Understanding UNC’s Impact on Women’s Soccer

The University of North Carolina has one of the greatest collegiate women’s soccer programs of all time. With a winning percentage of nearly 75% in championship games, 17 consecutive undefeated seasons, and graduating countless USWNT players, they are a soccer powerhouse. Among the stars to come from UNC: Tobin Heath, Heather O’Reilly, Crystal Dunn, England star Lucy Bronze, and one of the greatest of all time, Mia Hamm. What exactly is it about UNC women’s soccer that makes it such a powerhouse?

The Competitive Cauldron

UNC’s “competitive cauldron” has drawn professional women’s soccer players to come to play for the program. The UNC women’s soccer program has been using this unique approach to coaching since the 1980s. 

Spearheaded by Coach Anson Dorrance, the “competitive cauldron” is a coaching style where players’ stats during practice and drills are ranked and published following practice. The rankings are intended to motivate the players to realize how they can improve their game and move up on the rankings. However, players are not required to look at them, and they are not used to determine starting positions. 

This coaching approach is certainly named appropriately. Primarily, it encourages individual development and the growth of a strong winning mentality. This style of coaching is where UNC’s success stems from. This is why professional women’s players started giving collegiate soccer a chance, particularly UNC.

The Impact on Professional Players

One of these players is Lotte Wubben-Moy. After starting at Arsenal at the age of 16, Wubben-Moy decided to move to the United States and play for the UNC Tar Heels. Yet, leaving the professional game and starting on a college team was no downgrade. With Coach Dorrance, she quickly developed that relentless winning mindset. “The US was the pinnacle of competition,” said Wubben-Moy. 

After three years at the collegiate level, Wubben-Moy accepted an offer back to Arsenal due to the uncertainty around COVID-19 and her last college season. She carried with her the mindset she gained from UNC’s cutthroat environment. She went on to score two goals as a center back in addition to being named Barclay’s WSL player of the month. 

The unparalleled success and opportunity for individual skill and mental growth at UNC have led countless players to professional careers and players to actually step back from their professional careers and play at the collegiate level. Such a phenomenon has not occurred at any other school and can be attributed to the competitive, relentless, and at some points, brutal environment of UNC’s women’s soccer program. Nonetheless, UNC definitely has and will continue to have a reputation that heavily impacts professional women’s soccer in the United States and abroad. 

Featured Image via Andy Mead/YCJ/Icon SMI/Corbis/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

_

GIRLS SOCCER NETWORK: YOUR SOURCE FOR GIRLS SOCCER NEWS