2021 North Carolina Tar Heels women's soccer team
American college soccer season
The 2021 North Carolina Tar Heels women's soccer team represented the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill during the 2021 NCAA Division I women's soccer season . It was the 45th season of the university fielding a program. The Tar Heels were led by 45th year head coach Anson Dorrance and played their home games at Dorrance Field in Chapel Hill, North Carolina .
They finished the season 12–3–3, 5–2–3 in ACC play to finish in a tie for sixth place. Only six teams qualified for the ACC Tournament and the Tar Heels lost the tiebreaker to Wake Forest and did not qualify for the tournament. This was the first time in program history that North Carolina missed out on the ACC Tournament.[ 1] They received an at-large bid to the 2021 NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Tournament where they lost to South Carolina in the First Round. Their First Round exit was the earliest exit of any NCAA Tournament they had participated in.
Previous season
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic , the ACC played a reduced schedule in 2020 and the NCAA Tournament was postponed to 2021.[ 2] [ 3] The ACC did not play a spring league schedule, but did allow teams to play non-conference games that would count toward their 2020 record in the lead up to the NCAA Tournament.[ 4]
The Tar Heels finished the fall season 11–1–0, 8–0–0 in ACC play to finish in first place. As the second seed in the ACC Tournament , they defeated Virginia Tech , and Virginia , before losing to Florida State in the final. The Tar Heels finished the spring season 4–0 and received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament . As the second seed in the tournament, they defeated Denver in the Second Round, Washington in the Third Round, and Texas A&M in the Quarterfinals before losing to Santa Clara in the Semifinals to end their season.
Squad
Roster
As of September 8, 2021 [ 5]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Team management
Source:[ 5]
Schedule
Source:[ 6]
Date Time, TV
Rank#
Opponent#
Result
Record
Site (Attendance) City, State
Exhibition
August 9 5:00 p.m.
No. 3
UNCW
W 3–1
–
Dorrance Field (812)Chapel Hill, NC
August 12 7:00 p.m.
No. 3
at High Point
W 6–1
–
Bryan Park Browns Summit, NC
Non-conference Regular season
August 19 7:00 p.m., ACCNX
No. 3
No. 19 Washington
W 4–1
1–0–0
Dorrance Field (2,186) Chapel Hill, NC
August 22 1:00 p.m., ACCN
No. 3
No. 13 Arkansas
W 1–0
2–0–0
Dorrance Field (1,532) Chapel Hill, NC
August 26 9:00 p.m., BTN
No. 2
at Illinois
W 5–1
3–0–0
Demirjian Park (833)Urbana-Champaign, IL
August 29 1:30 p.m., BTN
No. 2
at Ohio State
W 2–0
4–0–0
Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium (1,320)Columbus, OH
September 2 7:00 p.m., ACCNX
No. 2
Northwestern
W 2–0
5–0–0
Dorrance Field (1,734) Chapel Hill, NC
September 5 1:00 p.m., ACCNX
No. 2
No. 10 Stanford
W 2–1 OT
6–0–0
Dorrance Field (2,756) Chapel Hill, NC
September 9 7:00 p.m., SECN+
No. 2
at Florida
W 7–1
7–0–0
James G. Pressly Stadium (493)Gainesville, FL
September 12 1:00 p.m., ESPN+
No. 2
at No. 17 UCF
Canceled due to weather
UCF Soccer and Track Stadium Orlando, FL
ACC Regular Season
September 17 7:00 p.m., ACCNX
No. 2
No. 4 Duke Rivalry
L 0–1
7–1–0 (0–1–0)
Dorrance Field (5,301) Chapel Hill, NC
September 23 7:00 p.m., ACCNX
No. 4
Virginia Tech
T 2–2 2OT
7–1–1 (0–1–1)
Dorrance Field (2,157) Chapel Hill, NC
September 26 1:00 p.m., ACCNX
No. 4
No. 22 Clemson
W 3–0
8–1–1 (1–1–1)
Dorrance Field (1,885) Chapel Hill, NC
October 3 1:00 p.m., ACCN
No. 5
No. 2 Virginia
T 0–0 2OT
8–1–2 (1–1–2)
Dorrance Field (2,222) Chapel Hill, NC
October 7 7:00 p.m., ACCNX
No. 5
at Pittsburgh
W 1–0
9–1–2 (2–1–2)
Ambrose Urbanic Field (1,531)Pittsburgh, PA
October 10 1:00 p.m., ACCN
No. 5
at Boston College
W 2–1 OT
10–1–2 (3–1–2)
Newton Campus Soccer Field (853)Chestnut Hill, MA
October 16 7:00 p.m., ACCNX
No. 3
at NC State Rivalry
L 0–1
10–2–2 (3–2–2)
Dail Soccer Field (1,234)Raleigh, NC
October 21 8:00 p.m., ACCN
No. 7
No. 1 Florida State
T 2–2 2OT
10–2–3 (3–2–3)
Dorrance Field (1,447) Chapel Hill, NC
October 24 1:00 p.m., ACCNX
No. 7
No. 15 Notre Dame
W 1–2 2OT
11–2–3 (4–2–3)
Dorrance Field (2,248) Chapel Hill, NC
October 28 7:00 p.m., ACCNX
No. 7
at Miami (FL)
W 4–0
12–2–3 (5–2–3)
Cobb Stadium (706)Coral Gables, FL
NCAA Tournament
November 13 2:00 p.m., ACCNX
(2) No. 10
South Carolina First Round
L 0–1
12–3–3
Dorrance Field (2,390) Chapel Hill, NC
*Non-conference game. # Rankings from United Soccer Coaches . (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern .
Awards and honors
Rankings
Ranking movementsLegend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking ( ) = First-place votes Week Poll Pre 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Final United Soccer [ 12] 3 (3 ) 2 (4 ) 2 (1 ) 2 (2 ) 2 (1 ) 4 5 5 3 7 7 7 10 Not released 14 TopDrawer Soccer[ 13] 4 4 3 3 2 4 4 4 3 6 5 4 4 14 16 16 17
2022 NWSL Draft
Source:[ 14]
References
^ "UNC women's soccer team moves to postseason despite not qualifying for ACC playoffs" . dailytarheel.com . The Daily Tar Heel. November 3, 2021. Retrieved January 7, 2022 .
^ "ACC Women's Soccer 2020 Preview | College Soccer" . TopDrawerSoccer.com . Retrieved November 10, 2020 .
^ "NCAA Division 1 Council Approves Moving 2020 Fall Championships to Spring 2021" . SI.com . Retrieved November 10, 2020 .
^ "Atlantic Coast Conference Announces Spring Olympic Sports Schedules" . theacc.com . The Atlantic Coast Conference. January 26, 2021. Retrieved February 10, 2021 .
^ a b "2021-22 Women's Soccer Roster" . University of North Carolina Athletics. Retrieved September 8, 2021 .
^ "2021 Women's Soccer Schedule" . goheels.com . University of North Carolina. Retrieved September 8, 2021 .
^ "Florida State Tabbed 2021 ACC Women's Soccer Preseason Favorite" . theacc.com . Atlantic Coast Conference. August 12, 2021. Retrieved August 12, 2021 .
^ "2021 Women's Hermann Trophy Watch List Announced" . machermanntrophy.org . Missouri Athletic Club. August 19, 2021. Archived from the original on August 20, 2021. Retrieved August 20, 2021 .
^ "Boston College's Boama, North Carolina's Dickey Earn ACC Weekly Honors" . theacc.com . The Atlantic Coast Conference. August 31, 2021. Retrieved August 31, 2021 .
^ "ACC Announces Women's Soccer Weekly Honors" . theacc.com . The Atlantic Coast Conference. October 5, 2021. Retrieved October 6, 2021 .
^ "2021 All-ACC Women's Soccer Awards Announced" . theacc.com . The Atlantic Coast Conference. November 4, 2021. Retrieved November 5, 2021 .
^ "United Soccer Coaches Top 25 NCAA DI Women — National" . unitedsoccercoaches.org . United Soccer Coaches. December 7, 2021. Retrieved December 7, 2021 .
^ "College Soccer National Rankings" . topdrawersoccer.com . TopDrawer Soccer. December 7, 2021. Retrieved December 7, 2021 .
^ "Claudia Dickey Selected By OL Reign In NWSL Draft" . goheels.com . University of North Carolina Athletics. December 18, 2021. Retrieved December 20, 2021 .
Venues Rivalries Culture & lore Seasons College Cup finals NCAA national championships in bold