As great as its record of 18 NCAA women’s championships in 25 seasons is, North Carolina’s dominance in the ACC Tournament is just as remarkable.
The Tar Heels opened play in this year’s tournament at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., with a 3-0 win over Clemson to improve their ACC Tournament record to 50-0-2 over 20 years.
Carolina has won 17 of the 19 previous ACC Tournaments, and its only losses have come in shootouts — 4-3 at N.C. State in the inaugural ACC Tournament in 1988 and 5-4 to Virginia in 2004.
The Tar Heels have also won 18 of 21 ACC regular-season championships, finishing second outright in 1988 and 1994 and finishing tied for second in 2000. After losing at Miami, 1-0, in its second conference game, Carolina ran off eight straight wins to run away with the 2007 ACC regular-season title.
Wednesday’s win over Clemson was UNC’s ninth in a row this season. The Heels got ahead early on Nikki Washington‘s goal in the 16th minute and cruised into halftime with a 2-0 lead after Jaime Gilbert’s goal from close range.
Freshman Meghan Klingenberg, who had sprung Gilbert, started the play that led to Mandy Moraca‘s insurance goal with eight minutes remaining in the game.
ACC
Quarterfinals
Nov. 7 in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.
North Carolina 3 (Washington 16, Gilbert 25, Moraca 81) Clemson 0.
Virginia 0 Miami (Fla.) 0 (OT).
(Virginia wins 4-2 on penalties.)
Wake Forest 1 (Fountain 96) Duke 0 (OT).
Florida State 1 (Schmidt 72) Boston College 0.