No. 1 Carolina women’s soccer is back in Chapel Hill on Friday night for another heavyweight ACC test, this time against No.
12 Notre Dame. The Tar Heels and Fighting Irish are set for a 6 p.m. kickoff at Dorrance Field at Play2Dream Legacy Stadium, with the match available on ACC Network.
It’s the third top-15 game to land at Dorrance Field this season.
Carolina comes in rolling. The Tar Heels have won seven straight and spent a second consecutive week atop the NCAA rankings. They also sit alone at the top of the ACC standings at 3-0, with two of those wins coming against ranked opponents.
The big reason for that fast conference start has been sophomore forward Bella Devey. She leads the team with 12 goals, which puts her third in the NCAA and second in the ACC.
Devey added to that total with her third brace of the season against No. 16 Virginia, a performance that earned her a second ACC Offensive Player of the Week honor this year.
Friday’s meeting will be the 36th in the history of the series, and Carolina holds the edge at 23-8-4. Notre Dame last played in Chapel Hill in 2023, when the teams finished in a 1-1 draw. The Fighting Irish are also the third ranked opponent Carolina has faced in ACC play.
The Tar Heels have been piling up numbers all over the field. They lead the ACC with 39 goals and 102 total points, and they’ve outscored opponents 36-6 overall. At home, Carolina is 6-1 and has turned Dorrance Field into a tough place to visit, with five of those wins coming by shutout and a 31-5 scoring edge on its own turf.
Devey isn’t the only name driving the Tar Heels’ surge. Summer Denigan and Bella Devey were both placed on the MAC Hermann Mid-Season Watch List.
Denigan and Amari Manning lead the team with four assists apiece. Lilliah Blum picked up her first career brace against Duke and now has four goals this season.
She was named ACC Offensive Player of the Week and TopDrawerSoccer Team of the Week on Sept. 22.
In goal, Peyton Trayer has given Carolina steady production, leading the team with nine wins and 13 saves while collecting seven shutouts.
The preseason buzz around this team has only grown louder. Carolina was ranked No. 1 in the latest United Soccer Coaches Poll, giving the program a No. 1 ranking in 38 seasons.
Five Tar Heels appeared in the preseason TopDrawerSoccer Top 100: Summer Denigan at No. 4, Izzi Stratton at No.
24, Bella Gaetino at No. 35, Bella Devey at No. 68 and Hope Munson at No.
- Three were also named to TopDrawerSoccer’s preseason Best XI teams, with Denigan on the First Team, Stratton on the Third Team and Cali O'Neill on the Freshman Team.
Denigan and Stratton also made the MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List, while Carolina was picked fifth in the ACC Preseason Poll.
There’s also a strong national-team thread running through the roster. 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 United States advance to the round of 16.
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Williams arrives with a long rsum that should make him an intriguing addition anywhere, including more than 20 years of professional playing experience and 13 years in college coaching. His recent stops include Denver and Old Dominion, and Rice has made no secret of his excitement about adding a former teammate to the staff, a reunion UNC fans will naturally keep an eye on even from a distance. [Read more 🡒]