UNC Women's Soccer 2026-2027

Another fine showing by our student athletes

UNCH said:

Looks like Scottie is injured, three starters are not here to play against ACC school.

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This is what me and some other posters were saying. She is hurt because of the physicality that she is receiving from the other teams and the unnecessary fouling that are doing when she is playing.

Damon and the coaching staff did an excellent job of playing his bench today. Stratton makes so many smart plays that she will need to start now on the defensive end; even when the three players come back from the U-20 team. Damon will need to continue to play Rich, Bradley, and Martinez moving forward to continue their development of playing college soccer, even when the other players come back. I love the way he was able to rest Blum, Greene, and Devey. It looks like Scottie will be out for another game or two. I would rest her for the next game and if she is ready for the next game before we play Duke, I will play her some, but I would definitely hold her out as long as he can before we play Duke. Great win, great coaching, and Go Heels!

At halftime we had one shot on goal, and two goals. That's efficient.

The defensive shape (4 back) looked very good last night, but I think the offense was really missing Scottie as it all kinda went to crap multiple times in the final third. I couldn't really tell what was supposed to be happening as there were 20 empty yards between the DM's, and then a line of strikers across the front trying to stay onside. Maybe it was just Cal's deep block? But I think that is where Antonucci generally lives and she wasn't there.

If they stick with this shape and personnel, I still think they'll be very hard to score on. But for the time of possession, they didn't have many good shots, or really much of a cohesive offense. Set pieces may become our only consistent opportunities.

I'm left thinking about how they can best feed Dennigan - what she needs from this team to score. Slip balls? Manning and Gaetino sent her some through balls, but she couldn't really get around Cal's winger. Devey is incredible, but her offense seems to be dribbling right into contact and hoping she can push through.

I do think that Blum needs a shout-out. Just out there quietly doing a great job every game.

Any idea how serious Scottie's injury is and how long she might be out?

3397char said:

UNC used 5 subs in this game for a total of 81 minutes. That is right on par with what we have done all season. It just looks different because we have so many starters out.

Who we play with a 3-0 lead and 5 starters out will not equate to who we play in a close match if/when those starters return.

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Yeah, I agree but it sure did look good to have Summer, Plum, and Bella out to get some needed rest for Sunday's game, and to have Martinez and Rich in more this game. This was my main point of emphasis.

hmk23 said:

I think I saw something about 2-3 weeks, but don't quote me.

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It you listen to the video, Damon said hopefully 2-3 weeks. He said that he and his staff will have to take week my week based on what the doctors say. Here again. Those hard fouls and the psychical play took its toll on Scottie's body. Thank God she is not hurt for the remainder of the season. This is one of the concerns I had after the Michigan player incidentally clipped her ankle. She could have easily been hurt after that game. I do realize this is part of the sport but the refers must do a better job of giving out red cards to prevent or lessen the hard fouls that teams are doing against her as well as others moving forward.

The next few weeks are going to get VERY difficult…having Scottie out that long is really going to hurt. Just have to hope we can hold on to an at large bid and peak late in the season as we get our full team back and hopefully benefit from some of this extra experience our reserves are getting. I doubt anyone will want to play us come tournament time.

UNCBullMarket said:

The next few weeks are going to get VERY difficult…having Scottie out that long is really going to hurt. Just have to hope we can hold on to an at large bid and peak late in the season as we get our full team back and hopefully benefit from some of this extra experience our reserves are getting. I doubt anyone will want to play us come tournament time.

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I agree totally with you but I do think we have the talent to withstand the storm until everyone gets back and healthy. Go Heels!

Antonucci is a great player but we have too many attacking players seeking too few roles. Our real problem is that we lack a proper striker, and we haven't got our defense sorted out. At both ends, I think we're below par, and so I am expecting to finish 3rd or 4th in the ACC

Well_Heeled said:

Antonucci is a great player but we have too many attacking players seeking too few roles. Our real problem is that we lack a proper striker, and we haven't got our defense sorted out. At both ends, I think we're below par, and so I am expecting to finish 3rd or 4th in the ACC

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You have to remember that a ton of our players a new. The three tranfers are new. The freshman are talented and are all new. Then you have players in and out because they are being called up to play with the National teams, U17 was first and now the U20. Then you have to factor in the fact that the returning they are playing a ton now did not play that much last year so they are still adjusting. Lastly we lost 67% of the scoring. With that being said, I do not see why you are being critical right now. Are they not winning? No offense to the Field Hockey team because they are in the same boat but they are losing. This team is getting better each week. Go Heels!

3397char said:

3rd in ACC would be top 5 nationally, 4th is top 10. Not the worst outcome imaginable.

the defense has not figured it out yet, I agree. but the offense is pretty solid when the whole team is in town, center striker or no.

antonucci is the only midfielder who can create in an attacking role, so I think her loss for any period of time will be noticed.

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We are already know this fact. This is why it is crucial that Damon and his staff will need to continue playing the other players since we do not know how long Antonucci will be out. Having depth is crucial.

3397char said:

FSU has looked pretty mortal so far this year. They lost to Florida and tied with both Rice and NCSU. All three teams finished last season with an RPI of 80th or lower.

I assume FSU had some players out to the national teams as well, and they did turn it around after a slow start last season.

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Good point. That is why Well_Heeled should not be too critical right now. Our team could be in the same position as FSU right now as far as record wise. They are winning and they are getting better each game.

Welcome to the family, Alaina Harrington. Go Heels!

Love the continued recruiting success. Any of you that have ever coached....I will tell you this....a very good coach can always make a big difference getting a team from bad to much better.....but to be a high or championship level team, you just absolutely have to have talent. You can teach technique, you can teach strategy to some point, but when the game starts, the players are out there on their own and have to make the plays and make the decisions. You cannot script a free-flowing soccer game, you cannot run plays (other than on set pieces, which are a fraction of the game). There is no substitute for God-given talent. We can all nitpick Damon's substitution patterns, lineups/formations, etc. but one thing he (and the staff he put together) really is excelling at is finding talent out of high school and out of the portal. It's just so crucial to staying relevant in today's environment especially when players can jump around so easily and there is no guarantee players will stick around from one year to the next.

Seems like an easily winnable game today considering I have never even heard of NJIT. Hopefully we can get up early and continue to get a lot of players on the field and develop some depth. After today, things are going to get real. Glad we have been winning the games we were supposed to win and have no 'bad' losses against teams we were favored against. We're going to take some L's in the ACC, it's inevitable....too many elite teams, and we have too many key players missing or out to make it through unscathed. Just can't do anything stupid with a bad loss that could cost us an at-large bid to the NCAAs.

Congrats on U20 USWNT for advancing to knockout round of the World Cup after losing their first group match. Saw that Ulmark and Straun scored in that 9-0 rout of New Zealand in their last game. Munson got her first start which is good news in terms of her health. Alvarez has played in all 3 games. It's still eye opening to see how much the rest of the world has caught up to the US though...will be interesting to see how far the team can go, but I don't think they'll win it all. It's hard to take a collection of random players (no matter how talented) and get them to play great soccer after only training together for a week or so prior to the tournament. Chemistry takes a long time to really form.

Still bummed about Scottie's injury. We are going to really miss here once these ACC games start, and being that it's a knee injury, she's probably going to lose a lot of her game-level fitness sitting out for so long, so even when she's back weeks from now, it's going to take her a couple of games at least to get back to where she was. Some other players are really going to have to step up. Stratton has done exactly that for us in the back, now we need someone in the attacking third to make a bigger impact.

Dook 4 Stanford 0

Dominant 5-0 win today against an overmatched opponent. Heels weren’t that crisp but did what they were supposed to do. Big match on Thursday.

I know Stanford is missing some starters like us but Dook beating them 5-0 is impressive. At same time Dook is getting a break playing them and us while National Team members aren't available. As for us, we have yet to play with a full squad- I'm hoping we can hang on long enough and not be too far out of reach in ACC bc I think these experiences will really help us once we have full squad.

THEericstrattonrushchairman said:

Dook 4 Stanford 0

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Duke took it to them; however, Stanford was missing three or four of their key starters. Like us, they got called up to the U20 team. Stanford started three freshmen against Duke on the road. Duke was at full strength. We are going to be in the same boat as Stanford, missing four key starters. By all means, I am not taking anything away from Duke. They are really, really good.

Another fine showing by our student athletes

Happy to win, always will be, but the shortcomings in the attacking third were evident. This current group has a lot of trouble breaking down a defense. Great at holding lots of possession, not so great at creating (or finishing) lots of scoring opportunities. Need Scottie back bad….being without her is like losing your point guard in hoops.

U20 USWNT is going to have to play Brazil in a few days…they could be headed home sooner than expected…would be good for UNC. If they win that game, I think Spain is likely waiting for them next (if ESPN’s announcers can be trusted). So maybe we only have one or two games left before we get some much needed help returning in time for the brutal ACC schedule.

I feel like Duke is going to probably humble our current group come Thursday. We’ve been good so far, but not great. Our girls need to play their best game all season, there should be no problem motivating them for a rivalry game at home. I’m hoping that playing some better teams that aren’t just going to sit back in a low block will give our attackers some more space to get into, because it’s pretty obvious they have some trouble scoring goals when teams park the bus defensively. Just too much standing around by our forwards, and too much trying to attack right up the middle.

Still though, excellent job winning the games we are supposed to…it’s easy to overlook that, but so far we’ve done well with the challenges we’ve faced. Now it gets real.

Yeah, there's an Antonucci-sized hole at the 10. I was watching them closely on offense today and even though Dennigan and Blum(early)/Manning were sitting in a bit, there's still a huge gap between Pennie/Kennedy and Devey. A bit later on, Stanislaus started to fill in there and did pretty well. That's the best performance that I've seen from her this season. The backs were a bit lazy but could get away with it today. We'll see how they hold up against a top offense, but I'm optimistic.

Three of five goals were PKs. The other two were pretty well executed. Eight attempts on frame. That's not too bad, but I think they had about 75% possession. Seems like there should be more sog when you have the ball for 60+ minutes.

UNCBullMarket said:

Happy to win, always will be, but the shortcomings in the attacking third were evident. This current group has a lot of trouble breaking down a defense. Great at holding lots of possession, not so great at creating (or finishing) lots of scoring opportunities. Need Scottie back bad….being without her is like losing your point guard in hoops.

U20 USWNT is going to have to play Brazil in a few days…they could be headed home sooner than expected…would be good for UNC. If they win that game, I think Spain is likely waiting for them next (if ESPN’s announcers can be trusted). So maybe we only have one or two games left before we get some much needed help returning in time for the brutal ACC schedule.

I feel like Duke is going to probably humble our current group come Thursday. We’ve been good so far, but not great. Our girls need to play their best game all season, there should be no problem motivating them for a rivalry game at home. I’m hoping that playing some better teams that aren’t just going to sit back in a low block will give our attackers some more space to get into, because it’s pretty obvious they have some trouble scoring goals when teams park the bus defensively. Just too much standing around by our forwards, and too much trying to attack right up the middle.

Still though, excellent job winning the games we are supposed to…it’s easy to overlook that, but so far we’ve done well with the challenges we’ve faced. Now it gets real.

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We all know that the game against Duke is going to be a tough one. To be honest, Stanford was not at full strength and Duke was at full strength. Stanford was missing four of their starters because they got called up to the US20 team and I think one of their players was hurt. The same scenario as us. I am not taking anything away of what Duke did against them but what if Duke had four starters out, would that make a difference in the outcome? That is the question that I have.

JohnnyYen said:

Yeah, there's an Antonucci-sized hole at the 10. I was watching them closely on offense today and even though Dennigan and Blum(early)/Manning were sitting in a bit, there's still a huge gap between Pennie/Kennedy and Devey. A bit later on, Stanislaus started to fill in there and did pretty well. That's the best performance that I've seen from her this season. The backs were a bit lazy but could get away with it today. We'll see how they hold up against a top offense, but I'm optimistic.

Three of five goals were PKs. The other two were pretty well executed. Eight attempts on frame. That's not too bad, but I think they had about 75% possession. Seems like there should be more sog when you have the ball for 60+ minutes.

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Hi Yen, you kept criticizing Deus all summer long. I kept telling you that she was missing a lot of our practices, conditioning, etc. because the USA team kept calling her up to play with them. The continuity and chemistry was not there as a result of not being around to practice, connect with her teammates. She and Manning are starting to settle in more now because they are not being called or taken away by the USA team. Also, they are freshmen and they need time with their teammates. I keep telling you this fact but you just kept on criticizing her. I told you then and I am telling you know the more she is at UNC and able to practice and play with her teammates the better it is going to be for her and the team. The same goes for Manning.

Hate that U20 lost…
Any chance to get our 3 back before tomorrow night?

Brutally disappointing showing for U20 women at the World Cup....1 win vs a really bad NZ team, a tie, and two losses, out in first round of knockout round. Hard to put any positive spin on that as a US fan considering the talent pool and resources they have. It's just hard to pull together kids from all over the place who have zero chemistry together, have them practice a few times and then expect something special at a big tournament. Our talent advantage to the rest of the world will no longer allow us to keep doing things the way we used to. The folks running that program need to take a long, difficult look at what they are doing.

This is great news for UNC though....I seriously doubt we'll have our players back for Duke, but should be back for the next game I'd imagine. That's way better of a scenario for us than I think anyone was expecting.

Watched some brief highlights of USA's loss to Brazil....Straun broke through the midfield in extra time and laid off an absolutely perfect ball to a teammate (I think it was to Ulmark) who had a clean look at goal and should have scored the winner but missed wide. I am expecting a big role for Straun when she's back. I think she can fill in at the 10 until Scottie is back, and also think she should be starting or at least playing heavier minutes after. May have to stop playing two 6's (Pennie/Kennedy) so much and get Straun and Antonucci out there in the midfield together to give our attack some more teeth / creativity. I'll keep saying that I think Pennie and Kennedy, while both exceptionally smart, hardworking and technical players, are too passive by nature and contribute a lot of possession but very rarely truly test an opposing back line by either taking people on or looking for decisive through balls. Possession is nice, but you have to take risks at some point to break down good teams. Kennedy did get her first ever UNC goal last weekend, so maybe that will give her a little more confidence to get forward more often.

Damon is going to have some big lineup decisions to make here soon. With Alvarez and Munson back, who does he go with on defense? Does he go 3 in the back or 4? I really feel like Stratton deserves to keep the CB role....she has been solid and steady back there and is also a weapon on corners due to her size. I can't imagine he'll bench Gaetino, so it would come down to whether he wants to play 4 back there or otherwise he'd have to bench either Alvarez or O'Neil. Lots of decisions to make...I do think we've built a little bit of depth in these last few games that will hopefully be helpful going forward.

Really need to figure out things at the 9. It looks like he's going to stick with Devey there, although she seems much less of a threat (or at least comfortable there) than she was last year coming from the wing. Maybe eventually it will click. She's been fine against poor teams, we really need her to make a difference against these big time teams coming up.

Amari and Deus won't be here in October. They will have to deal with another WC for U17 team.

I'm pretty sure Duke coach told his players they couldn't attend U20 WC, so he could beat UNC and Stanford.

3397char said:

I certainly agree that our U-20 performance was not up to par. But I do consider a shootout loss to be a ties, whatever that is worth.

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I also hate PK shootouts as a way to decide a game, but if the result sends you home, then it’s a loss.

I really don't like Brazil's style of play. After that senior team nonsense a few months ago, I went into this game with very low expectations. Thankfully, Brazil's U20 wasn't as bad as the senior team, but you could definitely see the influence. Good that USA didn't take the bait again and held their composure. I don't get why the U20 isn't really competitive.

Four games isn't much, but it was interesting to see Aven get the starts, then transition to the bench while Munson was going in the opposite direction. I don't think Alvarez had a great tournament. At least not at the level that she's been playing for the Heels, where I can see why she got the call up. Munson had a great tournament and I really hope that continues into the regular season. Sealy had some moments - like that little flick on the ball from Ulmark yesterday. It didn't go in, but it was a brilliant touch.

Man, I hope they get a win tonite. I don't think I can take losing to Brazil and dook in the same week.

Tonight should be interesting.

Guess we’ll still be without 4 key players.