# 2020 North Carolina Tar Heels women's soccer team

The 2020 North Carolina Tar Heels women's soccer team represented the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill during the 2020 NCAA Division I women's soccer season. It was the 44th season of the university fielding a program. The Tar Heels were led by 44th year head coach Anson Dorrance.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the ACC played a reduced schedule in 2020 and the NCAA Tournament was postponed to 2021. 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.
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.

## Previous season

The Tar Heels finished the season 24–2–1, 8–0–1 in ACC play to finish in first place. As the first seed in the ACC Tournament, they defeated Notre Dame, NC State, and Virginia in order to be crowned champions. They received an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament where they defeated Belmont, Colorado, Michigan, USC, and Washington State before losing to Stanford in the Finals.

## Squad
### Roster

Updated January 26, 2021
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 0 | GK | USA | Claudia Dickey |
| 1 | FW | USA | Sam Meza |
| 2 | DF | USA | Abby Allen |
| 4 | DF | USA | Paige Tolentino |
| 5 | MF | USA | Mary Elliot McCabe |
| 6 | FW | USA | Taylor Otto |
| 7 | DF | USA | Julia Dorsey |
| 8 | MF | USA | Brianna Pinto |
| 9 | MF | USA | Rachel Dorwart |
| 10 | MF | USA | Rachel Jones |
| 11 | MF | USA | Emily Fox |
| 12 | FW | USA | Alexis Strickland |
| 13 | FW | USA | Isabel Cox |
| 14 | MF | USA | Kai Hayes |
| 15 | FW | USA | Avery Patterson |
| 16 | FW | USA | Aleigh Gambone |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 17 | GK | USA | Marz Josephson |
| 18 | MF | USA | Natalie Chandler |
| 20 | MF | USA | Libby Moore |
| 21 | MF | USA | Miah Araba |
| 22 | DF | USA | Tori Hansen |
| 24 | FW | USA | Talia DellaPeruta |
| 25 | DF | USA | Maycee Bell |
| 26 | FW | USA | Hallie Klanke |
| 28 | MF | USA | Maggie Pierce |
| 30 | DF | USA | Brooke Bingham |
| 32 | MF | USA | Madi Pry |
| 33 | MF | USA | Riley Quinlan |
| 52 | FW | USA | Izzy Brown |
| 71 | FW | USA | Mollie Baker |
| 99 | MF | USA | Laura Sparling |

### Team management

| Position | Staff |
| Athletic Director | Bubba Cunningham |
| Head Coach | Anson Dorrance |
| Assistant Coach | Chris Ducar |
| Assistant Coach | Damon Nahas |
| Assistant Coach | Heather O'Reilly |
| Director of Operations | Tom Sander |
Source:

## Schedule

Source:
| Date Time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (Attendance) City, State |
| Fall Regular season ||||||
| September 17, 2020 5:30 p.m., ACCNX | | Wake Forest | W 4–1 | 1–0–0 (1–0–0) | Dorrance Field (0) Chapel Hill, NC |
| September 20, 2020 11:00 a.m., ACCN | | Virginia Tech | W 1–0 | 2–0–0 (2–0–0) | Dorrance Field (0) Chapel Hill, NC |
| September 27, 2020 3:30 p.m., ACCN | No. 1 | at No. 7 Duke | W 2–0 | 3–0–0 (3–0–0) | Koskinen Stadium (0) Durham, NC |
| October 1, 2020 4:00 p.m., ACCRSN | No. 1 | No. 3 Clemson | W 2–0 | 4–0–0 (4–0–0) | Dorrance Field (0) Chapel Hill, NC |
| October 15, 2020 7:00 p.m., ACCNX | No. 1 | at Syracuse | W 2–0 | 5–0–0 (5–0–0) | Dorrance Field (1) Chapel Hill, NC |
| October 18, 2020 1:00 p.m. | No. 1 | at Boston College | W 3–1 | 6–0–0 (6–0–0) | Newton Campus Soccer Field (0) Chestnut Hill, MA |
| October 23, 2020* 7:00 p.m., ACCNX | No. 1 | No. 4 Duke | W 1–0 | 7–0–0 (6–0–0) | Dorrance Field (0) Chapel Hill, NC |
| October 29, 2020 8:00 p.m., ACCN | No. 1 | at Louisville | W 3–1 | 8–0–0 (7–0–0) | Lynn Stadium (112) Louisville, KY |
| November 1, 2020 5:30 p.m., ACCN | No. 1 | No. 13 Notre Dame | W 2–0 | 9–0–0 (8–0–0) | Dorrance Field (0) Chapel Hill, NC |
| ACC Tournament ||||||
| November 10, 2020 5:30 p.m., ACCN | (2) No. 1 | vs. (7) Virginia Tech Quarterfinals | W 1–0 | 10–0–0 | Sahlen's Stadium (217) Cary, NC |
| November 13, 2020 8:00 p.m., ACCN | (2) No. 1 | vs. (3) No. 9 Virginia Semifinals | W 2–0 | 11–0–0 | Sahlen's Stadium (307) Cary, NC |
| November 15, 2020 Noon, ESPNU | (2) No. 1 | vs. (1) No. 2 Florida State Finals | L 2–3 | 11–1–0 | Sahlen's Stadium (320) Cary, NC |
| Spring Exhibition ||||||
| March 6, 2021 Noon | No. 2 | at North Carolina Courage | L 1–2 | – | Sahlen's Stadium (0) Cary, NC |
| Spring Season ||||||
| March 13, 2021 5:30 p.m., SECN+ | No. 2 | at Tennessee | Postponed | | Regal Stadium Knoxville, TN |
| March 20, 2021 1:00 p.m., FLO FC | No. 2 | at Delaware | W 5–0 | 12–1–0 | Grant Stadium (130) Newark, DE |
| March 27, 2021 6:30 p.m., SECN+ | No. 2 | at Tennessee | W 7–0 | 13–1–0 | Regal Stadium (382) Knoxville, TN |
| April 1, 2021 1:00 p.m. | No. 2 | at Villanova | W 1–0 | 14–1–0 | Higgins Soccer Complex (43) Villanova, PA |
| April 13, 2021 7:00 p.m., ACCNX | No. 2 | Columbus State | W 6–0 | 15–1–0 | Dorrance Field (560) Chapel Hill, NC |
| April 17, 2021 1:00 p.m., ACCNX | No. 2 | No. 16 South Carolina | Exhibition | – | Dorrance Field Chapel Hill, NC |
| NCAA Tournament ||||||
| April 30, 2021 3:00 p.m., Youtube | (2) No. 2 | vs. Denver Second Round | W 2–0 | 16–1–0 | Sportsplex at Matthews (327) Matthews, NC |
| May 5, 2021 3:00 p.m., NCAA Livestream | (2) No. 2 | vs. No. 21 Washington Third Round | W 1–0 | 17–1–0 | WakeMed Soccer Park (150) Cary, NC |
| May 9, 2021 1:00 p.m., NCAA Livestream | (2) No. 2 | vs. (7) No. 11 Texas A&M Quarterfinals | W 1–0 | 18–1–0 | WakeMed Soccer Park (164) Cary, NC |
| May 13, 2021 8:30 p.m., ESPN2 | (2) No. 2 | vs. (11) No. 10 Santa Clara Semifinals | L 1–3 | 18–2–0 | WakeMed Soccer Park (2,166) Cary, NC |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from United Soccer Coaches. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. ||||||

## 2021 NWSL College Draft

| Player | Team | Round | Pick # | Position |
| Emily Fox | Racing Louisville | 1 | 1 | DF |
| Brianna Pinto | Sky Blue | 1 | 3 | MF |
| Taylor Otto | Racing Louisville | 2 | 11 | MF |
Source:

## Rankings
### Fall 2020

Ranking movement Legend: ██ Improvement in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking. ██ Not ranked the previous week. RV=Others receiving votes. :
| Poll | Wk 1 | Wk 2 | Wk 3 | Wk 4 | Wk 5 | Wk 6 | Wk 7 | Wk 8 | Wk 9 | Final |
| United Soccer | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |

### Spring 2021

Ranking movement Legend: ██ Improvement in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking. ██ Not ranked the previous week. RV=Others receiving votes. :
| Poll | Pre | Wk 1 | Wk 2 | Wk 3 | Wk 4 | Wk 5 | Wk 6 | Wk 7 | Wk 8 | Wk 9 | Wk 10 | Wk 11 | Wk 12 | Wk 13 | Final |
| United Soccer | None Released | None Released | None Released | None Released | 2 (1) | 2 (2) | 2 | 2 (1) | 2 (1) | 2 | 2 | 2 (2) | None Released | None Released | 3 (1) |
| TopDrawer Soccer | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 |