No. 1 North Carolina needed patience Friday night, then got the one moment it had been hunting all evening.
Bella Devey broke through in the 70th minute, finishing off a long ball from Izzi Stratton to lift the Tar Heels past No. 7 Stanford, 1-0, in Chapel Hill. The win gave Carolina its second top 10 victory of the season and pushed the Tar Heels to a shutout in a matchup that never offered much room to breathe.
The opening half was tight from the start. Carolina pressed for chances and earned three corner kicks early, but Stanford held firm and kept the game scoreless. By halftime, the Tar Heels had put up seven shots to the Cardinal’s two, yet neither side had found a way through.
Stanford came out sharper after the break and tried to tilt the match its way. The Cardinal generated five shots and a corner kick in the first 10 minutes of the second half, but Carolina goalkeeper Peyton Trayer shut the door, turning away three of those attempts.
Then came the decisive sequence. Stratton sent a long ball over the top to Devey, and the sophomore made it count with her 16th goal of the season. That strike put UNC ahead 1-0 with 20 minutes left, and the Tar Heels did the rest from there.
Trayer and the Carolina back line held Stanford off the board the rest of the way. Trayer finished with a career-high seven saves, and the Tar Heels earned their ninth shutout of the season, including three in ACC play.
In Other News...
UNC Landed A Guard Whose Road To Chapel Hill Suddenly Changed
Kevin Thomas path to Chapel Hill took a sharp turn after he first picked LSU, then asked for a release when the Tigers moved on from Matt McMahon and brought in Will Wade. The four-star guard eventually landed at North Carolina, where Michael Malones staff added a prospect whose recruitment changed as fast as the coaching carousel did, and where a familiar face in former high school teammate Matt Able helped make the transition feel a little less new.
Thomas already got his first taste of the college game in an exhibition for UNC, logging four minutes and making his presence felt on the defensive end. It was a small opening night sample, but for a player whose road to campus shifted so suddenly, even a brief debut offered a first glimpse of how he might fit into the Tar Heels backcourt picture. [Read more 🡒]
UNCs NC State Rivalry Just Lost The Coach Heels Fans Hated
Dave Doerens run at NC State is over, ending a 14-year tenure that made him the winningest coach in Wolfpack history and one of the most familiar figures in the Tar Heels biggest in-state rivalry. His teams went 98-74, and for UNC fans the part that will linger most is the 9-4 mark against the Heels, a streak of success that helped define the matchup for more than a decade.
NC State made the move after a loss to Stanford left the Wolfpack at 3-4 overall and 1-3 in ACC play, and running backs coach Todd Goebbel will take over as interim head coach. The university now begins a national search for Doerens replacement, resetting a rivalry that has had the same face across the field for so long. [Read more 🡒]
Drake Edwards Jr. Has A Big Chance To Seize Control Vs Syracuse
North Carolina heads into Week 8 with a chance to keep building on the kind of progress that showed up in the last game, and Drake Edwards Jr. sits at the center of it. The quarterback looked better in his previous outing, and with the Tar Heels getting ready for Syracuse, there is a clear opportunity for him to tighten his grip on the offense while the staff leans into what is working.
McGill is expected to see a larger workload, which should help balance the attack and give Edwards Jr. some support in a game that could hinge on rhythm and efficiency. Shipp has also emerged as the primary target in the passing game, giving the Tar Heels a dependable connection if Edwards Jr. can keep trending in the right direction and build on the improvement he showed a week ago. [Read more 🡒]