CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- After being doused by players for his 400th victory four years ago, North Carolina women's soccer coach Anson Dorrance figured he might get it again for No. 500.
Dorrance was right, but still wasn't prepared when three players dumped a water bucket over his back after he reached the milestone Thursday night.
"I had a suspicion that might happen and like a fool I didn't
wear my rain gear," Dorrance said following North Carolina's 3-0 victory over Clemson. "That's a lack of coaching experience. The timing was great because I was absolutely shocked and I am standing here freezing to absolute death."
Dorrance became just the third soccer coach in NCAA Division I to win 500 games and the first women's coach to reach the mark.
Dorrance joins University of San Francisco men's coach Stephen Negoesco, who won 544 games from 1962-2000, and Jerry Yeagley, who has won 505 games in 29 years as the men's coach at Indiana. Yeagley won his 500th game on Oct. 5.
Dorrance also is the only coach to win 500 combined games
coaching men and women. He had a 172-65-21 record as the North
Carolina men's coach from 1976-88 and has 672 victories overall. He
added coaching duties for the women's team in 1978 and is 500-22-11
in 23 years.
"It's really special for us because Anson never asked anything from us for him," said Anne Remy, who scored two goals against Clemson. "It's an amazing accomplishment."
On a down note for the Tar Heels, highly talented junior forward Susan Bush was ruled out for the season for a second straight year with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee. Bush tore her right ACL last Oct. 25 and missed the remainder of the 2000 season. It was determined Thursday the star striker suffered a similar tear in her left ACL last Friday in Carolina’s 4-1 victory over Florida State. No date for the surgery has been set.
North Carolina athletics director Dick Baddour presented Dorrance with the game ball and Tar Heels players gave him a sign that said "Anson, Just Amazing" during a postgame ceremony.
Dorrance, who reached the milestone with members of his family
in the stands along with several members of the North Carolina men's basketball team, acknowledged the accomplishment in typical nonchalant fashion.
"Obviously, because of the success we've had here I'm forced to
address different streaks, but we never really planned on all
this," Dorrance said. "It wasn't some sort of master plan. We
just worked hard and did as best as we could."
What Dorrance has done is pilot arguably the best -- and least
known -- dynasty in college athletics.
John Wooden won 10 NCAA titles in 12 years as UCLA's basketball coach and Dan Gable won 15 wrestling titles in 21 years with Iowa, but Dorrance's run has been even more dominating.
Under Dorrance, North Carolina has won 16 of 19 national championships since the NCAA began sanctioning women's soccer in 1982 and has reached at least the semifinals every year. The Tar Heels won nine straight titles from 1986-94 and four of the last five, including last year.
North Carolina also won the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women national title in 1981 and claimed the last 12 Atlantic Coast Conference titles.
The Tar Heels have not lost more than three games in a season
under Dorrance since finishing 21-5 in 1980 and have lost two in a
row once since 1982. With the victory over Clemson, the Tar Heels
improved to 13-0 this season and have won 21 straight dating to
last year.
Dorrance has also coached eight NCAA national players of the
year and 12 U.S. National Team players, including Mia Hamm, Carla
Overbeck and Cindy Parlow. He guided the U.S. to the Women's World
Cup title in 1991.
"He's incredible in so many ways," said Parlow, a forward for the WUSA's Atlanta Beat and member of three Tar Heels championship teams. "He brings out the best in everyone and teaches his players so much more than just the game of soccer."