BYU vs. North Carolina Women's Soccer Quarterfinal Breakdown
#1 BYU vs. #2 North Carolina
BYU navigated through two tough matches against teams from power conferences in Auburn, and Marquette. A late penalty kick goal by Carlee Payne Holmoe secured victory against the Tigers. In the Sweet 16 match both defenses were rock solid and Kayla Varner hit the match winner giving BYU a 6-5 win in the penalty kick shootout. The Cougars have been very consistent all season long especially in Provo. If BYU can get off to a fast start against the Tar Heels it will be a huge boost getting them to San Diego and the College Cup. The balanced attack is led by Michele Murphy, Jessica Ringwood, Holmoe, and Jaiden Thornock. It will be interesting to see how this group responds to the constant pressure of the North Carolina defense and how the Tar Heels try to slow down the explosive Cougar attack.
North Carolina comes into the Elite Eight after getting results in two dramatically different styled games. In the second round against Illinois the Tar Heels were electric offensively en-route to a 9-2 runaway victory. The Sweet 16 match against Baylor was a tightly contested 1-1 draw after 120 minutes with North Carolina advancing in the penalty kick shootout 4-2 over the Bears. Crystal Dunn’s goal in the 82nd minute allowed the Tar Heels to get the match to overtime and eventually to penalty kicks. With the short week, the ability to get quality scoring chances and a fast start is critical for North Carolina. The travel aspect is also a challenge on a short week for teams in the quarterfinal round. The ability to defend well for North Carolina is going to be very important if they can’t get Kealia Ohai and Crystal Dunn an early goal for momentum purposes. This has the overall feel of being a very epic match in front of a raucous environment in Provo on Friday night.
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