WOMEN’S NEWS … North Carolina-Notre Dame ranks as the top rivalry in women’s college soccer. They’ll meet for the 17th time Friday night when the Tar Heels are the guests for the ailing Irish’s first women’s game at the new Alumni Stadium.
Five of the 16 meetings have been for the national championship, most recently in 2008 when the Tar Heels rallied after going down, 1-0, in the first minute and won, 2-1, on a pair of world-class goals by Casey Nogueira.
Heading into Friday’s Inn at Saint Mary’s Classic, North Carolina (3-0-0) is No. 1 and Notre Dame (2-0-0) is No. 4 in this week’s Soccer America Top 25.
Carolina has arguably the deepest team Anson Dorrance has ever assembled. Nogueira, 2008 Olympic gold-medalist Tobin Heath, Courtney Jones and Nikki Washington lead the attack that has scored 13 goals in three games. The Tar Heel defense includes goalie Ashlyn Harris, who was called up to the U.S. national team camp that begins next week.
On the other hand, the Irish entered a rebuilding year, having lost two-time Hermann Trophy winner Kerri Hanks, Brittany Bock, Carrie Dew and Elise Weber to WPS. To make matters worse, the Irish have been without their two senior co-captains, Michele Weissenhofer and Courtney Rosen. Weissenhofer has been bothered with hamstring problems, while Rosen is out indefinitely after breaking her left foot during preseason training.
TRIVIA: North Carolina won all five NCAA championship games against Notre Dame and leads the series with a 10-4-2 record. Perhaps the Irish’s most memorable accomplishment involved the 0-0 tie on Oct. 2, 1994 in St. Louis. Goalkeeper Jen Renola made 11 saves for Notre Dame, which snapped UNC’s NCAA record 92-game winning streak, the third time an Irish squad had broken an NCAA-record success string (joining football’s 1957 win at Oklahoma that ended the Sooners’ 47-game streak, and the 1974 men’s basketball team that stopped UCLA’s 88-game run).
Notre Dame-North Carolina Audio UND.com
* It wasn’t for a lack of trying that Wisconsin-Milwaukee fell to Marquette, 2-0, for its first loss at home since 2006. The Panthers held a 15-2 shot advantage in the second half after falling behind by two goals. “We completely dismantled them,” said UWM coach Michael Moynihan. “It was as good as I think I have ever seen our team play.” The game drew a women’s record crowd of 1,307 at Engelmann Field.
* Thursday night Top 25 action: Defending Big West champion UC Santa Barbara held No. 15 Michigan State to a 1-1 tie, while No. 9 West Virginia cruised past Duquesne, 4-0.
TOP 25 MATCHUPS:
Friday
No. 4 Notre Dame vs. No. 1 North Carolina (Inn at Saint Mary’s Classic)
No. 3 Portland vs. No. 23 Colorado College (Husky/Nike Invitational)
No. 5 Florida State vs. No. 10 Penn State
No. 16 Illinois vs. No. 8 UCLA (Illini Challenge Cup)
No. 14 California vs. No. 13 Texas A&M (Cal Invitational)
Sunday, Sept. 6
No. 7 Florida vs. No. 8 UCLA (Illini Challenge Cup)
(Follow all the action with Soccer America’s Women’s College Weekend Scoreboard.)