bgorman@heraldsun.com; 419-6668
CHAPEL HILL -- For the second consecutive game, the North Carolina women's soccer team will face an ACC foe in the NCAA Tournament.
The No. 1 seeded Tar Heels, and defending national champions, will host No. 3 seed Wake Forest today at 2 p.m. at Fezter Field in the quarterfinals. It is the 26th time UNC has reached the quarterfinals in the 28 year history of the NCAA Tournament, and its 24-0-1 all-time in those quarterfinal games.
UNC beat Maryland 1-0 in the third round of the tournament Saturday.
The winner of today's game advances to the College Cup in College Station, Texas.
"It's an ACC battle," UNC goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris said. "Anytime you play an ACC team it hits home a little bit harder then say a new team. There's more weight behind it. Obviously we always have a big target on our backs in terms of ACC teams or any other teams so definitely we have to come out and be on our 'A' game. It's not a game we're looking past by any means."
The teams have met once already this season and the Tar Heels easily defeated the Demon Deacons 4-0 on Sept. 27. Harris, however, missed that game since she was training with the U.S. national team in California. The senior said she watched tape of the game when she got back to Chapel Hill and thought UNC played well, as did WFU.
"I think, obviously, the score was a pretty big separation but I didn't see that big of a separation on the field," Harris said. "I think that Wake Forest is going to be a great team. I think they're going to come out hard with a lot of emotion. Obviously this is going to be the end of the season for one of these teams."
Defense has been the backbone for the Tar Heels this season and they'll rely upon it once again today. UNC currently boasts an eight-game shutout streak, holding opponents scoreless for the last 742 minutes and three seconds of play. The last time the 20-time national champions shut out eight consecutive opponents was in 1997.
"I'd like to say I'm having to make all these incredible saves and oh my gosh I'm playing unreal, but honestly my defense is so solid," Harris said. "They make my job so easy. They make me look good."
Senior forward Casey Nogueira, who leads the team with nine goals, said the defense has been holding the team together, especially when the offense has struggled to find the back of the net. During the current shut out streak, UNC won four games 1-0.
"Our defense is really experienced and they've just been doing an awesome job and Ashlyn is just amazing," said Nogueira, who also leads the team with nine assists. "We can depend on them to carry us through when the forwards are lacking in goals."
