CHAPEL HILL - Had the rain come sooner, the women's soccer team may have battled No. 1 North Carolina to a 0-0 draw.
But the weather stayed fair long enough for the potent Tar Heels (12-0, 4-0 in the ACC) to jump out to a quick lead and extended their undefeated streak to 57 games with a 4-0 win over Duke (6-7, 0-3) last night at Fetzer Stadium.
Four different Tar Heels scored as Carolina dominated the game from the very start. Early in the first half, 1997 National Player of the Year Cindy Parlow and Laurie Schwoy each knocked in a goal within two minutes of each other, forcing Duke to play catch-up the rest of the way.
"We tried to keep them out, if we were able to keep them out a little longer, maybe something different would have happened," coach Bill Hempen said. "I mean, Carolina's good, there's just no doubt about it."
In the 14th minute, Parlow took a pass from Schwoy and knocked in a five-yarder past Isis Dallis, who came up to make the stop. On Carolina's next offensive possession, Jena Kluegel missed a shot but Tiffany Roberts controlled the rebound and crossed it to Schwoy, who put it in the back of the net.
Freshman Anne Remy, the younger sister of former Duke players Katherine and Amanda, tapped in a goal past Dallis nine minutes later and UNC had a 3-0 lead at halftime.
Then the rains came. Carolina scored one final goal 8:12 into the half, but game conditions became virtually unplayable after that. The pouring rain made it impossible for either team to generate any kind of offense.
"The conditions went to hell in a hurry and no more soccer was played after that," Hempen said.
Kicked balls would just suddenly stop in large puddles formed on the soaking grass and all attempts to pass and dribble became adventures.
"Strategy all went out the window," Kristy Whelchel said. "All you could do is chip it up into the air and pray that it landed in the puddle in front of you.
"We actually got some chances in the second half because it didn't allow them to dribble enough, so it was actually conducive to what we wanted to do. We wished it had rained like that the whole game."
That's because the Blue Devils just could not stop the Tar Heels on dry land. Carolina dominated the overmatched Blue Devils, outshooting Duke, 17-4. A Kasey Truman shot that dribbled weakly to the right of the goal seven minutes in was as close as Duke came to scoring all night, for virtually the entire game was spent on the Duke half of the field.
A win against a Carolina team that has won 15 of 17 national championships would make just about anyone's season. In the homestretch of a disappointing year, that certainly would have been the case for Duke.
"In this point in our season, we had absolutely nothing to lose," Whelchel said. "We just went out there and gave it our all. We wanted to focus on our team and not their team and just try to have a lot of fun and I think we did that."
The Blue Devils play two games over fall break against Wake Forest and UNC-Charlotte. Saturday night, Duke travels to Winston-Salem and then comes home for a matchup with the 49ers at Duke Soccer Stadium Tuesday at 7 p.m.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.