No. 2 Carolina women’s soccer is back at Dorrance Field on Friday night for a heavyweight ACC meeting with No. 7 Stanford.
The Tar Heels and Cardinal are scheduled to open at 6 p.m. from Dorrance Field at Play2Dream Legacy Stadium, with the match streamed on ACC Network. It’s the first time Stanford has come to Chapel Hill in five seasons, and the last time these teams played there, Carolina walked away with a 2-1 overtime win. UNC also owns the edge in the series, holding a 10-4-3 record against the Cardinal with two home victories.
Carolina enters the showdown sitting atop the ACC standings with five conference wins and 15 points in league play. The Tar Heels have paired that strong league start with some serious firepower, leading the ACC with 45 total goals and a 3.21 goals per game average. Their latest conference result was a 1-0 win over Clemson, giving Carolina its fifth ACC victory of the season.
The numbers on both ends of the field have been eye-catching. Bella Devey leads the team and the conference with 15 total goals, and she ranks second in the NCAA in scoring. Carolina has also kept things tight defensively, allowing just 0.79 goals per game on average while outscoring opponents 45-11 overall.
Friday’s matchup will be the fourth top 20 game played at Dorrance Field this season. Carolina has gone 2-1 against ranked teams at home and carries a 7-1 record on its own pitch, with five of those wins coming by shutout. At Dorrance Field, the Tar Heels have outscored opponents 35-6.
Bella Devey has been at the center of the attack all season long. She’s earned ACC Offensive Player of the Week honors three times, was named to the Preseason All-ACC Team, and also appeared on the MAC Hermann Mid-Season Watch List alongside Summer Denigan.
Lilliah Blum, meanwhile, has added another layer to the offense after scoring her first career brace against Duke. She now has five goals on the year and was named ACC Offensive Player of the Week and TopDrawerSoccer Team of the Week on Sept.
Blum and Amari Manning lead the Tar Heels with five assists apiece. Peyton Trayer has handled the goalkeeping load with nine wins and 14 saves, and she has recorded seven shutouts this season.
Carolina has also earned plenty of recognition in the rankings. The Tar Heels checked in at No. 2 in the latest United Soccer Coaches Poll.
Four players landed in the Midseason TopDrawerSoccer Top 100 Rankings: Bella Devey at No. 2, Lilliah Blum at No.
19, Summer Denigan at No. 29 and Ashley Pennie at No. 32.
Three freshmen also made the Midseason TopDrawerSoccer Top 100 Freshmen Rankings, with Cali O'Neill at No. 1, Amari Manning at No. 22 and Scottie Antonucci at No.
O'Neill picked up her first career weekly honor on Oct. 6 after being named ACC Defensive Player of the Week. Three Tar Heels were also selected to the Preseason TopDrawerSoccer Best XI Teams, with Summer Denigan on the First Team, Izzi Stratton on the Third Team and O'Neill on the Freshman Team. Carolina was picked fifth in the ACC Preseason Poll.
On the international front, Aven Alvarez, Hope Munson and Sealey Strawn were named to the U-20 WNT roster for the 2026 U-20 FIFA Women's World Cup, and the trio helped the national team reach the round of 16 at the tournament.
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Penn State is one of the speculative opponents that has surfaced, which would be the kind of matchup North Carolina would notice immediately given the profile of the game and the attention it would bring. Nothing is official yet, and the final destination will still depend on how the Tar Heels finish and how the bowl selections shake out, but the possibility alone gives the stretch run a little extra weight. [Read more 🡒]
UNC May Need To Survive Syracuse Shorthanded Again
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UNC Heads Into Syracuse With A Backfield Concern And A Bigger Test
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The bigger concern now is the backfield, where Benjamin Halls status remains uncertain because of injury. If Hall cannot go, Jaylen McGill and Demon June are expected to split the load, leaving UNC to sort out its ground game against a Syracuse team that will provide a very different kind of test than the one it just passed in Durham. [Read more 🡒]