Nov. 2, 2005

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CARY, N.C. - Third-ranked North Carolina tallied three goals in the opening 9:58 of play, all thee assisted by Tar Heel senior midfielder Kacey White, en route to a 3-1 victory over Maryland in the 2005 Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament quarterfinals at SAS Soccer Stadium. The Tar Heels advance to the semifinals where they will play No. 9 Duke Friday at 5 p.m. at SAS Soccer Stadium.

Carolina is now 18-1 on the season while Maryland saw its season end at 5-11-3.

After scoring the three early goals, the Tar Heels substituted liberally for the remainder of the game with only five of the 21 players being on the field for 70 minutes or more. Carolina lost two players to injury -- senior goalkeeper Aly Winget and senior forward Brynn Hardman -- and their status for the remainder of the tournament is not known at this time.

Winget went out of the match at 78:33 after foul outside the UNC penalty box which resulted in a yellow card on Maryland's Kaila Sciascis. Winget was taken off the field on a stretcher with her left leg in a splint. Winget has a sore knee cap and was to undergo x-rays Wednesday night to assess the extent of the injury. Freshman Anna Rodenbough played the last 11:27 in the goal and did not face a shot. Rodenbough has started two of Carolina's last four matches. Hardman, a reserve forward, rolled her left ankle in the first half, after playing 16 minutes.

Offensively, the Tar Heels got on top early with senior Lindsay Tarpley scoring two goals in the opening eight minutes. The two goals lifted her career point total to 158 which moved her into the No. 10 spot in Carolina history in scoring, eclipsing the 157 points from Amy Machin (1981-84).

Senior midfielder Kacey White assisted on three goals, running her league-leading total this year to 19. White's three assists moved her from 11th place to seventh place in UNC career assists in just the first 9:58 of play. She passed April Heinrichs, Shannon Higgins, Pam Kalinoski and Tisha Venturini on the career chart and now has 52 in her career. She trails only Mia Hamm (72), Alyssa Ramsey (71), Debbie Keller (57), Robin Confer (55), Lindsay Tarpley (54) and Cindy Parlow (53) on the Tar Heel chart. White's three assists also tied the ACC Tournament record for assists in a game. White became the ninth player in ACC Tournament history to compile three assists in a match. It is the seventh time it has been accomplished by a Tar Heel player.

Tarpley scored just 59 seconds into the match to boost the Tar Heels to a 1-0 lead. Kacey White dribbled up the middle of the field and tapped the ball to junior forward Elizabeth Guess who crossed the ball to Tarpley in the middle of the box and Tarpley beat Maryland goalkeeper Nikki Resnick into the lower left of the goal. At the 7:32 mark, Tarpley and White combined on a give-and-go to make the score 2-0. Tarpley fed White who carried down the right side and then fed the ball back to Tarpley who one touched the cross into the upper right.

Carolina finished its scoring at 9:58 with White feeding Guess for the second time in the match. Guess crossed a ball through the box to sophomore midfielder Jaime Gilbert who one-timed the ball past Resnick. Shortly after that Dorrance began his substitution pattern with several Tar Heel starters playing less than 45 minutes on the night in order to rest them for Friday's semifinal match with Duke. Heather O'Reilly played only eight minutes because of a hip flexor but she will start against Duke Friday night. Gilbert played only 37 minutes, Guess 38 minutes, Tarpley 45 minutes, freshman midfielder Yael Averbuch 64 minutes and senior midfielder Lori Chalupny 28 minutes. Five Tar Heel reserves --Leea Murphy (42), Katie Brooks (51), Julie Yates (51), Corinne Black (29) and Mandy Moraca (47) all logged their season high for minutes played.

Maryland did dent the Tar Heel net at 68:59 off a corner kick. Ashly Kennedy had two shots at the goal off the corner kick. Her first shot was saved off the line by a UNC defender and Kennedy sent the rebound of her shot into an empty net after Winget had been knocked to the ground during a scrum in front of the net. The sequence started when UNC was called for a hand ball at the 18 1/2-yard line out front and dead center. Kimmy Francis took a direct kick that was saved by Winget as she knocked the ball over the net. It was on the ensuing corner kick that Maryland scored.

The Tar Heels will face No. 4 seed Duke, a 2-0 winner over Boston College, in the ACC semifinals Friday at 5 p.m. No. 2 seed Virginia, a 2-1 winner over Wake Forest, and No. 3 seed Florida State, a 4-0 winner over Clemson, play in the second semifinal at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

The Blue Devils handed Carolina its only loss of the season so far by a 2-1 score at UNC's Fetzer Field on October 9. The match will provide the Tar Heels with a chance to earn back one-half point in the 2005-06 Carlyle Cup standings. Duke leads the current competition 5 points to 0.5 points.