Nov. 6, 2005

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CARY, N.C. - The Atlantic Coast Conference Women's Soccer Tournament trophy found its way back to Chapel Hill Sunday afternoon after a one-year hiatus as No. 3 North Carolina's starting forward trio accounted for all four goals in a 4-1 championship game victory over No. 7 Virginia at SAS Soccer Park. A crowd of 4,547 witnessed a tournament Most Valuable Player performance by senior midfielder Kacey White and an attacking presence on offense which led to a pair of goals by junior Elizabeth Guess and one each by senior Lindsay Tarpley and junior Heather O'Reilly.

With the win, Carolina captured its 16th ACC Tournament title in the 18-year history of the tournament, including victories in 16 of the past 17 championship games. The victory avenged last year championship game result which saw the Cavaliers claim the title in a 5-4 penalty kick shootout against Virginia after the two teams were tied 1-1 after two overtime periods.

The Tar Heels earned the ACC's automatic bid to the 2005 NCAA Women's Soccer Championship in the process of reclaiming the title. The field for the tournament will be announced Monday between 5 and 5:30 p.m. on ESPNNews. The Tar Heels are likely to host first and second round games next Friday and Sunday at Fetzer Field.

UNC improved to 20-1 on the season while Virginia fell to 15-5-1. The Tar Heels have now won 20 games for the 17th successive season and for the 22nd time in school history since the program was elevated to varsity status in 1979.

The victory was also the 599th in the coaching career of UNC head coach Anson Dorrance who has led Carolina to a 599-27-17 record since 1979. Carolina will have its first chance to reward Dorrance with victory No. 600 when the Tar Heels host a first-round NCAA Tournament game on Friday afternoon at 5 p.m. at Fetzer Field.

White, Guess, Tarpley and O'Reilly were joined on the 2005 All-ACC Tournament Team by junior midfielder Jaime Gilbert. A first-team All-ACC selection in 2003 and 2004, White earned second-team honors this season despite a career year which includes 36 points on eight goals and 20 assists. She copped the MVP honors in the tournament after scoring the game-winning goal in the semifinal against Duke and notching assists on four goals in the quarterfinal and championship matches.

UNC was stellar on both ends of the field Sunday against the Cavaliers, who were seeded No. 2 in the tournament behind the No. 1 seeded Tar Heels.

After three successive games against Virginia which had been decided by a single goal or ended in a tie, UNC got on the board quickly at the 13:28 mark after a foul on Virginia about 45 yards away from the goal. Senior defender Kendall Fletcher sent a free kick into the box that Elizabeth Guess headed into the lower right corner past Virginia goalkeeper Christina deVries, who had three saves on the afternoon. The goal was the 10th of the season for Guess while Fletcher earned her fourth assist.

Carolina increased its lead to 2-0 at the 26:35 mark when Lindsay Tarpley headed in a corner kick sent from the left side by freshman midfielder Yael Averbuch. Tarpley sent the ball to the right of deVries' shoulder to earn her ninth goal of the season off the fifth assist by Averbuch.

Virginia would not go away however and the Cavaliers tightened up the game with 2:35 left before halftime. The Cavaliers' Jess Rostedt won a ball just outside the box on the right side and sent a pass to the left side of the box where Noelle Keselica collected it and buried a shot from 15 yards out into the right side of the net. The goal was the ninth of the season for Keselcia.

UNC outshot the Cavaliers 8-2 in the first half and in the second half the UNC defense clamped down even more, not allowing a shot or a corner kick by the Wahoos in the final 45 minutes of play. UNC had six shots and six corner kicks in the second half and two more goals found the back of the net as the ACC championship game ended up being decided by more than a single goal for the first time since 2002.

North Carolina got a key insurance goal at the 56:48 mark, a tally which changed the complexion of the game and spurred the Tar Heels on as they dominated possession of the ball in the game's final 30 minutes. White set up the third goal with an arching cross from the right side which found its way over four Virginia defenders to Guess who one-timed a shot from the left side of the penalty area from about eight yards out. It was goal No. 11 of the season for Guess and White's 20th assist of the campaign.

UNC finished off the scoring at 70:17 with the Tar Heels' three U.S National Team members combining on the goal. Lori Chalupny won the ball in the midfield and passed ahead to Lindsay Tarpley. Tarpley then chipped the ball ahead to Heather O'Reilly who streaked past the Wahoos' defense. O'Reilly dribbled into the box and beat the goalkeeper with a move to her left before finishing dead center into an open net from 12 yards out. O'Reilly boosted her team-leading total to 16 goals on the season while Tarpley earned her ninth assist and Chalupny her sixth assist.

The Tar Heels ended with a 14-2 edge in shots and an 8-2 advantage in corner kicks. deVries made three saves for Virginia while UNC freshman goalkeeper Anna Rodenbough started for the fourth time in the last six matches and went all 90 minutes for the second successive contest, improving her record to 4-0 on the season.

Rodenbough has started the last two matches in relief of Aly Winget who suffered a knee injury in Wednesday's quarterfinal game against Maryland. Winget does not have a fracture of the knee cap but it was too sore for her to play in the past two games. She is expected to be available for the Tar Heels by Friday's NCAA first round.

Kacey White's assist gives her 53 in her career and she has moved into a tie for sixth place in UNC history in that category with Cindy Parlow (1995-98). White's 20 assists this season are the eighth most by a Tar Heel in a single season. Lori Chalupny had the 30th assist of her career to move her into a tie for 34th place in UNC history with Raven McDonald (1997-2000).

Guess scored two goals in a game for the ninth time in her UNC career. She has scored 11 of her 24 career goals in postseason games in either the ACC or NCAA Tournaments.

The goal by Virginia was the 300th UNC has allowed in 643 games in UNC's 27-year history. UNC has outscored its opponents 2,710 to 300 in those 643 games, a scoring differential of 2,410 goals.

Virginia has now scored a goal against Carolina in nine straight games in the series. That is the longest scoring streak any UNC opponent has in history. Duke also scored in eight straight games against Carolina from 1992-95 before Virginia bettered standard that Sunday.

Carolina improved its all-time series record against the Wahoos to 30-0-1.

2005 ACC All-Tournament Team: Kacey Whit e (UNC), Most Valuable Player; Lindsay Tarpley (UNC); Heather O'Reilly (UNC); Elizabeth Guess (UNC); Jaime Gilbert (UNC); Jess Rostedt (UVA); Jen Redmond (UVA); Christina deVries (UVA); Sarah Huffman (UVA); Holly Peltzer (FSU); Darby Kroyer (Duke).