It's hard even for opponents not to respect the power and dominance North Carolina brings onto the field. Yesterday the team that has 16 ACC titles and 17 national championships demonstrated why it is considered the dominate team in the ACC by grabbing a 4-1 win over Virginia for the conference title. The Cavaliers failed to defend their title from last year, when they became only the second team to ever take an ACC championship from the Tar Heels.
At the beginning of the game, it looked as though the outcome might be different. Virginia charged out onto the field and, although the players only managed to get one shot out, challenged the Tar Heels defense. The Tar Heels, in turn, responded by looking a bit off their game.
"We didn't begin this game very well," North Carolina coach Anson Dorrance admitted. "I was kind of confused by that. We were almost nervous it seemed."
Then, about 10 minutes into the game, the tide turned. The sea of dark blue Virginia jerseys that had been crowding North Carolina's half of the field gave way to a wave of baby blue heading toward Virginia's goal.
From then on, the Cavaliers watched close call after close call slide by the goal as Virginia goalkeeper Christina DeVries blocked shot after shot. In one particular play, the Tar Heels' Lindsay Tarpley aimed a kick at the ball and connected with DeVries' face instead. The game was paused for a few moments before DeVries picked herself up and indicated she was okay to stay in the game.
"I don't think it affected my mentality of confidence or anything," DeVries said. "I remember right after I got kicked there was that breakaway, and I was able to stop that, so I think I got right back in it."
A few moments after that save, however, the Cavaliers still not having managed to clear the ball, the Tar Heels' Elizabeth Guess took a header off of a pass from Kendall Fletcher to score the game's first goal. Almost 15 minutes later, Tarpley landed another header into the goal, this time off a pass from freshman Yael Averbuch.
Toward the end of the first half, Virginia seemed like it might challenge Carolina's lead, when senior Noelle Keselica took a shot by freshman Jess Rostedt that had deflected off of a Tar Heel defender and crossed it into the bottom right corner of the goal.
"That was a great goal by [Keselica]," Virginia coach Steve Swanson said. "At that point we were right back in it again."
The Cavaliers' rally was cut short 12 minutes into the second half, though, when Guess landed a ball in the back right corner of the net for her second goal of the game. North Carolina completed its lead 14 minutes later when Heather O'Reilly scored the fourth and last goal of the game.
One of the main factors that hindered the Cavaliers was the teams' youth and fatigue. While the mostly freshman defense held its own against one of the most skilled offenses in the country, it was still a mostly freshman defense facing a very experienced offense that refused to let up.
"They're the kind of team you have to be in it all the time," Swanson said. "You can't let down a little bit. I thought at times we just lost a little bit of our focus here and there in the back."
As for the fatigue, Virginia was busy battling it out against Wake Forest on Wednesday while North Carolina was resting their starters after getting a comfortable three-goal lead in the first 10 minutes of their game against Maryland.
Although Virginia made some good runs up to the goal, for most of the game the Tar Heels were able to disrupt any momentum the Cavaliers worked. The Tar Heels also managed a significantly smoother passing game than Virginia. This could also be traced back to the relative youth of the team.
"I think our teams done a great job all year," Swanson said. "Almost half our kids are brand new to the program. To get back here to the final says a lot about them."
And this game is hardly the end of the season for Virginia. Come this afternoon the team likely will be glued to the television, radio or internet when the seeds are announced for this year's NCAA Tournament.
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