Still Playing Like a Girl- One Year Later

With the plethora of topics about which one can post, I find it necessary to return to  a subject of almost exactly one year ago. But it isn’t my fault. The blame lies with  the soccer team ( women’s) of the University of North Carolina. About this time last year they won their 19th national  championship ( out of 27)  by defeating a previously undefeated team in the finals.

Fast  forward ( no pun intended) to 2009 in chilly College Station, Tx. Th opponent is undefeated  Stanford in the finals. Doggone it, history managed to repeat itself and the Lady Tar Heels won it all, with a 1-0 victory achieved by a  Jennifer McDonald goal.  So again we salute the  team and program for its 20th championship. Seniors Tobin Heath, Whitney Engen, Casey Nogueira,Ashlyn Harris, Caroline Boneparth, Kristi Eveland,  Sterling Smith and Ashley Moore who have been a part of 3 titles in 4 years.  Now, if the men’s team can beat Akron, who knows , we may have twin titles.

Playing Like A Girl

Winning Tar Heel Soccer Players

The above picture expands a bit on my title and indicates that it is definitely a compliment of the highest order . It might have been Coach Smith who said that he coached at a soccer school . While that was a bit overstated , kudos are in order for the Tar Heel  women who won their 19th NCAA soccer championship in the 27 year history of the event . For the first , the Heels were slight underdogs against both UCLA and Notre Dame and yet emerged with 2 close wins .

Casey Nogueira was MVP of the championships , scoring twice against the Fighting Irish . Interesting tidbit , her expressed  goal before attending Carolina was to win an NCAA championship, she and her teammates won 2 .

Another UNC stalwart was Yael Auerbach, senior leader who played  107 games in her college career . She was also on the all tournament team along with Brittani Bartok, Whitney Engen , and Tobin Heath .

Hearty congratulations to the entire squad along with Coach Dorrance and the entire staff. Dont forget to buy a celebratory t-shirt .

Suppose these folks can be remembered a bit along with a few names from previous years like Mia Hamm , Kristine Lily, Heather O’Reilly , Tisha Venturini and Cindy Parlow ? Shucks , just get the media guide .