UNC’s Dunn, Maryland’s Mullins Will Return For Senior Seasons
Absolutes define personalities.
Anson Dorrance has coached some of the greatest women’s soccer players in the sport’s history, so he has a unique perspective when assessing how current University of North Carolina players compare to past greats.
It’s safe to say Crystal Dunn has carved a spot with the Tar Heels’ best.
“She is the most versatile player I have ever coached in 35 years,” Dorrance said. “There is not one position, excluding goal, that she wouldn’t be extraordinary in.”
Dunn showcased that versatility this past season, leading North Carolina to its 22nd national championship and winning the Missouri Athletic Club’s Hermann Trophy, which is awarded annually to the nation’s top player.
Dunn earned the award despite missing the Tar Heels’ first six matches while helping the United States Women’s National Team’s Under-20 team win the World Cup in September in Japan.
“Everything has pretty much happened real fast,” Dunn said. “I have had a lot going on in the last six months, jumping into the World Cup and coming off the World Cup, and then in the blink of an eye we were in the Final Four. It was definitely a great win. In the blink of an eye the awards started spilling out.”
Dunn’s whirlwind carried into the new year. In January, new U.S. Women’s National Team coach Tom Sermanni invited Dunn and five other former UNC players to train with the team for matches against Scotland. On Feb. 13, Dunn earned her first cap at the senior level when she replaced Ali Krieger in the 69th minute of a 3-1 victory in Nashville, Tenn.
Dunn is the fourth player this year — Christen Press, Kristie Mewis, and Julie Johnston — to earn her first cap with the U.S. senior Women’s National Team. She also is the sixth North Carolina player — Cat Reddick (2003), Cindy Parlow (1997-98), Tisha Venturini (1994), Mia Hamm (1992-93), and Kristine Lilly (1991) — to win the Hermann Trophy. The eight awards is the most of any school.
Dunn, who had five goals and five assists in 17 games, beat out the University of Virginia’s Caroline Miller and Penn State University’s Christine Nairn for the Hermann Trophy.
Dorrance credited both of those great players for their accomplishments this season, and praised the voters for recognizing how much Dunn meant to the Tar Heels after she was moved from center back to center midfielder in the postseason.
“We started to push Crystal into the midfield and she started to take games over,” Dorrance said. “She consistently gave us a platform to score or to assist in every NCAA game. Her ability in the NCAA games was the margin of victory for us.
“She was absolutely brilliant, and I certainly think she caught the eyes of the people who voted on several of the national player of the year awards.”
Dunn also was named Atlantic Coast Conference Defender of the Year, as well as Soccer America Player of the Year.
With the U-20 Women’s National Team, Dunn made a long run and several moves to set up Kealia Ohai’s goal in the U.S.’s 1-0 victory against Germany in the title match. The goal snapped Germany’s record 610-minute scoreless streak.
She proved equally effective in the NCAA tournament, scoring five goals and assisting on two more. She had the game-tying goal in regulation against Baylor University in a match that went to penalty kicks.
She had the game-winning goal in overtime against Brigham Young University, and then assisted on goals against Stanford University and Penn State to help North Carolina complete the title march.
Dunn said injuries on the team contributed to Dorrance’s decision to push her to defense in the middle of the season. She then moved to forward as players returned, and then to midfield.
Each time, Dunn said she was “cool” with the move and wanted to do what was best for the team. She said she had never played central midfielder, so it took some time to get used to, but she credited her teammates for supporting her in the new role.
Dunn said she never imagined winning as many individual awards as she did this season. She said the game has changed so much and that there are so many great players that nothing is guaranteed, which makes it even more “amazing” when you consider the changes she made and the whirlwind she went through to earn the honors.
She said it is equally “amazing” to hear a coach like Dorrance mention her versatility and compliment her like he did.
“It is such a great thing to hear from Anson,” Dunn said. “He is a man who has coached so many great players that any compliment from him is amazing. I love playing multiple positions.
“Everyone asks me, ‘Doesn’t it suck?’ But if you’re on the field you really shouldn’t complain. Any minute you’re given at any position you should own it and do what you have to do on the field.”
Dunn said that as she was preparing for what turned out to be her first cap with the senior national team. She spent her time training at outside back with the senior national team in Florida and in Tennessee.
She remembered being so scared for her first game with the Tar Heels at Texas A&M University. She played outside back in that game, too, and recalls putting her anxiety aside and taking comfort in the fact she was wearing a North Carolina jersey. She said that realization helped her not care where she was playing and make the most of the opportunity. That is what she has continued to do in her college and her national team career.
“I keep the same mentality through the position changes,” said Dunn, who is 5-foot-2. “I am not going to lose my attacking mentality. I am not really that big, but I feel I can wiggle my way out of things.”
Dorrance said Dunn’s ability to take players on makes her so dangerous. Even though Dunn’s first instinct as a center midfielder might not be to pass the ball, Dorrance said Dunn still was able to “rip things up” from that position.
He said her effectiveness shows how difficult it is for defenses to deal with a player as quick and as skilled — and as versatile — as Dunn.
“There is no way we could have predicted she was going to score goal after goal from attacking center half,” Dorrance said. “There is no way she would have won any of the awards (if she hadn’t moved to that position). There were tremendous players out there who had a tremendous seasons.
“Caroline Miller scored goal after goal, and Christine Nairn had an incredible number of goals and assists. Crystal Dunn’s portfolio compared to those two was incredibly small, but I think what the coaches saw is this little kid putting our team on her back and leading us through to a championship.”