The Carolina RailHawks women entered this weekend with a 2-1-0 record after a 3-0 win in Virginia against the Richmond Kickers Destiny. The RailHawks' three goals at Richmond were tallied by NCSU forward Lindsay Vera, UNC midfielder and Chapel Hill native Sterling Smith and by former Memphis midfielder Ali Baker.

The RailHawks men and women were scheduled to host their first double-header of the 2008 season Saturday at WakeMed Soccer Park. The RailHawks USL-1 Men's team (2-0-3) was to face the Rochester Rhinos (0-4-2) following the women's game against the Carolina Dynamo.

In the RailHawks Women's first contest against the Carolina Dynamo in Greensboro on May 10, U.S. National Team defender Thori Bryan scored the first goal in RailHawks history on a corner kick by UNC forward Casey Nogueira. Also member of the U.S. U-20 team, Nogueira sealed the Dynamo's fate with a second goal that gave the RailHawks a 2-0 victory in their season opener.

For more information, see www.carolinarailhawks.com.

Kendall, Guilkey earn honors

Six North Carolina student-athletes have earned ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District honors, as announced Thursday by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). Barden Berry (men s golf) and Rachel Dawson (field hockey) earned at-large first-team honors and now are eligible for Academic All-America recognition. Former East Chapel Hill standout Heather Kendell (field hockey) Fletcher Gregory (men s lacrosse), Philip Owen (men s swimming), and Kara Wright (gymnastics) were named to the men s and women s at-large second teams. All were seniors during the 2007-08 school year except Wright, a sophomore.

Also on the list was University Georgia swimmer Karen Guilkey of Chapel Hill, who was N.C. independent school state champion in the 100 butterfly when she was a student at Durham Academy. The ESPN honors come after Guilkey already earned an SEC McWhorter Postgraduate Scholarship and an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship, two the top honors available to college athletes. She also earned Honorable Mention All-America certificates for her performances at the NCAA Championships in her junior and sophomore years.

The ESPN Academic All-District at-large teams are open to student-athletes from the sports of women's bowling, women's crew, men's and women's fencing, field hockey, men's and women's golf, men's and women's gymnastics, men's and women's ice hockey, men's and women's lacrosse, men's and women's rifle, men's and women's skiing, men's and women's swimming, men's and women's tennis, men's volleyball, men's and women's water polo and wrestling. To be a candidate for the honor, a student-athlete must be a starter or key reserve and must carry a cumulative grade point average of 3.2 or better.

Kendell, of Chapel Hill, graduated with distinction in December after earning double major in biology and exercise and sport science. As a senior, she was a key reserve on the Carolina s 24-0 field hockey squad and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa the day after the Tar Heels won the NCAA title. The recipient of an ACC Weaver-James-Corrigan Postgraduate Scholarship, Kendell is a member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars and graduated with a 3.76 GPA. She was named to the Academic All-District second team for the second year in a row.

No easy way around the bases

Third-seeded North Carolina beat Wake Forest 2-0 Friday, but Virginia's win over Florida State meant the Cavaliers clinched a spot in Sunday's ACC championship game. Under the ACC tournament's unique format, the two teams who win their four-team pools will meet Sunday for the title.

In the wee hours of Thursday morning, John Barr scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch in the top of the 11th inning, then made a diving catch off a blooper hit in the bottom of the inning to end the game and give Virginia an 8-7 victory over North Carolina.

The Tar Heels (45-11), ranked No. 1 in three of the four major college baseball polls and the defending ACC champion, led 4-3 entering the ninth. Virginia (37-19) rallied to take a 5-4 lead, highlighted by Barr's RBI single. Carolina tied it in the bottom of the ninth on Dustin Ackley's RBI triple.

Michael Schwimer, the ACC's save leader, blew only his second save opportunity of the season in the ninth, failed to protect another lead in the 10th, but settled for getting the victory to improve his record to 3-1.

Friday against Wake Forest, the Tar Heels got excellent pitching from starter Matt Harvey, who went eight innings and struck out 13 batters, retiring 24 of 27 batters. Rob Wooten and Brian Moran combined for a perfect ninth. UNC's runs were scored by Ackley and Tim Fedroff, who each went 2-4 at the plate.

The NCAA tournament begins Friday, with Carolina expected to host a regional.

Watts signs

Durham Jordan senior Justin Watts has signed a National Letter of Intent to play men's basketball and attend the University of North Carolina. Watts played for Coach Kim Annas at Jordan, where he averaged 24.4 points, 8.7 rebounds and 2.0 rebounds per game. Watts, a 6-3, 180-pound guard, had a season-high 34 points against Northern Durham. Also an outstanding student, Watts was the Pac-6 Conference Player of the Year, the District 6 Player of the Year, and three-time all-conference selection and Jordan Most Valuable Player.

Heels march on

UNC's sixth-ranked tandem of Taylor Fogleman and Chris Kearney scored a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Ashwin Kumar and Sasha Ermakov of Harvard on Friday afternoon to advance to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Doubles Championship. The win improves their overall record this season to 22-9, including a 10-2 mark in tournament play.

Fogleman and Kearney's next match was Saturday against either Mississippi's Jonas Berg and Erling Tveit (seeded fifth) or Illinois' Billy Heiser and Ryan Rowe (11th).

UNC goes 2-1

The North Carolina women's basketball team defeated the French Junior National Team 73-59 on Tuesday, but fell 91-87 Friday to the Swiss National Team. Rashanda McCants led the team with 31 points in the victory over the French and had 21 in her team's defeat.

UNC has been touring Europe and made a stop in England (where they beat a local all-star team) before heading to the continent, where they will visit Munich before returning home.