UNC Women's Soccer 2026-2027

tmatheny · 2026-11-12T17:37:44-0600

Obviously Damon has done an outstanding job but I still have to question the substitution pattern. This is the ACC tournament which is important but not as important as NCAA. Play your subs that have shown all year they can play and contribute. We were down 5 players against Duke in regular season and won. Why got let those players have more run so fresher for Sunday and not as worn down come NCAA tournament time. Did Stanilaus even play (is she injured?).

Jriv23 · 2026-11-12T17:44:24-0600

tmatheny said:
Obviously Damon has done an outstanding job but I still have to question the substitution pattern. This is the ACC tournament which is important but not as important as NCAA. Play your subs that have shown all year they can play and contribute. We were down 5 players against Duke in regular season and won. Why got let those players have more run so fresher for Sunday and not as worn down come NCAA tournament time. Did Stanilaus even play (is she injured?).

I totally agree with you. If you can rest some of your starters to get them ready for the next game then do it. He has too much talent now where he can do this. By the way, great win today young ladies. Go Heels!

Well_Heeled · 2026-11-12T19:15:38-0600

I'm reading up on Virginia and it sounds like their style is exactly the one we're vulnerable against: they don't press and instead sit back and try to hit teams on the counter. Hopefully our new back three with Stratton is more resilient against that. In any event great to get a proper test before the NCAA begins. I've always felt warmly toward Virginia - another flagship state school who takes the sport seriously, and I recall our previous encounters being good natured.

3397char · 2026-11-12T19:26:45-0600

Well_Heeled said:
Perhaps this is parochial but I think the ACC has been really strong this year, once again. The teams we've faced have been excellent, even while we've dominated several of them. And recently the quarterfinals and college cup have been ACC dominated. So in my opinion a truly meritocratic NCAA would have 3 or 4 number 1 seeds from the ACC . But with Wake and Notre Dame losing their only tournament games, we are on track to be the only number 1 seed. And some teams like Stanford and Florida State have low RPIs. This could lead to seeding that creates pretty lopsided quadrants—can you imagine if we are the no 1 seed in a quadrant that has Notre Dame as no 2, Duke as a number 3 seed, and Stanford as a no 4? Alternatively we could have Alabama as our quadrant's no 2, Texas Tech as no 3, and Xavier as no 4. The "luck of the draw" could be the key phrase this year. That said, even with a tough bracket, I am optimistic — our results in the regular ACC season and tournament have been unmatched.

The NCAA no longer does regionality for the 32 seeded teams, and follows RPI pretty closely, so there is a possibility that strictly going by RPI that a 1 or 2 nationally seeded UNC could face ND or WF as the 7 or 8 nationally seeded teams at the Quarterfinals (That is assuming those two make it past really closely matched R16 foes like an Alabama or TT)

FSU is 26 RPI which roughly matches to a 6 or 7 seed within a quadrant of the bracket. That would be a tough draw for whomever is the quadrant 2 or 3 seed (5-8 or 9-12 national seed.) but that will not be us. I do not see FSU dropping to a 8 or 9 quadrant seed, putting them into our path.

Stanford is more problematic at 14 RPI. That puts them as a 4 seed in a quadrant, matching them to a quadrant 1 seed in the R16. I would rather play Xavier or Kansas (knowing nothing about those teams.)

The NCAA does not place conference foes as potential matchups in the first two rounds. but R16 is fair game. With that said, I believe they will make some effort to avoid conference matchups in the R16. There are 6 ACC teams in the top 16 of the RPI, so they will have to be place in each others path at the quarterfinal; that is unavoidable.

3397char · 2026-11-12T19:39:28-0600

UNCBullMarket said:
Excellent win. My one criticism is that our girls look gassed that last 20 minutes. To be fair, we still controlled possession for the most part...but we have some talent on the bench, I'm just surprised that he doesn't steal a few minutes in each half. He did in the first half pretty late, and then barely subbed at all in the second half (not sure he would have had Riley not been cramping up. Manning looked spent, wasn't tracking back on D when we lost the ball (the announcers were all over that), Scottie wore down late (not sure why Denigan isn't giving her more of a break, see below), Riley had to leave with cramps (terrific game by her today btw), and Munson also went down with cramps near the end.

Just feels like we could get a few more minutes...don't think Stanilaus played at all, Gaetino maybe played 10 minutes or less in first half, Roosien could give us a few more minutes, Bradley can contribute, and Denigan still barely sees the field. Straun is also usually over there even though she had to sit today because of that late red card vs Louisville. I definitely am fine with who we have starting right now and letting them play the lion's share of time, but I do feel like we are most vulnerable in the second half of games as the legs wear down.

The first half was a thing of beauty...I just love watching us ping the ball around and dominate possession. Didn't have the legs to sustain it quite as effectively in second half, but good enough. We need to use Munson more effectively than we did today....she's too much of a weapon. For whatever reason, it seems like the 80% of the game was played down that left side away from Munson. Wake absolutely worked dook's left back earlier in the week, it really was surprising that we didn't expose them more down that side.

Devey deserves all of the accolades she's been getting...obviously she's been scoring goals on a regular basis, but her work rate is just phenomenal. She is just constantly making runs, and chasing down defenders to apply pressure, and just working so hard to be an option for her teammates. Some 'star' players (especially forwards) get a mentality of being content and you only really see them come alive when they have the ball...you don't see an ounce of that with her, she is switched on the entire game. The amount of effort she puts into defending as a forward is something you rarely see, I love it.

Feels great to beat dook again. Virginia will give us a good fight, they are playing great right now.

I generally agree with all of this; we certainly subbed more in the last game. So at a minimum it is inconsistent.

But I will say that there were two times dook showed life in this game: late first half when we had 3, then 4 subs in, and late 2nd half when we probably were more tired, but also they were play risky because they needed a goal. My point being, after late first half did not go great, I understand the gun shy approach of the 2nd half a little.

Gaetino, Roosien & Denigan came in with 10 min left in the first half. That could have been sooner, but pretty reasonable. Bradley came in with 3 min remaining. I assume that meant Bradley would start the 2nd half to play the reverse rest game. But nope, she just played 3 min total. As you said, only 1 sub in teh entire 2nd half and that was required by leg cramps.

Pennie, Devey and usually Kennedy have earned the right to play full time whenever appropriate. They have the fitness. And I don't need defenders subbed. But the other 4 starters seem like they could benefit from a break in both halves every game. We have enough experienced depth now to do that. Make it a plan and tell them to motor more when in.

We have to play again in 3 days as well

uncjhodges · 2026-11-12T19:57:05-0600

Manning just clearly needed to get a rest and had a couple sloppy turnovers from fatigue.

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UNC Women's Soccer 2026-2027

tmatheny

Senior

Jriv23

All-Conference

Well_Heeled

Sophomore

3397char

All-American

3397char

All-American

uncjhodges

All-American

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