11/20/09 - Growing up in Lynchburg, Heritage High graduate Brielle Spencer and her family made an annual trek to Chapel Hill, N.C., nearly every November to watch the University of North Carolina’s women’s soccer team play in the early rounds of the NCAA tournament.

Last Friday, Spencer, now a sophomore at High Point University, started at central defender against the fourth-ranked Tar Heels in the NCAA opener and helped the Panthers hold the defending national champions scoreless for nearly 70 minutes on their home field.

UNC (18-3-1) eventually prevailed, 1-0, ending the season for High Point (7-15-2), which won six of its final eight games, five by shutout. But it was the thrill of a lifetime for Spencer and her teammates.

“To play in one of the games that I grew up watching, it was a surreal experience,” Spencer said. “When I walked out of the locker room through the tunnel to start warming up for the game, I looked up into the stands and (thought), ‘Just a couple of years ago I was up in those stands watching this game.’ It was such an honor.”

Spencer, who as a freshman last fall was one of only two players to start all 21 games (the Panthers finished 8-5-8 in 2008), was making her 45th consecutive start and played all but the last two minutes of the 90-minute contest.

High Point (7-15-2), in its 11th season competing as a Division I program, qualified for its third NCAA tournament after sweeping through the Big South Conference tournament unscored upon, posting three consecutive shutouts — over Gardner-Webb, Radford and Winthrop. Spencer and fellow sophomore defender Danniel Rosado each earned all-tournament team honors.

“We played really well as a defense and our goalie played amazing,” Spencer said of senior Marisa Abbott, who made a career-high 14 saves in her final game.

The Panthers, who opened the season with four straight shutout losses — to Wake Forest, Virginia Tech, Loyola (Md.) and Old Dominion University — entered the tournament as the seventh seed after going 4-4-1 in Big South play.

In the BSC championship game, High Point edged Winthrop, 4-2 in penalty kicks, after the two teams played to a scoreless tie through regulation and two overtime periods. It was the Panthers’ second tie — both against the Eagles — and eighth and final shutout, matching last season’s school-record mark.

The match pitted Spencer and the Panthers against Brookville graduate Nichole Smith and the Eagles.

“Nichole and I have known each other forever,” Spencer said. “We were rivals in high school, but we like each other and respect each other so much.

“I thought it was so neat that two Lynchburg natives were playing each other on the stage that we were … in the final.”

In the regular-season meeting at Winthrop, the two met face-to-face on the field.

“She came in as a forward and I had to defend her and I told her, ‘It’s just like old times,’” Spencer recalled.

All three times the Panthers have made the NCAA tournament field, they have faced UNC in the first round.

This was the most competitive showdown so far, by far, after High Point lost 8-0 in 2003 and 6-1 in 2007.

“There were definitely nerves before the game,” Spencer said. “We were playing against some of the best players in the country and several national team players. In our minds, we’re like, ‘We’re playing the University of North Carolina, the dynasty of women’s soccer.’ But once we got started, we just said to ourselves, ‘It’s just another game. Let’s give it all we have and play with all our heart.

“We played for 70 minutes against Carolina without allowing a goal,” she added. ”Not that many teams in the country can say that. We were on an emotional high. That was amazing.”

Despite being outshot by the Tar Heels, 31-0, the Panthers extended their scoreless streak to 443 minutes.

Spencer was in awe, but not overwhelmed, guarding players she used to cheer for.

“I remember watching one of their forwards, No. 98, Tobin Heath,” she said. “It was so cool because I got to defend her. I got to take the ball from her.”

Spencer has made the transition to the college game more smoothly than most of her peers.

After tearing her ACL in high school, she was not as mobile as usual at midfield for her senior season at Heritage, wearing a bulky brace on her knee. She shifted back to her natural position of defender and has remained injury-free since arriving at High Point.

“In club soccer, I always played defense,” Spencer said. “I love it. That’s definitely my preferred position. I love to anchor the back line as we work together as a unit to keep control of the game, if we can.”

Panthers first-year coach Marty Beall shifted the team from a 4-5-1 to a 3-4-3 formation before the BSC tournament.

“He re-evaluated and looked at the players we had and the teams we were going to play so we could develop into a better team and ... he was spot on,” Spencer said. “We took the new formation and we ran with it and became very successful.”

She said the new formation was more challenging, but also more effective.

“It required us as defenders to be fitter, work harder and to take responsibility even more,” Spencer said. “The three of us stepped up and took responsibility pretty well.”

She prepared herself for her sophomore year once her freshman season was finished, just as she began doing for her junior year on Monday.

“We actually started off-season weight lifting tonight,” Spencer said by phone on Monday. “That will go through the winter and in the spring it becomes even more intense and it builds in intensity from there.

“I’ve put in so much work during the summer, during the school year, getting my body as fit as I can by doing so much running and lifting, and watching what I eat,” she added. “I’m concentrating on doing everything I can to … reach my highest potential.”

Beall keeps the Panthers motivated by setting ambitious goals.

“Our coach has given us a challenge as a team to try to repeat as Big South Tournament champions and to win the regular season (next fall),” Spencer said after Monday night’s team meeting. “He challenged us to work absolutely as hard as we can to reach that goal.”

She remains equally committed in the classroom and ambitious in the academic realm.

A math major with a minor in physics, Spencer got straight A’s as a freshman and maintains a 4.0 GPA.

The honors program student also is working on her secondary education licensure so she can become a high school teacher.

“I actually want to come back to Heritage to teach, and coach in the Lynchburg area,” Spencer said.

“If the opportunity presents itself, I’d like to coach there, too.”

She took 10 AP classes at Heritage that prepared her well for the college course load she’s shouldering now.

“I had a great time at Heritage,” Spencer said. “I loved my teachers there. So many of them had such a big impact on me and laid the foundation for my success here.

“The way they prepared me, I can’t thank them enough.”

She wants to return the favor to future Pioneers.

“I want to give them a great foundation and inspire them,” Spencer said.

-Ted Allen