Sept. 30, 2001

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -

Leslie Gaston and Maggie Tomecka each scored goals as top-ranked North Carolina (8-0) defeated UAB 2-0 Sunday afternoon at West Campus Field.

The Blazers (2-6) battled the Tarheels hard all afternoon, allowing only two goals to a team that entered Sunday's action averaging almost five per match.  UAB goalkeeper Lisa Nowoslawski allowed both goals, but made 10 saves in the match.

North Carolina scored its first goal of the afternoon in the 17^th minute, as Gaston knocked in a header off an assist by Danielle Borgman to make the score 1-0.

UAB took six shots in the match and narrowly missed a scoring opportunity late in the first, as midfielder Jennifer Calalang took a pass on the right side from Denise Peters and placed a shot just outside the right goalpost.

North Carolina led 1-0 at the half.

The Tarheels took a 2-0 lead early in the second half (59:06) as Tomecka chipped in a ball that was deflected by Sara Randolph after a corner kick by Catherine Reddick.

North Carolina goalkeepers Kristin DePlatchett and Jenni Branam combined for the shutout, making two and three goal saves respectively.  It was the Tarheels' seventh shutout of the season.

Although disappointed by the loss, UAB Head Coach Paul Harbin was pleased with his team's effort vs. the 17-time national champion Tarheels.

We didn't give up a goal in the run of play, we only gave them up on corners," he said afterward.

"Otherwise, I'm pleased with what we got out of it, but I'm not happy.  At this point in the season, we need to be winning games.  I pulled my players over and told them I was proud of them, I was very proud of them for how they played, but every one of them was disappointed.

 Sometimes they come off a game like this and they are excited they lost 2-0, but we're not excited we lost 2-0, so it's nice that they have that mindset and I think that will help us.  We now have to play some teams that aren't number one in the country and we got to play at this level and if we can I think we are in good shape."

UAB returns to action Thursday at Birmingham-Southern (7:00 pm) and returns to Conference USA play Sunday,  hosting Louisville at West Campus Field (1:00 pm).