North Carolina Women Earn Crown Before a Record Crowd

Meredith Florance scored in the 56th minute to break a scoreless tie and lift North Carolina to a 2-0 victory over Notre Dame in the championship game of the NCAA women’s soccer tournament Sunday.

The contest drew an NCAA women’s soccer final record crowd of 14,410 at Spartan Stadium.

“I knew chances would not come often,” Florance said. “I had to refocus and remember that the next chance I got, I had to stick it.”

Beth Shepard also scored for North Carolina, which won its 15th title in the 18-year history of the event, its first since 1997. The Tar Heels lost in last year’s final, 1-0, to Florida.

Notre Dame (21-4-1), which won the title in 1995, finished second for the third time in its history.

North Carolina (24-2-0) improved to 61-3 all-time in NCAA tournament play, and finished the year with an 18-game winning streak. The Tar Heels have allowed 12 goals all season, only two in the second half, and have 19 shutouts this season, 14 by freshman goalkeeper Jenni Branam.

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Indiana reached the semifinals of the NCAA men’s tournament with a 3-2 victory over Penn State.

In other games, Connecticut beat Furman, 3-0, and Santa Clara, stopped Alabama-Birmingham, 3-2, in overtime.

In Friday’s semifinals at Charlotte, N.C., Santa Clara (16-3-2) will play Connecticut (19-4-0) and UCLA (19-2-0) will play Indiana (19-3-0).

The winners will play for the championship next Sunday.