Soccer Columnist Steve Davis

North Carolina hasn't won an NCAA title in two seasons, which almost qualifies as a full-blown crisis for the longtime standard bearer of women's college soccer.

But the Tar Heels certainly remain a giant in the women's field, even if they aren't as dominant as the tour de force that ruled college soccer through the late 1980s and '90s.

Anson Dorrance, easily the most successful coach in women's college soccer history, starts his team's 2006 campaign in Texas. The Tar Heels play Friday in College Station before traveling north to face SMU at 1 p.m. Sunday.

That match will be at Pizza Hut Park – the first college soccer game inside Frisco's 20,500-seat facility.

The Tar Heels haven't so much slipped as much as a few other programs have caught up – programs such as Notre Dame, which has thrived under Irving native and former Baylor coach Randy Waldrum.

Notre Dame also appears on SMU's schedule this year, along with LSU and Mississippi as Mustangs coach John Cossaboon turns up the degree of difficulty.

"I've never been in a situation where these tests didn't come back to provide dividends later," Cossaboon said.

UNC will certainly provide a test, even for an SMU team with a more mature roster in its fourth season under Cossaboon.

Even if it can't be as dominant as before, Dorrance's program still boasts some truly staggering numbers. For instance, the Tar Heels have lost only 27 matches in his 27 years there.

UNC's overall record under Dorrance (602-27-18) represents a .944 percentage. And UNC has won 18 of the 25 national championships in college women's soccer.

They win by attracting the best talent, like Heather O'Reilly, a senior forward who has already been part of the national team pool since 2002.

How did Cossaboon land a contest against the Tar Heels, a team topping the wish list of every coach looking to steel his club through tough matches?

The two have a long relationship going back to the late 1970s, when Cossaboon was a graduate student and an assistant to Dorrance at UNC. Through the years, they've maintained a relationship through the mutual interest of building college soccer.

E-mail stevedavis@dallasnews.com

Keeping score in area soccer:

1. Carla Overbeck: Richardson native, former UNC great and U.S. national team captain to be enshrined this weekend in the National Soccer Hall of Fame.

2. Jay Needham: SMU senior defender among 25 nationally named to 2006 Missouri Athletic Club's Hermann Trophy watch list.

3. UTD: Coach Jack Peel's steadily growing Division III program gets publicity boost, helping SMU while the Mustangs' new field matures.

4. Copa Tecate: National Hispanic amateur championship concludes Saturday at Pizza Hut Park; $15,000 at stake for the winners.

5. Nikki Washington: Former Mesquite resident returns to home state (to face Texas A&M and SMU) after graduating a year early to join UNC.