Hall of Fame coach Anson Dorrance is embarking on what amounts to an unusual continuation of the 2020 women’s soccer season with North Carolina.
The Tar Heels played an abbreviated schedule in the fall, going undefeated until losing to Florida State in the ACC title game. Now North Carolina is playing seven games against nonconference opponents with hopes of securing a high seed for the NCAA tournament.
Meanwhile, across the country, Washington State coach Todd Shulenberger and his team are just starting their season.
The jumbled state of women’s college soccer is emblematic of the impact the coronavirus pandemic — and the different responses to it nationwide — had on fall sports after the NCAA pushed championships, except for football, to the spring.