It doesn’t matter how you put a ball in the back of the net (aside from the whole “no hands” deal); it counts the same, but one college soccer player would probably prefer not to score too many more like this one.
The No. 24 Louisville Cardinals welcomed the No. 2 North Carolina Tar Heels to town Thursday night for their final regular-season match.
The Cardinals kept it close and trailed 2-1 in the 73rd minute when UNC goalkeeper Peyton Trayer prepared to clear the ball downfield.
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However, Louisville forward McKalie Ball applied some pressure, and while Trayer got the kick off, it clocked Ball square in the head and ricocheted into the empty cage.
That is not how the Cardinals drew it up, but Ball took that ball for the team.
Understandably, the freshman from Knoxville, Tennessee, went down hard and needed attention from the training staff before being helped off the field.
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Hopefully, she’s doing alright because taking a kick like that from point range has to be painful as hell, even if the fact that it wound up tying the match probably took a bit of the sting out of it.
Unfortunately, the Cardinals needed at least two more of those — or goals in the traditional sense; those count too — if they wanted to cap off their regular season campaign with a big win.
In the 79th minute, UNC’s Hope Munson scored to give the Tar Heels a 3-2 win.
UNC will look ahead to the ACC tournament which gets underway on Nov. 8, while the NCAA women’s soccer tournament begins on Nov. 20.