Nov. 11, 2005

TAR HEELS OPEN NCAA TOURNAMENT PLAY FRIDAY WITH FIRST ROUND GAME
The University of North Carolina women's soccer team has earned one of the four No. 1 seeds in the 2005 NCAA Women's Soccer Tournament and has been chosen to host first and second round games in Chapel Hill, N.C. on Friday and Sunday, November 11 and 13. The Tar Heels earned one of 30 automatic bids to the NCAA Tournament as champions of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament. The Tar Heels also won the ACC regular season championship this season. UNC (20-1, Ranked No. 2 by the NSCAA, Soccer America and Soccer Times and No. 3 by Soccer Buzz) will open play in the tournament on Friday, Nov. 11 by playing Southern Conference Tournament champion Western Carolina (18-5) at 5 p.m. The Catamounts are playing in their first NCAA Tournament after claiming the Southern Conference title as the No. 4 seed in the league tournament. The second game Friday night will feature Clemson (9-8-2) of the ACC against Virginia Commonwealth (12-4-5) of the Colonial Athletic Association. Both Clemson and VCU earned one of the 34 at-large bids to this year's tournament. Clemson and VCU played earlier this season with the game ending in a scoreless tie. The gates to Fetzer Field will open at 3:30 p.m. Tickets will be available at the ticket trailer in front of Carmichael Auditorium beginning at that time. Tickets are also available online at www.TarHeelBlue.com. The winners of the two first-round games on Friday will meet in the second-round of the tournament on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Fetzer Field. Gates will open Sunday at 11:30 a.m. Tickets for admission on either day are priced at $7 for adults and $3 for students and senior citizens. Children are $1.

NCAA TOURNAMENT SEEDING DETAILS
For the 23rd time in the 24 years of the NCAA Women's Soccer Championship, the Tar Heels have earned one of the top four seeds in the entire bracket. During its history the tournament has gone from having four seeds (1982-93) to eight seeds (1994-2002) and now 16 seeds (2003-05). This year the bracket is slightly different as each 16-team section of the bracket (upper left, lower left, upper right and lower right quadrants) include four seeded teams each with teams seeded in each quadrant 1-4 but the bracket no longer containing overall seeds from 1-16. North Carolina is the No. 1 seed in the lower right quadrant. The other seeds in UNC's quadrant are Florida State No. 2, California No. 3 and Pepperdine No. 4. The other No. 1 seeds in the tournament are Penn State in the upper left quadrant, Portland in the lower left quadrant and UCLA in the upper right quadrant. The only season in which UNC has failed to earn a Top four seed was 2000 when Carolina was seeded No. 5. The Tar Heels went on that season to win their 16th NCAA championship. From 1982 through 2004, the Tar Heels were the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament in 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2003 and 2004. Carolina has won 11 NCAA championships while being seeded No. 1 in the tournament. UNC has also won six titles when it was not the No. 1 seed.

DORRANCE AND TAR HEELS SEEK 600TH WIN AGAINST CATAMOUNTS
North Carolina head coach Anson Dorrance was the founding mentor of the North Carolina women's soccer program when it attained varsity status during the 1979 season. Twenty-seven years later the program stands on the brink of gaining its 600th victory, all under the tutelage of Dorrance. UNC heads into Friday night's Western Carolina game with a record of 599-27-17 in the 27 years of the program. There is a certain level of irony in the fact that Dorrance will have his first chance to win his 600th career game as a women's head coach against Western Carolina, a team UNC has never played in women's soccer. But two years before Dorrance began coaching the women at UNC as a varsity squad in 1979, he had begun his coaching career as the Tar Heels' men's coach and he served in that role for 12 seasons through the end of the 1988 campaign. Dorrance won 172 games as the men's coach at Carolina. It was in his first game as a college head coach in September 1977 that Dorrance led the Tar Heel men to a 3-0 victory at Fetzer Field against, ironically, Western Carolina. So for a second time the Catamounts stand between Dorrance and a milestone win in his coaching career. With 172 wins as a men's coach and 559 wins as a women's coach, Dorrance has been responsible for coaching UNC teams to 771 wins heading into Friday.

OTHER MILESTONE WINS
Anson Dorrance's milestone wins as the UNC women's head coach in 100-win increments have come as follows: 9/29/84 Win 100 vs. Virginia 6-1 in Chapel Hill, N.C. 9/2/89 Win 200 vs. Hardin-Simmons 9-1 in Dallas, Texas 9/26/93 Win 300 vs. St. Mary's (Calif.) 7-1 in Moraga, Calif. 10/3/97 Win 400 vs. Alabama 6-0 in Durham, N.C. 10/18/01 Win 500 vs. Clemson 3-0 in Chapel Hill, N.C.

CAROLINA IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
North Carolina is playing in the NCAA Women's Soccer Tournament for the 24th successive year. The only other school to make the tournament field in every season since the championship was initiated in 1982 is Connecticut. North Carolina has won 17 of the 23 NCAA titles ever decided. UNC's titles came in 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000 and 2003. Other champions included Notre Dame in 1995 and 2004, George Mason in 1985, Florida in 1998, Santa Clara in 2001 and Portland in 2002. In addition to the 17 NCAA titles, the Tar Heels also won the national championship in 1981 when the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) crowned Carolina as its champion. The AIAW sponsored national tournaments for women's sports from the early 1970s through 1982. The soccer tournament in 1981 was ironically the only one the AIAW ever sponsored in the sport.

CAROLINA'S NCAA LEDGER
North Carolina's all-time NCAA Tournament record is 83-6. That record includes a 20-2 record in NCAA semifinal matches and a 17-3 ledger in NCAA championship games. UNC has made the final four of the tournament 22 times. The next closest team is Santa Clara with 10 final four appearances. Carolina has 37 of their 83 NCAA wins in the semifinals or finals of the tournament. The next highest total of any school in semifinal and final games is seven by Notre Dame. Caroiina is 5-1 in overtime games in NCAA Tournament play.

UNC's AVERAGE RECORD PER YEAR
With a 599-27-17 record in 27 years as a program, the Tar Heels have averaged a record of 22.19 victories, 1.0 losses and 0.63 ties per season.

CAROLINA IS NATION'S ONLY TEAM WITH 20 WINS
North Carolina enters the 2005 NCAA Tournament as the only school in the country this year with 20 victories. The Tar Heels are 20-1. Penn State (19-0-1) and Notre Dame (19-2) and both have 19 wins and Portland (18-0-1), UTEP (18-3-1) and Western Carolina (18-5) enter the tournament with the next highest total of victories.

VERSUS THE TOURNAMENT FIELD
North Carolina has played 12 of its 21 regular season and ACC Tournament games against teams which qualified for the NCAA Tournament. The Tar Heels were 11-1 in those matches.

NORTH CAROLINA CAPTURES 16TH ACC TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONSHIP
The University of North Carolina women's soccer team completed its quest for its 16th Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament championship in the 18 years of tournament competition on November 6 when the Tar Heels defeated seventh-ranked Virginia 4-1 in the title game at SAS Soccer Park in Cary, N.C. The Tar Heels earned the No. 1 seed in the Atlantic Coast Conference Women's Soccer Tournament for the fifth successive year in 2005. The Tar Heels opened play November 2 by beating No. 8 seed Maryland 3-1 in the ACC quarterfinals. On November 4, UNC defeated No. 4 seed Duke 2-1, avenging Carolina's only loss in the regular season. Duke had beaten the Tar Heels 2-1 on October 9 in Chapel Hill. Carolina finished off its championship run with the 4-1 victory over Virginia. Against Maryland, the Tar Heels scored three goals in the opening 9:58 of play and then made extensive use of their bench the rest of the way en route to the victory. With the win, UNC remained undefeated against Maryland all-time, improving its series lead to 27-0-1. Against Duke, the Tar Heels got a first-half goal from Jaime Gilbert and one in the second half from Kacey White to prevail 2-1. UNC had a 17-2 shot advantage against the Devils while taking eight corner kicks to zero for Duke. In the championship match against Virginia, UNC sped to a 2-0 lead by the 27th minute after goals by Elizabeth Guess and Lindsay Tarpley on headers off set pieces. After Virginia cut the Carolina lead to 2-1 in the 43rd minute of play, the Tar Heels broke the match open in the second half on a second goal by Guess and a breakaway goal from Heather O'Reilly. The Tar Heel defense did not allow the Cavaliers to take either a shot or a corner kick in the second half of the game.

ACC TOURNAMENT HONORS
Carolina had five players named to the All-Tournament Team at the 2005 ACC Championship. Senior midfielder Kacey White was named the tournament MVP after scoring a goal and adding four assists in the tournament. Joining White on the All-Tournament team were forwards Lindsay Tarpley, Elizabeth Guess and Heather O'Reilly and midfielder Jaime Gilbert.