UNC Women Advance On Golden Goal.
Carolina will play in its 24th NCAA championship game in the 31-year history of the tournament on Sunday when it meets sixth-ranked Penn State Sunday at 1 p.m. PST (4 p.m. EST) at Torero Stadium.
The Nittany Lions advanced to their first-ever NCAA final by defeating fellow # 1 seed Florida State 2-1 in overtime in the first semifinal gam.
The UNC/Stanford semifinal game was a hard fought game throughout the 90 minutes of regulation. Both teams had good chances to score although the Tar Heels might have had an edge in possession. Through regulation UNC had outshot the Cardinal 14-13 and had a 3-2 edge in corner kicks. UNC was on frame through most of that time with Stanford’s Emily Oliver making seven saves in regulation and UNC’s Adelaide Gay making four.
But the overtime was a different story as the Tar Heels took over the game and plowed through for the eventual game-winner in the 105th minute. UNC outshot the Cardinal 6-0 in the two overtime periods and were it not for three extra sessions saves by Oliver the Tar Heels might have prevailed earlier. Carolina also benefitted in overtime from having fresher legs as UNC head coach Anson Dorrance used six substitutes during the game to only three for Stanford.
The winning goal was set up on a run down the middle of the pitch by New Zealand National Team player and Carolina freshman midfielder Katie Bowen. Bowen fed a ball to the feet of Crystal Dunn, who has been all-everything for UNC in the NCAA Tournament. Dunn gathered the ball in and despite having a defender on her hip she kept her balance and sprung Ohai free on the right side of the penalty area.
Ohai never hesitated, used her speed to get behind everyone and from 12 yards out on the right she lasered a shot across the frame. The ball struck the left stanchion but was hit with such pace that it bounced across the goal and into the right side netting.
It was Ohai’s team-leading eighth goal of the season and her second game-winner of the campaign.
Carolina has been making history in the NCAA Tournament in many forms after finishing the regular season 10-5-2 overall. The Tar Heels have now advanced in three successive overtime games. Prior to this year Carolina had never played more than one overtime game in any single NCAA Tournament. After wins over Radford and Illinois, the Tar Heels got by #9 Baylor 4-2 on penalty kicks after playing to a 1-1 double overtime tie. Last Friday in the quarterfinals, UNC prevailed 2-1 over #3 BYU on a golden goal by Dunn in the 107th minute of play off an assist by Ohai. On Friday, it was the combination of juniors Ohai and Dunn that again produced overtime magic for the Tar Heels.
North Carolina (14-5-3) defeated Stanford (21-2-1) for the second time in the last four years in the NCAA Tournament. The Tar Heels also beat the Cardinal 1-0 in the 2009 NCAA championship game in College Station, Texas. The Tar Heels are now 9-0-3 all-time against the Cardinal.
Carolina has now defeated four teams (in five games) in the NCAA Tournament who had not lost a game since the weekend of August 25-26. Radford, Baylor, BYU and Stanford were all one-loss teams on the 2012 seasons before being eliminated by the Tar Heels.