UNC men, women lead soccer standings
Don’t look now, but there’s a familiar team atop the ACC soccer standings and among the nation’s remaining unbeaten squads.
It’s North Carolina, whose Tar Heels head both the men’s and women’s tables in the ACC with perfect 3-0 ledgers in conference play.
The UNC men (7-0-1), the consensus No. 2 team in the nation’s polls for the second straight week, are one of only seven unbeatens nationwide and will visit Pittsburgh (4-3-1, 0-3) on Friday. The only men’s team with a perfect record is No. 1 Creighton (9-0), led by former UNC coach Elmar Bolowich.
The other men’s unbeatens are No. 4 Coastal Carolina (6-0-1), No. 8 Denver (8-0-1), No. 22 St. Francis, N.Y. (7-0-2), and unranked New Hampshire (6-0-2) and Butler (5-0-3).
The UNC women (10-0-1), who host Boston College (8-3-1, 2-1) at 7 p.m. Friday, took over the No. 1 national ranking this week after Virginia’s double-overtime loss to Notre Dame tumbled the Cavaliers from the unbeaten ranks. The only other unbeaten women’s team is unranked Cornell (8-0-2). For the record, UNC shares first place in the ACC with surprising Pittsburgh (9-1-1, 3-0).
There are some similarities on paper between the UNC teams. Both nominally employ a 3-4-3 alignment. Men’s coach Carlos Somoano and women’s coach Anson Dorrance had to rebuild their back lines this season around a key senior, All-American defender Jonathan Campbell and converted forward Paige Nielsen.
Then there was the matter of offense.
Somoano had to restock his entire front line, after 39 of last year’s 52 goals were lost to either graduation or season-ending injury. He’s gotten scoring from some previously untapped sources. Junior forward Tucker Hume, who redshirted last year, has come off the bench in a supersub role to supply four goals and one assist. Sophomore forward Alan Winn is just one assist shy of matching his scoring total of last season with three goals and three assists already.
The UNC women, whose 31 goals in 2014 represented their lowest output in program history (eclipsing the old mark of 44 in 2011), have already scored 32 this season. Leading the way with six goals apiece are resurgent senior Summer Green, healthy sixth-year senior Alexa Newfield, and sophomore Jessie Scarpa, who was a starting defender last season and essentially traded positions in the offseason with Nielsen.
Familiar faces: When the Duke men (4-3-2, 0-2-1) host Syracuse (6-2-1, 1-1-1) at 7 p.m. Friday in Koskinen Stadium, Tyler Hilliard won’t need any introductions.
The 6-foot Blue Devils center back from Atlanta played three years for the Orange and was a full-time starter a year ago. He transferred to Duke for grad school and his final season of eligibility.
Hilliard has started every match in Duke’s back line, which lost two starters to graduation. He owns a goal and an assist, and his height has provided another target up front on setpieces.
Duke’s new defender has kept up with his former teammates. He even watched them play recently.
“I actually went down to Wake Forest to see them play two weeks ago,” he said, recounting the Orange’s 3-1 loss to the Deacons. “It was a very weird feeling, seeing them out on the field after playing with them for three years.
“They’re playing the same formation I played in last year, a 3-5-2,” Hilliard added. “There are a few components that are different. The three defenders are all new. They weren’t in the starting lineup last year.”
For his part, Hilliard said he has been looking forward to this date with the Orange.
“I think everyone will be fired up,” he said of the Blue Devils, who lost twice to Syracuse a year ago, including a season-ending loss in the ACC tournament. “There’s no bad blood between me and them. From our perspective we’ll be looking for a win. ACC games are very important to our success.
“But it’s hard to wrap my head around playing against a bunch of players I know, and coaches who shaped who I am now.”
Rieder honored: There was a notable absence in the press box last Saturday night during Duke’s 2-1 loss at UNC. Duke Associate Sports Information Director Meredith Rieder, who handles the media for Duke men’s soccer, missed the game because she was being inducted into Denison University’s Athletics Hall of Fame over the weekend.
Rieder, a four-time all-conference first teamer (1998-2001), was the defensive player of the year in the North Coast Athletic Conference and an All-American as a senior at the central Ohio school. She also was named to the NCAC All-Decade Team (1993-2002). Denison compiled an .818 winning percentage and made the NCAA Division III tournament four times during her playing days.
She was one of six honorees during Big Red Weekend, joining a hall of fame that has enshrined 212 over the years.
Game of the week: The N.C. State men (6-2-1, 1-1-1) host No. 7 Notre Dame (7-2-1, 2-1-0) at 1 p.m. Sunday. In the women’s ranks No. 22 Duke entertains No. 9 Virginia Tech in a key ACC showdown at 2 p.m. Sunday.
This story was originally published September 30, 2015 at 1:54 PM with the headline "UNC men, women lead soccer standings."