May 11, 2007

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - The University of North Carolina's defending NCAA champion women's soccer team is heading Down Under for 12 days as head coach Anson Dorrance takes his team on a 12-day training and competition trip to Oceania from May 16-28. NCAA Division I teams are allowed to make the overseas trips once every four years.

The Carolian entourage will depart Raleigh-Durham Airport at 6:55 a.m. on Wednesday, May 16 and will have a connection in Chicago for a flight to San Francisco arriving at 1:05 p.m. The Tar Heels will conduct a two-hour clinic in Palo Alto, Calif. that afternoon and eat dinner there before leaving San Francisco at 10:40 p.m. for their flight to Sydney.

After crossing the International Date Line, the team will arrive in Sydney in the state of New South Wales in Australia at 6:25 a.m. on Friday, May 18. There will be plenty to do in Sydney for the Tar Heels as it is Austalia's largest city with a cosmoplitan mix and a population of 4.2 million people. While in Sydney, UNC will be stay at the Holiday Inn Hotel at The Rocks.

After a free day in Sydney on Saturday, the team will travel via private coach to Canberra (population 332,000), the capital city of Australia on Sunday where it will be housed at the Australia Institute of Sport in the Australia Capital Territory.

On the evening of Monday, May 21, the Tar Heels will meet the Australian National Team in an exhibition game.

On Tuesday, Carolina will fly to the Glorious Gold Coast of Australia in the Queensland state just south of Brisbane. Accomodations will be at The Aristocrat Hotel. The following day the Tar Heels will take on the Australian Regional Select Team in Brisbane (population 1.8 million) at 5:30 p.m.

After a day of sightseeing on the Gold Coast on Thursday, UNC's party will leave on Friday, May 25, flying from Brisbane to Auckland, New Zealand. Located on the North Island of New Zealand, Auckland is the country's largest urban concentration with 1.2 million residents.

Saturday, May 26 will be a day off for Carolina but on Sunday, the Heels will play their third and final exhibition match of the trip against the National Team of New Zealand.

UNC will leave Auckland on Monday, May 28 and will regain the day it lost earlier by crossing the International Date Line yet again. After a layover in Los Angeles, the Carolina traveling party will be back at RDU Airport at 11:15 p.m. on Monday, May 28.

Check in right here at TarHeelBlue.com for updates on the Tar Heels' trip to Australia and New Zealand.