-0.
The match was played in front of 1,318 fans and marked the largest crowd ever to see UNC Asheville play a women's soccer match.
UNC Asheville coach Michele Cornish refused to be discouraged after the defeat.
"Chapel Hill is the top team in the nation for a reason and they certainly showed that tonight," stated Cornish. "I was very proud of our effort. We played our hearts our and went out and competed. However, UNC simply has too many weapons for us tonight. We wish them the best of luck the rest of the way in the tournament."
UNC outshot the Bulldogs 35-2. Veronica Lazar made 11 saves for Asheville after playing all 90 minutes. It was a career high is saves for the freshman goalkeeper.
"Veronica was just tremendous tonight," said Cornish. "She made some amazing saves throughout the match."
Cornish admitted that the Tar Heels are a tough team to prepare for.
"When you look at where our level is versus where Carolina is, it's vastly different," stated Cornish. "You can just look at the height, the size, the speed, their speed of play; everything is different from the way we play. There is really nothing you can do, outside of maybe playing a lower level men's team that would prepare. We just finished our conference tournament last weekend, so there is not a whole lot of preparation time and the kids still had classes and things to go to. It is difficult to prepare for something like that, because I don't really know that you can."
Carolina got the scoring started on Friday night in the 12th minute of the game. UNC's Tobin Heath was taken down in the box by a UNCA defender and Ali Hawkins then scored on the ensuing penalty kick, recording her fifth goal of the season.
The Tar Heels added to their lead at 20:57 after a foul just outside the box on the Bulldogs on the right side. Carolina's Yael Averbuch scored on the ensuing free kick, going far post for her 13th goal of the campaign.
Before the first half was over, UNC made it 3-0 on Averbuch's 14th goal of the season. After taking a pass from Tobin Heath, Averbuch fired a shot with pace from 28 yards out that UNCA goalkeeper Veronica Lazar was unable to hold. It glanced off her hands and went into the lower right corner.
After leading 3-0 at the half and having fired 22 first half shots, the Tar Heels were more efficient on their scoring opportunities in the second half, scoring four goals on 11 shots.
Less than three minutes into the second half, the Tar Heels extended their lead to 4-0. Averbuch scored her third goal of the game on a one-timer off a corner kick from the right pylon by Heather O'Reilly. Averbuch's hat trick is the eighth time in UNC history that a Tar Heel has scored three goals in an NCAA Tournament match. April Heinrichs did it once, Shannon Higgins once, Mia Hamm twice and Lindsay Tarpley three times.
At 57:03, UNC increased its lead to 5-0 on the fourth goal of the season by Tar Heel senior forward Elizabeth Guess. Guess scored on a shot from just outside the box that curled inside the left post. Both Robyn Gayle and Whitney Engen had assists on the play.
Both of Carolina's final two goals were set up by senior midfielder Jennifer Perkins, who was credited with assists on both goals. The two assists were the first points of Perkins' career.
At 73:04, Casey Nogueira sent a cross from the right side to Perkins on the left side just five yards beyond the goal. Perkins centered the ball back to the middle of the box where Jaime Gilbert chested the ball in.
The goal was the fifth of the season for Gilbert. Carolina finished off the scoring in the match at 80:07 as Katie Brooks tallied her third goal of the season off assists by Jaime Gilbert and Jennifer Perkins. Perkins fed the ball to Gilbert who then centered the ball to Brooks at the top of the penalty area. Brooks pivoted with the ball and then sent a shot into the lower left of the goal for the final margin.
