#1 UNC Women’s Soccer extends its win streak to 8 with a win over #12 Notre Dame

After a disappointing season last year, Damon Nahas and UNC women's soccer started this year on a tear, right up until they dropped a home nonconference game , a rarity for this program, against Michigan State in their 4th game of the season. Michigan State was ranked 5th in the country and is now ranked 2nd, so that wasn't a bad loss whatsoever, but it still seems to have galvanized the Heels — since then, they've won 8 straight games, including 3 against ranked conference opponents. The latest in that stretch happened on Friday night with an absolute drubbing of #12 Notre Dame, ending in a 4-1 UNC win.

The game felt, for much of the first half, even more lopsided than that final score. The Heels dominated possession in the opening minutes, coming close to converting a corner kick in the first six minutes and eventually putting one on the board courtesy of Bella Devey, who converted from a sharp angle after a feed from Lilliah Blum. Devey picked up a brace a few minutes later, after Amari Manning earned a penalty that Devey roofed to make it 2-0 17 minutes in. It was Devey's 4th two-goal game of the season, and the penalty gave her 14 goals on the year — a mark that I believe is 2nd in the country (the NCAA hasn't updated their stats yet. She's definitely top-5). Notre Dame cut the lead in half with a nice set piece goal, but that didn't stop the Heels' onslaught. Manning got the ball down the left flank off a deep service and crossed the ball past two defenders to find Blum, who got herself a tap-in goal via Manning's team-leading 5th assist of the season.

The Heels stayed on the gas in the second half. It didn't lead to as many goals as in the first, but they kept the Irish off the ball and created a ton of opportunities while snuffing out any counters that Notre Dame might have had. They eventually got rewarded with a Summer Denigan goal off her chest from a Blum cross, tying her with Manning for the team lead in assists. That gave UNC a 4-1 lead that was too big to overcome.

As I mentioned, the Heels have an 8-game win streak that includes a 4-2 win over #6 Duke, a 3-1 win over #15 Virginia, and now this one. Devey's 14 and Denigan's 9 goals both rank within the country's top 10, and the defense has been suffocating, allowing opponents to shoot just 5.2 attempts per game. Nearly half of those are on target, so when they break, they've been breaking pretty hard, and making goalie Peyton Trayer's life difficult, leading to an unimpressive save percentage. Still, you'd rather a goalie have a low save percentage on few attempts than even a high one while facing a lot of shots. There's a reason this is the #1 team in the country.

They'll next face Florida State, with whom the Heels have jockeyed for the top spot in the ACC the past several years, and against whom UNC has lost their last three matchups. FSU's had a slow start to the year with a 4-1-3 record and 2 draws to open ACC play, but they're still dangerous, with a ranked win under their belts. That game will be on ESPNU next Friday night.