| Sport: | women's soccer |
| Year: | 2021 |
| Team: | North Carolina Tar Heels |
| Conference: | Atlantic Coast Conference |
| Short Conf: | ACC |
| Record: | 12–3–3 |
| Conf Record: | 5–2–3 |
| Head Coach: | Anson Dorrance |
| Hc Year: | 45th |
| Asst Coach1: | Chris Ducar |
| Ac1 Year: | 26th |
| Asst Coach2: | Damon Nahas |
| Ac2 Year: | 6th |
| Asst Coach3: | Heather O'Reilly |
| Ac3 Year: | 3rd |
| Tourney: | NCAA Tournament |
| Tourney Result: | First Round |
| Nscaarank: | 14 |
| Tdsrank: | 17 |
| Prev Year: | 2020 |
| Next Year: | 2022 |
The 2021 North Carolina Tar Heels women's soccer team represented the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill during the 2021 NCAA Division I women's soccer season. It was the 45th season of the university fielding a program. The Tar Heels were led by 45th year head coach Anson Dorrance and played their home games at Dorrance Field in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
They finished the season 12–3–3, 5–2–3 in ACC play to finish in a tie for sixth place. Only six teams qualified for the ACC Tournament and the Tar Heels lost the tiebreaker to Wake Forest and did not qualify for the tournament. This was the first time in program history that North Carolina missed out on the ACC Tournament.[1] They received an at-large bid to the 2021 NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Tournament where they lost to South Carolina in the First Round. Their First Round exit was the earliest exit of any NCAA Tournament they had participated in.
See main article: 2020 North Carolina Tar Heels women's soccer team.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the ACC played a reduced schedule in 2020 and the NCAA Tournament was postponed to 2021.[2] [3] The ACC did not play a spring league schedule, but did allow teams to play non-conference games that would count toward their 2020 record in the lead up to the NCAA Tournament.[4]
The Tar Heels finished the fall season 11–1–0, 8–0–0 in ACC play to finish in first place. As the second seed in the ACC Tournament, they defeated Virginia Tech, and Virginia, before losing to Florida State in the final. The Tar Heels finished the spring season 4–0 and received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. As the second seed in the tournament, they defeated Denver in the Second Round, Washington in the Third Round, and Texas A&M in the Quarterfinals before losing to Santa Clara in the Semifinals to end their season.
| Position | Staff | |
|---|---|---|
| Athletic Director | Bubba Cunningham | |
| Head coach | Anson Dorrance | |
| Associate head coach | Damon Nahas | |
| Assistant Coach | Chris Ducar | |
| Assistant Coach | Heather O'Reilly | |
| Director of Operations | Tom Sander |
Source:[5]
Source:[6]
|-!colspan=6 style=""| Exhibition|-!colspan=6 style=""| Non-conference Regular season|-!colspan=6 style=""| ACC Regular Season|-!colspan=6 style=""| NCAA Tournament
| Recipient | Award | Date | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maycee Bell | Preseason All-ACC Team | August 12 | [7] |
| Rachel Jones | |||
| Claudia Dickey | Preseason Hermann Trophy Watchlist | August 19 | [8] |
| Rachel Jones | |||
| Claudia Dickey | ACC Defensive Player of the Week | August 31 | [9] |
| Avery Patterson | ACC Co-defensive Player of the Week | October 5 | [10] |
| Maycee Bell | All-ACC First Team | November 4 | [11] |
| Sam Meza | All-ACC Second Team | ||
| Claudia Dickey | All-ACC Third Team | ||
| Emily Colton | ACC All-Freshman Team | ||
| Emily Murphy |
See also: 2021 NCAA Division I women's soccer rankings.
See main article: 2022 NWSL Draft.
Source:[12]