Allen relishes starting role with UNC soccer

Jun. 30—GREENSBORO — There were times last season when Emmie Allen took a moment just to soak it all in.

It wasn’t long ago when she was a fan in the stands, and now she was on the field in the middle of the action.

“The first full game I played was against Duke at Duke,” she said. “That was crazy. I just remember at one point looking around the stands and being like, ‘Not only am I playing at UNC, I’m playing in UNC vs. Duke.’ That’s what every kid in North Carolina dreams of. That was pretty cool.”

Allen, who’s from High Point and played at High Point Christian, has skyrocketed into the role of starting goalkeeper for North Carolina’s women’s soccer team — one of the country’s top collegiate programs in any sport — and very nearly won a national title.

“It’s definitely a dream come true,” she said recently following a summer league match. “It was always a dream of mine to play in the national championship and win a national championship.

“The way it happened it’s taken some time to realize I got to accomplish that dream — not many people get to do that. I think about it like nightly how I’m literally living a dream playing soccer at UNC.”

Allen was at HPCA two years, playing the 2017 girls soccer season with the Cougars — finishing with 129 saves and a .889 save percentage as an eighth-grader. Midway through her freshman year, she shifted to school online to accommodate her schedule with her club team, North Carolina FC in Raleigh.

The higher-level competition paid off with a scholarship from the Tar Heels, whom she wanted to play for since she was a little kid. Under head coach Anson Dorrance, UNC has won 21 of the 41 NCAA championships and has produced countless players who’ve played at the game’s highest levels.

Allen, a redshirt freshman who didn’t play in any games as a true freshman, split time in goal the first six matches last season. Then she locked down the full-time starting job in the conference opener against archrival Duke and held it the rest of the season, helping the Tar Heels tie for their 25th ACC regular-season title.

“I always had faith in myself,” Allen said. “But I was a redshirt freshman this past year, so it was definitely another thing to have Anson back me.”

She played in all 26 of UNC’s matches, ranking second in the ACC in goalkeeper minutes (2028:37) and goals against average (0.754), third in save percentage (.805) and fourth in saves (70). She finished the season with eight shutouts.

The Tar Heels beat Duke in a penalty kick shootout in the ACC Tournament semifinals — Allen made two saves. Then, in the later rounds of the NCAA Tournament, UNC defeated powerhouses Notre Dame and Florida State.

Suddenly, Allen and the Tar Heels were playing for a national championship against UCLA at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary.

“I remember going to my first College Cup — I was in the seventh grade,” Allen said. “I’ve grown up going to Courage games, which are all played at WakeMed. Just in the Final Four, playing on that field — it was so surreal.

“I don’t have the words. It was sold-out, so there were like 10,000 people there. Like I did in the Duke game, I took the time to just look around. I was like, ‘I cannot believe I am right here right now — this is so cool.'”

UCLA rallied past UNC to win the title in overtime. And then Allen suffered an injury during the spring season. So, this summer she’s been working to come back — playing with the NC Courage U23 team, featuring some of the top college players from the area as well as former national team member Heather O’Reilly.

The aim is to keep gaining experience and be ready to make another run in the fall.

“This year I’m looking forward to the season knowing what happens, knowing the emotions and the mentality I have to have,” Allen said. “It’s definitely a different mentality going into this season.

“Last season I just didn’t know what was going to happen — it was the first time for everything. This year, now that I know what’s going to happen, I can focus more directly on goals.”

[email protected] — @HPEmichael