CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The Milwaukee women's soccer team gave nationally-ranked North Carolina all it could handle for most of the contest Sunday afternoon before falling by a final score of 4-1 at Dorrance Field.
 
The Panthers (1-4-1) played solidly against the No. 22 Tar Heels (4-2-0), tying the game on a goal by Mallory McGuire and playing even with the reigning NCAA National Championship squad until the home side found the go-ahead goal in the 53^rd minute.
 
"North Carolina is a very good team," head coach Kevin Boyd said. "They are the defending national champs, and we were playing them at their place on a Sunday, so second game of the weekend with us on the travel … that's always going to be quite a challenge. I thought we battled – the score was 1-1 at halftime which was good."
 
Down 1-0 after UNC struck first in the seventh minute, the MKE offense found its groove and created better pressure and came up with some quality chances in addition to some corner kicks.
 
"There were some definite good moments for us, especially in the first half," Boyd said. "Second half, we started seeing it go away a bit and they had a lot more of the ball than us and that's where you could see they got three unanswered goals."
 
McGuire found what was the equalizer at the 20:44 mark, starting with Lola Wojcik creating the opportunity – winning a ball near the sideline before driving to the middle of the field. Her feed found McGuire, who did the rest, scoring for the second outing in a row with a great finish she blasted inside the near post to mark the first goal the UNC defense had conceded at home this season in four games.
 
"The character pieces were all there, they're just better than us right now," Boyd said. "We have to keep building what we're doing. But all in all, I think it was a solid game for us and hopefully it just keeps us getting better. I mean that's really the goal of it is 'can we keep getting better?' If we can carry this forward and take these lessons we are learning from playing top teams and put that into our game, that will help us become the team we want to be."
 
Bella Hollenbach played solidly in net for the visitors, finishing the afternoon with eight saves. She came up with great stops in the 25^th, 31^st, and 33^rd minutes to get the game to 1-1 at the break and then performed even better in the second half from a standpoint of quality of stops.
 
She made a great save to punch a UNC attempt over the bar in the 60^th minute and then made a spectacular initial stop of a Tar Heel rush in the 77^th minute, only to see the rebound go right to a Carolina player for the insurance score.
 
Milwaukee did not create as many chances in the second, the best being a 20-yard free kick from the top of the box, sent just high by Kristina Karlof.
 
Up next, the Panthers will play just one game next week, traveling to Minnesota Sept. 5, with the matchup slated to start at 6 p.m.