UNC's website lists these players on the WNT pool and they are not all exactly the top players nor even in the top 18. 2012 U.S. National Team Player Pool (6): Yael Averbuch, ‘08, MF; Whitney Engen, ‘09, D; Ashlyn Harris, ’09, GK; Tobin Heath, ‘09, MF; Meghan Klingenberg, ’10, MF; Heather O’Reilly, ‘06, MF.
Going back to Heather Mitts for a second: four days ago, someone asked her on Twitter whether the final game vs. China was going to be her last game. Her response was "Hope not! Guess that's up to our new coach." . . . .
This is standard practice for many venues. The cap can easily do the most damage when used as a projectile or allow contents to be held in the bottle. It's a good rule.
I'm not so sure about this. China is not nearly what they once were. In the Spring of 2005 -- that's right, during college Spring practice -- the University of Portland's women beat the Mexican National Team. The next Fall, the U of P women won the national championship just as UNC did this year. I don't think UNC v China is as much of a long shot as you think. Of course, the Portland team had Sinclair, Rapinoe, Lopez-Cox, Woznuk-Kerr, Huie, and others.
Mexico then wasn't very good though. It's only been recently that they've been getting decent results. China, meanwhile, only loses to Japan by 1 goal or so in the Asian championships. China's okay, getting a bit better. It's just they play in the same region as Japan and Australia. And North Korea. All 3 are top 10 ranked, no?
I cant figure how Carolina scores. Look how many defenders China keeps back. They seemed most vulnerable to set pieces and high crosses into the box. Other than Bowen who serves a nice ball they mostly attack on the ground. Also, FIFA rules dont favor Carolina and their high press style. Also, a pretty decent Australia team lost to China in Sermanni's final game.