Atlantic Coast Conference play opened for the University of Miami’s women’s soccer team with two straight losses to North Carolina State (0-1) and the University of North Carolina (1-6). Miami dropped to 6-3 overall and 0-2 in the conference.
The marquee match-up last weekend came on Sunday when Miami headed to Chapel Hill for a showdown to face fourth-ranked University of North Carolina. The Tarheels dominated throughout most of the game and came away with a 6-1 victory.
The lone highlight for the Hurricanes came in the 24th minute from forward Rachael Rigamat who scored off a throughball pass from defender Corynn Carino.
“I thought we played well for the first half but we weren’t able to keep it up,” Head Coach Tricia Taliaferro said. “North Carolina is a very deep team with extremely talented players.”
Junior Jaime Gilbert scored the go-ahead goal for UNC in the 38th minute.
North Carolina dominated the second half, scoring again in the 52nd, 59th, 64th, and 75th minutes to put the game out of reach, 6-1.
The most impressive of all the goals came in the 59th minute when freshman midfielder Whitney Engen dribbled past four UM defenders and scored on a breakaway.
“Games like today are very humbling, but are very useful in terms of learning experiences,” Taliaferro said. “We just have to take another step forward in our development and push past the comfort zone.”
In the first game, Miami put up a game effort on the road, but were unable to come away with a goal against North Carolina State.
Hurricanes goalie Lauren McAdam saved four other attempts and kept the game close, but Miami was unable to muster anything offensively. The shutout marked the first time all season that Miami was held scoreless.
“The ACC is a very unforgiving conference and each detail needs to be covered mentally and physically,” Taliaferro told Hurricanesports.com. “We take responsibility for this game as players and a team and look forward to getting back on the field.”
Denis Brown may be contacted at dbrown@umsis.miami.edu