The 2024 North Carolina Tar Heels women's soccer team represented the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill during the 2024 NCAA Division I women's soccer season. This was the 48th season of the university fielding a program. The Tar Heels were led by first-year head coach Damon Nahas and played their home games at Dorrance Field in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
The Tar Heels were set to be led by Anson Dorrance, but he announced his retirement just four days prior to the season beginning on August 11, 2024. Damon Nahas was selected to be the interim head coach.
Despite a coaching change between the preseason and the start of the regular season, the Tar Heels started the season with two wins on a trip to . They returned home to face sixteenth ranked , who they defeated 4–3. They followed that with another Power 4 win against . They won two games against non-Power 4 opponents before losing to an unranked Duke. The Tar Heels were ranked second for that matchup, and fell to tenth to start ACC play. They began the ACC season with a six-game winning streak, which included defeats of Wake Forest, nineteenth ranked Virginia, and seventeenth ranked California. The streak was broken at seventh ranked Stanford. The Tar Heels rebounded to defeat Clemson before losing the final two games of the ACC season. The losses were against seventeenth ranked Florida State and another loss to Duke; this time, the Blue Devils were ranked first in the nation.
The Tar Heels finished the regular season 14–4–0 and 7–3–0 in ACC play to finish in fourth place. As the fourth seed in the ACC Tournament, they hosted fifth seed and twelfth ranked Virginia Tech in the first round and defeated them 2–0. They faced off against rival Duke for the third time in the season, and got their first win 2–1 to make the finals. The final was a regular season rematch between the Tar Heels and Florida State. The Tar Heels again lost, this time 3–2, to finish as runners up. The Tar Heels received an at-large bid to the 2024 NCAA Division I women's soccer tournament, where they were the second-seed in the Florida State bracket. They defeated in the first round, in the second round, and sixth-seed in the Round of 16. Upsets elsewhere in the bracket saw the Tar Heels host in the quarterfinals. The Tar Heels won 2–1 in overtime to advance to the College Cup. Their semifinal match-up was a fourth meeting in the season with Duke. The Tar Heels won this one 3–0, making the record in the season 2–2, with Duke winning both regular season matches, and the Tar Heels winning both postseason matches. They faced off against Wake Forest in the final, and defeated them 1–0 to win their 22nd national title and first in twelve years. The Tar Heels' final record was 22–5–0.
Previous season
The Tar Heels finished the season 13–2–8 and 5–0–5 in ACC play to finish in fourth place. As the fourth seed in the ACC Tournament, they hosted Pittsburgh in the first round and were upset 1–2 in overtime. They received an at-large bid to the 2023 NCAA Division I women's soccer tournament, where they were the third-seed in the BYU Bracket. They defeated in the first round, six-seed Alabama in a second-round rematch, and second-seed in the Round of 16. They then traveled to Provo, Utah to face one-seed BYU in the quarterfinals. The Tar Heels raced out to a 3–0 lead in the first twenty minutes of the match, but surrendered four goals, three in the last ten minutes, to lose 3–4 to end their season.
Offseason
Departures
Departures Nona Reason 0 GK 5'10" Freshman Noblesville, Indiana Transferred to Clemson Savannah King 3 DF 5'6" Freshman West Hills, California Drafted 2nd overallin 2024 NWSL Draft Paige Tolentino 4 DF/MF 5'5" Senior Pinehurst, North Carolina Transferred to NC State Julia Dorsey 7 DF 5'7" Graduate student Baltimore, Maryland Graduated; drafted 40thoverall in 2024 NWSL Draft Emily Moxley 8 DF/MF 5'8" Graduate student Cary, North Carolina Graduated Tori DellaPeruta 9 FW 5'8" Sophomore Cumming, Georgia Signed professional contractwith Sampdoria Samantha Meza 10 MF 5'4" Senior Dallas, Texas Graduated; drafted 17thoverall in 2024 NWSL Draft Sydney Cheesman 12 DF 5'6" Sophomore Lafayette, Colorado Transferred to LSU Isabel Cox 13 FW 5'10" Graduate student Greensboro, North Carolina Graduated Kai Hayes 14 MF 5'4" Senior Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida Graduated, transferred to Baylor Avery Patterson 15 MF 5'6" Senior Jacksonville, Florida Graduated; drafted 19thoverall in 2024 NWSL Draft Melina Rebimbas 16 MF/DF 5'6" Freshman Warren, New Jersey Transferred to Alabama Emily Colton 19 MF/FW 5'3" Junior Carlsbad, California Transferred to Wake Forest Ally Sentnor 21 MF/FW 5'3" Sophomore Hanson, Massachusetts Drafted 1st overallin 2024 NWSL Draft Mia Oliaro 22 FW/MF 5'9" Freshman Chapel Hill, North Carolina Transferred to Duke Maci Teater 23 MF 5'3" Sophomore St. Louis, Missouri Transferred to Vanderbilt Talia DellaPeruta 24 MF 5'5" Senior Cumming, Georgia Graduated; Signed professionalcontract with Sampdoria Maycee Bell 25 DF 5'11" Senior Wichita, Kansas Graduated; drafted 14thoverall in 2024 NWSL Draft Kayleigh Herr 30 DF 5'6" Sophomore Cary, North Carolina Transferred to Penn State Emmie Allen 32 GK 5'11" Sophomore High Point, North Carolina Signed with Bay FC Riley Quinlan 33 MF 5'6" Senior Wake Forest, North Carolina Graduated
Incoming transfers
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Incoming transfers Clare Gagne 0 GK 5'10" Graduate student Orono, Minnesota Brown Eden Bretzer 14 MF 5'7" Junior Edmonton, Canada Florida Gulf Coast Olivia Migli 16 MF 5'4" Graduate student Haymarket, Virginia Duke Aria Nagai 19 MF 5'3" Graduate student Herndon, Virginia Princeton Marisa Shorrock 21 GK 5'8" Graduate student Westport, Connecticut Yale
Recruiting class
Source:
Name Nationality Hometown Club TDS rating New Hill, North Carolina NC Courage Dallas, Texas FC Dallas (ECNL) Dexter, Michigan Michigan Hawks Bamberg, Germany Eintracht Frankfurt N/A Cambridge, Massachusetts FC Stars of Massachusetts Miami, Florida Weston FC Chevy Chase, Maryland Bethesda SC Academy Buffalo, New York WNY Flash
Squad Roster
Team management Athletic director Bubba Cunningham Head coach Damon Nahas Assistant coach/general manager Chris Ducar Assistant coach Tracey Bates Leone Director of operations Tom Sander Assistant director of operations Corey Emerick
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Schedule
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!colspan=6 style=""| Exhibition
!colspan=6 style=""| Non-conference regular season
!colspan=6 style=""| ACC regular season
!colspan=6 style=""| ACC tournament
!colspan=6 style=""| NCAA tournament
Awards and honors Olivia Thomas ACC Co-Offensive Player of the Week – Week 2 August 27 Trinity Armstrong ACC Defensive Player of the Week – Week 6 September 24 Linda Ullmark ACC Offensive Player of the Week – Week 7 October 1 Trinity Armstrong All-ACC First Team November 6 Kate Faasse Maddie Dahlien All-ACC Third Team Tessa Dellarose Trinity Armstrong ACC All-Freshman Team Bella Gaetino Linda Ullmark Kate Faasse All-ACC Tournament Team November 10 Trinity Armstrong Maddie Dahlien Linda Ullmark Kate Fassee Hermann Trophy January 3, 2025
Rankings
References