Bella Devey has some serious bounce. The first-year midfielder proved it after scoring her third goal of the season on Thursday.
Devey cut inside on her right foot just outside the area and fired a shot toward the goal. The ball took a deflection off a defender and sailed into the back of the net. Devey then ran toward the UNC bench. She launched herself into a cartwheel, using the springs in her boots and contorting her body in mid-air to perform a backflip. She stuck the landing to the awe and delight of her teammates. There were no judges present, but even professional soccer players Romelu Lukaku and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang might have been impressed.
“Sometimes you just got to let your young ones go out there and be who they are,” head coach Damon Nahas said. “That celebration was a product of that. They’ve been working on it for a while.”
Bella’s backflip put an exclamation point on a comprehensive and convincing 4-0 victory for the No. 23 North Carolina women’s soccer team against Alabama Thursday night at Dorrance Field. The win marked four straight for the Tar Heels and their first against a Power Four opponent this season.
Sophomore midfielder Linda Ullmark recorded three assists in the game, becoming the first UNC player to do that since Avery Patterson in 2022. 2024 Mac Hermann Trophy winner senior forward Kate Faasse scored twice — markingher second brace of the season. She now leads the team with five goals and 13 points in the first seven games.
“There was such a balance,” Nahas said. “We have such a young team that you just saw them go for it. They were brave. They did the defensive work. They had the creative moments. The goals were phenomenal. Our core value for this month is selflessness. They were selfless today, and they were committed to win as a team.”
For Nahas and his squad, much of the preseason and opening run of fixtures has been about putting the pieces of a new team together, building confidence and relationships. The Tar Heels tested themselves early with road trips to Tennessee and Georgia, but failed to score a goal in those games, losing both 2-0. UNC won four games at home against mid-major competition, but had yet to record a big win.
After a meeting on Wednesday, Nahas knew his three captains, Faasse, senior midfielder Tessa Dellarose and graduate goalkeeper Marisa Shorrock, were locked in and bought in. He also knew that would trickle down to the rest of the team because of their strong leadership.
“I felt that connection,” Ullmark said. “It’s been growing for a while. We’ve had a couple of losses, so to find that connection and energy with the entire team, we brought our game to a whole new level.”