SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Second-seeded North Carolina will travel to South Bend, Ind. on Saturday to face ACC rival and top-seeded Notre Dame in the quarterfinals of the 2022 NCAA Women’s Soccer Championship at 5 pm The winner will advance to College Cup in Cary , NC, and face either Florida State or Arkansas in the national semifinals on Dec. 2.
This will be the first meeting of the season between the Tar Heels and Fighting Irish.
The Tar Heels advanced to the quarterfinals with 3-2 victory over No. 6 seed BYU a week ago behind two goals from freshman Maddie Dahlien and three assists by junior Avery Patterson. Junior Talia Dellaperuta scored the opening goal of the match in the 13th minute, her second consecutive game with a goal. Notre Dame reached the round of eight with a 2-0 win over TCU on Sunday.
The Tar Heels are playing a quarterfinal match on the road for the first time since 2012 when they defeated No. 1 seed BYU in Provo, 2-1 in double overtime. Each of their last five quarterfinal matches have been in either Cary or Chapel Hill.
Beginning with the 2005 tournament, the bracket was set up in quadrants with each quadrant having its own No. 1-4 seeds with seeds 5-8 added in 2022. UNC was a No. 2 seeds in 2012, ’14, ’16, and ’21. The Heels advanced to the College Cup as a No. 2 seed in 2012 and ’16, winning the national championship in 2012. The Tar Heels are 17-4-1 as a No. 2 seeds in the quadrant seeding.
Since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 2001, Carolina has a record of 11-2 in NCAA quarterfinal matches with an overall round-of-eight record of 30-2 since 1982.
THE SERIES
• UNC leads the all-time series with Notre Dame, 22-7-3. The Irish are one of only three schools with more than four wins against the Tar Heels (Florida State 11, Santa Clara 6).
• Saturday’s match will mark the 11th postseason match between Carolina and the Fighting Irish. UNC is 7-3 versus Notre Dame in the NCAA Tournament. Oddly enough, UNC is 0-3 against the Irish at Chapel Hill, but 7-0 in neutral-site games.
• This will be the only third postseason meeting between the Tar Heels and Fighting Irish prior to the College Cup (national semifinals/finals). AND recorded third-round wins over UNC in 2007 and 2010.
LAST TIME WE MET
Avery Patterson headed home the winning goal 40 seconds into the second overtime to give North Carolina a 2-1 win over Notre Dame, the 900th win for head coach Anson Dorrance and the Tar Heel women’s soccer program, in UNC’s 2021 regular season home finale. Patterson took a cross from the right wing from Emily Moxley and struck the ball from the six-yard line. Moxley almost won it herself, flicking a cross with seven seconds to play in regulation that Notre Dame goalkeeper Ashley Naylor stopped with a diving save.
The Irish scored first with 31:05 to play in regulation but the Tar Heels knotted the score at 1-1 with 12:01 to play when Mollie Baker found Emily Colton with a cross and Colton scored from three yards out.
FOOTNOTES
• Carolina is 5-3-1 against United Soccer Coaches ranked opponents (at the time of the match), including road wins over No. 3 Duke and No. 5Florida State.
• The Tar Heels posted a record of 8-4-1 against teams in the 2022 NCAA Tournament field this season prior to the start of the championship.
• North Carolina had five wins over RPI top 25 teams during the regular season, tied for the most among NCAA Division I teams along with Alabama and Florida State.
• The Tar Heels’ eight wins over RPI top 50 teams are second-most in the country behind Alabama’s 13.
• Carolina’s seven road wins are tied for fifth-most in NCAA Division I behind Saint Louis (9), Alabama (8) Dayton (8) and UCLA (8).
• Avery Patterson’s five assists in the NCAA Tournament are the most by any player in this year’s 64-team field. Ally Sentnor’s four goals are third-most in the tournament this year behind Jessica De Flippo (6) of Arkansas (6) and Stanford’s Jasmine Aikey (5).
• Sentnor has scored four goals in three NCAA tournament games after scoring five in 19 regular season matches. She ranks second on the team with nine goals.
• The Tar Heels have had a brace in each NCAA Tournament match. Ally Sentnor scored two goals against Old Dominion and Georgia before Maddie Dahlien netted a pair of goals versus BYU.
• Dahlia scored one goal during the regular season and three in the postseason.
• Patterson has recorded a point in each of the last four games and five of the last seven. She scored a goal against Miami, Florida State, and Old Dominion with assists against BYU, Georgia, and Old Dominion. UNC is 12-2 this season when she records a point.
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