Hurricanes Fall 6-1 on the Road to No. 4 North Carolina
Sept. 24, 2006
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – A goal by sophomore forward Rachael Rigamat put the Hurricanes on the board first but proved to be too little as UM allowed six unanswered goals to fall 6-1 to fourth-ranked North Carolina Sunday afternoon at McCaskill Soccer Center.
Rigamat’s goal, her second of the season and UM’s (6-3-0, 0-2-0 ACC) first shot of the afternoon, came two seconds into the 24th minute against the Tarheels (10-1-0, 2-0-0 ACC) when she beat the UNC defense on a longball from UM keeper Lauren McAdam.
North Carolina’s Nikki Washington answered with the equalizer just under two minutes later, firing off a shot from the right side of the box into the far post past McAdam at the 24:53 mark.
With just under eight minutes remaining in the first half, UNC took the lead on a shot by Jamie Gilbert that found it’s way into the short side of the net in the 38th minute.
The Tarheels opened the second period with an unassisted goal by Heather O’Reilly in the 52nd minute and added another in the 59th minute on a shot by Whitney Engen.
Scoring two more goals, one in the 64th minute and one in the 75th, North Carolina wrapped up the 6-1 victory over UM marking the most goals allowed by a Miami team since a Sept. 19, 2003 7-1 loss at Florida State.
“I thought we played well for the first half but we weren’t able to keep it up,” said Tricia Taliaferro of the second-half let down. “North Carolina is a very deep team with extremely talented players.”
Miami was outshot by a total of 27-to-4 and managed just four shots on goal compared to UNC’s 18. McAdam finished with 12 saves on the day – one shy of the school record which she set last season against UNC.
“I was pleased with some individual efforts today; specifically Lauren McAdam, Sheuneen Ta, Corynn Carino, Kristen Chapman and Rachael Rigamat,” said Taliaferro.
“Overall, as a group, we need to step up the intensity to match up with the top teams in the country. Games like today are very humbling, but are very useful in terms of learning experiences. We just have to take another step forward in our development and push past the comfort zone. I am still very pleased with the season and look forward to working with the players to get better each and every day.”
The Hurricanes return home to Cobb Stadium Thursday night hosting ACC rival Virginia Tech at 7 p.m.
