This will be the first clash of the season between the Tar Heels and Fighting Irish.
The Tar Heels advanced to the quarterfinals a week ago with a 3-2 win over the No. 6 seed BYU behind two goals from the freshman Maddie dahlias and three assists from Junior Avery Patterson. Junior Talia Dellaperuta scored the first goal of the game in the 13th minute, their second straight game by a goal. Notre Dame advanced to the Round of 16 on Sunday with a 2-0 win over TCU.
The Tar Heels played a quarterfinal game away from home for the first time since 2012 when they defeated No. 1-seeded BYU 2-1 in double overtime in Provo. Each of their last five quarterfinal games have been at either Cary or Chapel Hill.
Beginning with the 2005 tournament, the bracket was set up in quadrants, with each quadrant having its own #1-4 seeds, with seeds 5-8 being added in 2022. UNC was 2012, ’14, ’16, a number 2nd and ’21. The Heels rose to No. 2 in the College Cup in 2012 and 16 and won the 2012 national championship. The Tar Heels are 17-4-1 as the No. 2 seeding quadrant.
Since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 2001, Carolina has had an 11-2 record since 1982 in NCAA quarterfinal games and a 30-2 aggregate record in the round of 16.
THE SERIES
• UNC leads all-time series with Notre Dame, 22-7-3. The Irish are one of only three schools with more than four wins against the Tar Heels (Florida State 11, Santa Clara 6).
• Saturday’s game is the 11th postseason game between Carolina and the Fighting Irish. UNC is 7-3 against Notre Dame in the NCAA tournament. Strangely, UNC is 0-3 against the Irish at Chapel Hill but 7-0 in games on the neutral side.
• This is the only third postseason encounter between the Tar Heels and Fighting Irish before the College Cup (Domestic Semifinals/Finals). AND recorded third-round wins against UNC in 2007 and 2010.
The last time we met
Avery Patterson headed home the winning goal 40 seconds into the second overtime to give North Carolina a 2-1 win over Notre Dame, the head coach’s 900th win Anson Dorrance and the Tar Heel women’s soccer program at UNC’s 2021 regular season home finals. Patterson took a cross off the right wing Emily Moxley and hit the ball from the six-yard line. Moxley almost won it herself when she played a seven-second cross to play the rule that Notre Dame goalkeeper Ashley Naylor stopped with a diving save.
The Irish scored first 31-05 to play in regulation but the Tar Heels tied the score at 1-1 12-01 to play when Mollie found Baker Emily Colton with a cross and Colton scored from three yards.
FOOTNOTES
• Carolina is 5-3-1 against United Soccer Coaches ranked opponents (at time of game), including away wins against No. 3 Duke and No. 5 Florida State.
• The Tar Heels recorded a pre-championship record of 8-4-1 against teams in the 2022 NCAA tournament field this season.
• North Carolina had five wins against RPI Top 25 teams in the regular season, tied with Alabama and Florida State for the most among NCAA Division I teams.
• The Tar Heels’ eight wins against RPI Top 50 teams is the second-highest in the country behind Alabama’s 13.
• Carolina’s seven away wins rank fifth in NCAA Division I behind Saint Louis (9), Alabama (8), Dayton (8) and UCLA (8).
• Avery Pattersons Five assists in the NCAA tournament is the most for any player in this year’s 64-team field. Ally Sennors Four goals this year is the third most in the tournament behind Jessica De Flippo (6) of Arkansas (6) and Jasmine Aikey of Stanford (5).
• Sentnor has four goals in three NCAA tournament games after scoring five goals in 19 regular season games. She is second on the team with nine goals.
• The Tar Heels have had braces in every NCAA tournament game. Ally Sennor scored two goals against Old Dominion and Georgia before Maddie Dahlien scored two goals against BYU.
• Dahlias scored one goal in the regular season and three in the postseason.
• Patterson has a point in each of their last four games and five of their last seven games. She scored against Miami, Florida State and Old Dominion with assists against BYU, Georgia and Old Dominion. UNC is 12-2 this season as they record a point.