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CHAPEL HILL -- Anna Rodenbough used to be the kid who cried every time she gave up a goal. Now she's the goalkeeper for a North Carolina women's soccer team that is poised to compete in the NCAA College Cup tonight against undefeated UCLA at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary.

"It feels amazing, especially since it's my senior year," Rodenbough said. "We obviously want to go out on top, so it's wonderful to get the opportunity to do that."

The Grimsley High School grad said the UNC seniors have experienced a lot of "lasts" this season, including the last game they played on their home turf at Fetzer Field. But she said they want to play their final game Sunday for the national championship against the winner of today's Stanford-Notre Dame matchup.

North Carolina has won 18 NCAA crowns under head coach Anson Dorrance. As a member of the '87 Greensboro Twisters, the '85 and '86 Winston-Salem Twins and as a Whirlie at Grimsley, Rodenbough also became accustomed to winning.

"I did know that playing in the Triad would develop me as a player, and I had a lot of great coaches there that helped in that regard," she said.

Longtime UNC goalkeepers coach Chris Ducar has watched Rodenbough play since the Greensboro native was 10 years old, traveling with club teams in the Olympic Development Program. Ducar said her fitness and kicking skills needed improvement, but what she did in goal was "exquisite." Still, Ducar said, the Tar Heels weren't recruiting Rodenbough.

"But I thought enough of her to say, 'Hey, I'll call other schools,' " Ducar recalled.

Ducar said he spoke so highly of Rodenbough's skills and character to other coaches that they started asking, "'If she's that good, then why aren't you recruiting her?'"

So the Heels did. Ducar warned her that the chances of playing were remote, but when Rodenbough committed to North Carolina, she told the assistant that she would fight her way onto a team for which she had wanted to play since childhood.

Rodenbough started as the Heels' No. 4 goalie as a freshman. She ended the year as a starter and the winning goalie in the 2005 ACC tournament final. In 2006, Rodenbough started all 28 games and helped North Carolina win the NCAA championship.

But with the arrival of highly touted recruit Ashlyn Harris in 2007, the Tar Heels switched to a platoon system in which Rodenbough and Harris split time in goal. They've stuck with that rotation this year.

"We play players that we think can help us win," Ducar said. "Based on Anna's performance and Ashlyn's performance, they've earned the right to play. We're not going to sacrifice one for the other."

This season, Rodenbough has started 14 of 25 games, recording 30 saves in 1,194 minutes played.

"Here's a kid that we told she was never going to play, tried to get to go somewhere else," Ducar said. "I think that's why it's amazing that she was able to come into maybe the most competitive program in the country."

Ducar calls Rodenbough, 21, a generous and sensitive person who always tries to help her teammates.

"She's an extraordinary young woman, so I don't want to think about her leaving yet," he said.

Rodenbough, who majors in applied science and biomedical engineering, is scheduled to graduate in December 2009. After that, she might trade in her cleats for a white lab coat.

The dean's list regular might forgo trying out for the Women's Professional Soccer League that will launch in April 2009 and apply to medical school to study infectious disease, oncology or pediatrics. Rodenbough said doing research for classes could be more taxing than blocking soccer balls at times.

"When you do research in a lab, there's a lot of emotions that tend to come up because nothing ever works the first time or the second or many times after that," she said. "Keeping your composure is hard."

Rodenbough said the lessons she has learned in the lab have translated to the field.

"You have to be committed," she said, "or you're not going to get results."

Her results in four seasons as a goalkeeper at North Carolina speak for themselves.