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NCAA women Brooks, White each score twice, send Ta Heels past Florida State 4-1.
Despite being outshot by a 14-13 margin, UNC (9-0) scored three times in a span of less than three minutes late in the first half and eventually led by four goals before junior forward India Trotter finally put the Seminoles (7-1) on the board with 14:25 remaining in the ACC opener for both schools. "The margin tonight does not indicate the game in any way," UNC coach Anson Dorrance said. "I thought it could have easily have been a tie game. Our keeper came up big on a couple of occasions and then we scored three of our goals when our reserves were in at the end of the half. In my mind, this game was a tie and, maybe at times, Florida State had the run. It is exciting to get a result and come out of here with a 4-1 win over a team I consider one of the top teams in the country." Senior goalkeeper Aly Winget was key to the Tar Heels' victory, making seven saves, her most in a game in exactly three years. Winget made three outstanding stops in the first half before UNC exploded shortly before intermission. In the 28th minute, Winget saved a hard header by freshman midfielder Mami Yamaguchi. FSU sophomore forward Sel Kuralay, who came into the game leading the conference with nine goals, had her volley denied by Winget's sprawling save in the 31st minute and again was stopped in the 39th minute.
Brooks, who had been in the game less than three minutes, was the first Tar Heel to score when she jumped on an attempted FSU clearance in the box and found net from about eight yards, beating junior keeper Ali Mims with 40:06 elapsed. Carolina increased its advantage to 2-0 when White pounced on a rebound from about two yards out after freshman midfielder Yael Averbuch's free kick went past Mims and bounced off the post at 41:34. Brooks headed home White's corner kick from within a crowd to make it 3-0 at 42:55. Brooks' tallies were her first two of the season and gave her four for her career. "It would have been nice to go into halftime 0-0," said Seminoles junior defender Kelly Rowland. "After that first goal, sometimes when it rains it pours. Coach addressed us before the game and told us how good UNC was at scoring on second-chance balls. To their credit, they took advantage of that when we when gave them a second opportunity." "North Carolina is famous for that, they score in bunches," Krikorian said. "If you let down at all and put your head down, you are going to pay again. This game was about learning lessons. Sometimes you learn lessons in a win and sometimes they come in defeat. We will see how smart we are and be more competitive the next time we play." White converted a penalty kick for a 4-0 lead at 71:06, giving her three goals on the season. FSU narrowed its deficit to 4-1 four minutes later. Junior midfielder Viola Odebrecht and freshman defender Katrin Schmidt built the attack through the midfield and sent Trotter into the right side of the box. Trotter used her first touch to beat Winget to the far post from 16 yards out for her sixth goal of the season. |
