The North Carolina Tar Heels women's soccer team represent the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the Atlantic Coast Conference of NCAA Division I soccer."2007 North Carolina Women's Soccer Media Guide." tarheelblue.com. Retrieved on March 23, 2009.

North Carolina is one of the most successful women's college soccer teams, having won 22 of the 36 Atlantic Coast Conference championships, and 23 of the 43 NCAA national championships. The team has participated in every NCAA tournament.2024 Women's Record Book on goheels.com

History The UNC women's soccer team began as a club team established by students looking for high level competition. In 1979, they petitioned the UNC Athletic Director, Bill Cobey, to take the club to the varsity level. Cobey asked Anson Dorrance, then the UNC men's soccer coach to assess the club's ability to transition to varsity status. Dorrance was impressed enough by the club, then coached by Mike Byers, to recommend that the school form a women's soccer team. Cobey agreed and hired Dorrance as head coach, with Byers as an assistant, for the 1978 season. That year, the Tar Heels played an essentially club schedule, including games against high school teams. However, in 1979, the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women, at the prompting of Dorrance and University of Colorado coach, Chris Lidstone, established a national women's soccer program.EXPLAINING VARIATION IN THE SEX COMPOSITION OF COACHES FOR WOMEN’S INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETIC TEAMS

At the time, UNC had the only varsity women's soccer team in the Southeast and this allowed Dorrance to recruit the top talent in the region. In 1981, eight of those recruits won starting positions and took the team to the AIAW national championship.Interview with Anson Dorrance, June 11, 1991

Players

Current roster

All-time record

Year Head coach Overall ACC ACCtourn. NCAAtourn. 1979   Anson Dorrance   10–2–0 – – – 1980 21–5–0 – – AIAW Semifinals 1981 23–0–0 – – AIAW Champions 1982 19–2–0 – – Champions 1983 19–1–0 – – Champions 1984 24–0–1 – – Champions 1985 18–2–1 – – Runner up 1986 24–0–1 – – Champions 1987 23–0–1 3–0–0 – Champions 1988 18–0–3 1–0–1 Runner up Champions 1989 24–0–1 4–0–0 Champions Champions 1990 20–1–1 4–0–0 Champions Champions 1991 24–0–0 4–0–0 Champions Champions 1992 25–0–0 4–0–0 Champions Champions 1993 23–0–0 4–0–0 Champions Champions 1994 25–1–1 5–1–0 Champions Champions 1995 25–1–0 7–0–0 Champions Semifinals 1996 25–1–0 7–0–0 Champions Champions 1997 27–0–1 7–0–0 Champions Champions 1998 25–1–0 7–0–0 Champions Runner up 1999 24–2–0 7–0–0 Champions Champions 2000 21–3–0 4–3–0 Champions Champions 2001 24–1–0 7–0–0 Champions Runner up 2002 21–2–4 4–1–2 Champions Semifinals 2003 27–0–0 7–0–0 Champions Champions 2004 20–1–2 9–0–0 Runner up Third round 2005 23–1–1 9–1–0 Champions Quarterfinals 2006 27–1–0 10–0–0 Champions Champions 2007 19–4–1 9–1–0 Champions Third round 2008 25–1–2 9–0–1 Champions Champions 2009 23–3–1 9–3–0 Champions Champions 2010 19–3–2 9–3–0 Semifinals Third round 2011 13–5–2 6–3–1 Quarterfinals Third round 2012 15–5–3 6–3–1 Quarterfinals Champions 2013 20–5–0 10–3–0 Semifinals Quarterfinals 2014 14–4–2 9–0–1 Semifinals Third round 2015 15–5–1 7–3–0 Semifinals Second round 2016 17–4–4 6–2–2 Runner up Semifinals 2017 17–3–2 8–0–2 Champions Third round 2018 21–4–2 10–0–0 Runner up Runner up 2019 24–1–2 9–0–1 Champions Runner up 2020 18–2–0 8–0–0 Runner up Semifinals 2021 12–3–3 5–2–3 — First round 2022 20–5–1 8–2–0 Runner up Runner up 2023 13–2–8 5–0–5 Quarterfinals Quarterfinals 2024 Damon Nahas 22–5–0 7–3–0 Runner up Champions 2025 13–6–2 6–4–0 — Third round

Team Honours

National NCAA Division I tournament (22): 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2024

Conference Atlantic Coast tournament (22): 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2017, 2019

Individual honors

National Coach of the Year Anson Dorrance – 1982, 1986, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2006

ACC Coach of the Year Anson Dorrance – 1982, 1986, 1987, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1996, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2018, 2019

Hermann Trophy

Shannon Higgins – 1989 Kristine Lilly – 1991 Mia Hamm – 1992, 1993 Tisha Venturini – 1994 Cindy Parlow – 1997, 1998 Cat Reddick – 2003 Crystal Dunn – 2012 Kate Faasse – 2024

ACC Player of the Year Lori Henry – 1987 Shannon Higgins – 1989 Mia Hamm – 1990, 1992, 1993 Kristine Lilly – 1991 Tisha Venturini – 1994 Cindy Parlow – 1998 Lorrie Fair – 1999 Lindsay Tarpley – 2003

ACC Defensive Player of the Year Whitney Engen – 2009 Crystal Dunn – 2013

ACC Offensive Player of the Year

Heather O'Reilly – 2005 Yael Averbuch – 2006 Casey Noguiera – 2008 Crystal Dunn – 2013 Alessia Russo – 2018

ACC Midfielder of the Year

Ally Sentnor – 2023

ACC Rookie of the Year Tisha Venturini – 1991 Debbie Keller – 1993 Cindy Parlow – 1995 Laurie Schwoy – 1996 Lindsay Tarpley – 2002 Megan Buckingham – 2014 Bridgette Andrzejewski – 2016 Alessia Russo – 2017 Maycee Bell - 2019

NCAA Tournament MVP April Heinrichs – 1984 (last year overall MVP named)

Offensive Player of the NCAA Tournament

April Heinrichs – 1985, 1986 Kristine Lilly – 1989, 1990 Mia Hamm – 1992, 1993 Tisha Venturini – 1994 Debbie Keller – 1996 Robin Confer – 1997 Susan Bush – 1999 Meredith Florance – 2000 Heather O'Reilly – 2003, 2006 Kealia Ohai – 2012 Olivia Thomas – 2024

Defensive Player of the Tournament

Suzy Cobb – 1983 Carla Overbeck – 1988 Tracy Bates – 1989 Tisha Venturini – 1991 Staci Wilson – 1994 Nel Fettig – 1996 Siri Mullinix – 1997 Lorrie Fair – 1999 Cat Reddick – 2000, 2003 Robyn Gayle – 2006 Satara Murray – 2012 Clare Gagne – 2024

First Team All-America Selection As of 2011, North Carolina had 70 players gain first-team All-American recognition. The next two schools with the greatest number of All-Americans were tied with twenty-two each. "Official 2012 NCAA Men's and Women's Soccer Records Book." ncaa.org. Retrieved on March 23, 2008.

Retired numbers

19 – Mia Hamm, forward, 1989–1993. Number retired in 1994.Mia Hamm profile on NC Soccer Hall of FameFeet of gold on ESPN.com

Although the university retired Hamm's #19 in 1994, it was later unretired and given to other players since."2024 Roster & Pronunciation Guide" on 2025 Women's soccer record book – UNC Athletics

Notable alumnae

Emily Pickering Tisha Venturini Mia Hamm Sarina Wiegman Kristine Lilly Heather O'Reilly Meghan Klingenberg Lori Chalupny Whitney Engen Lucy Bronze Katie Bowen Tobin Heath Crystal Dunn Kendall Fletcher Ashlyn Harris Allie Long Jessica McDonald Lotte Wubben-Moy Alessia Russo Meredith Florance Lois Joel Emily Fox Rosalind Berhalter

References

External links