From staff reports

CHAPEL HILL -- North Carolina senior Casey Nogueira posted her fourth career hat trick to lead the top-seeded Tar Heels to a 5-2 victory over Wake Forest on Friday at Fetzer Field and earn the program's 25th trip to the NCAA College Cup in the past 28 seasons.

UNC, the reigning national champions will meet Notre Dame on Friday in the semifinals in College Station, Texas. The Fighting Irish beat Oregon State 1-0 on Friday.

"Obviously, we're jacked to be back in the Final Four," UNC coach Anson Dorrance said. "Honestly, it's the most enjoyable women's soccer party of the year. You always want to get back there. It's a chance to showcase your team. You get to practice the extra week.

"It was just a thrill to beat a very good Wake team. ... That's one of our lowest shot totals of the season, yet it's one of the highest scoring games and that's a credit to this group that's been finishing well for the two weeks in practice."

It was the second time UNC (21-3-1) has defeated Wake Forest this season.

The Tar Heels scored less than four minutes into the match when Nogueira headed in a cross from teammate Jessica McDonald. UNC had just one more shot over the next 20 minutes, but in the 24th minute, forward Courtney Jones gave UNC a 2-0 lead.

Meghan Klingenberg gave the Tar Heels a 3-0 advantage at halftime when she scored off an assist from freshman Alyssa Rich.

UNC outshot WFU 7-1 in the first half and finished with a 13-7 edge in shots.

"We only took 13 shots today and yet we scored five goals -- that's a tremendous finishing percentage," Dorrance said.

Wake Forest's Kaley Fountain cut the lead to 3-1 less than 12 minutes into the second half.

It was the first time an opponent has scored on the Tar Heels in the past eight games and broke a 798 minute and 52 second scoreless streak.

But it didn't take long for the Tar Heels to respond to the Demon Deacon's first goal.

Nogueira added her second goal 36 second later when she beat two defenders and chipped the ball over WFU's goalkeeper. The senior added her third goal nearly three minutes later to put the Tar Heels up 5-1.

Wake Forest's Sarah Winslow added the final goal of the game at the 73:15 mark when she scored on an open net off a deflection.

"The older you get, you are wondering, 'Is this my last trip. Will we ever have a team that can get there again?' ..." Dorrance said. "Honestly, the older you get, the more you appreciate these things. I think when you're young, it's sort of wasted on you."