After a brief two-year stint away from the throne, North Carolina used a perfect season to return to dominance in women's soccer, completing the campaign with a resounding 6-0 win over Connecticut in the Women's College Cup championship game.

Lindsay Tarpley scored two goals and added two assists and Heather O'Reilly had two goals and an assist for the Tar Heels, who have won 17 of the 22 championships played. It was the fourth time North Carolina had beaten Connecticut in the final. All have been shutouts.

North Carolina shut out everyone during the tournament, in fact. The Tar Heels breezed through their six tournament games by a combined 32-0 score.

In the championship game -- played December 7 at SAS Soccer Park in Cary, North Carolina -- Tarpley scored just over seven minutes into the game to get the Tar Heels moving. Then O'Reilly fed Lori Chalupny in the 30th minute to provide North Carolina with a two-goal halftime advantage.

O'Reilly's two second-half goals gave her eight for the tournament, one more than Mia Hamm's previous school record of seven.

North Carolina (27-0) outshot the 15-6-3 Huskies, 13-3, in the first half and 26-4 for the game.

"The game looked promising in the beginning," said Connecticut coach Len Tsantiris, who has led the Huskies since 1981 and is the second all-time winningest women's soccer coach behind North Carolina's Anson Dorrance. "We got our chances early but could not connect on any of them. They got the goals on their chances, while we were unable to get at least one out of our opportunities. That definitely had its effect on the game."

Tsantiris said O'Reilly's first goal after the break broke the game open.

"After they scored the third goal, it was tough mentally to fight back," he said.

The Tar Heels followed with two more goals in the next three minutes, one each by O'Reilly and Tarpley, to prove the point. Alyssa Ramsey scored a goal in the last minute to account for the final score.

Connecticut was the first unseeded team to reach the final since the tournament went to a 64-team field. Dorrance said Connecticut's ride was an example of the parity in women's soccer, despite the Tar Heels' dominance in the tournament.

"When you talk about parity, the way people customarily use it, it's leveling it out at the top. Parity has taken an unseeded team like Connecticut and put them in a position to play for the national championship," Dorrance said. "Even though parity makes it tough on us, I think it makes it tougher on everyone else. A perfect example is Connecticut shooting through this year's tournament field. We're seeding 16 and for an unseeded team to be playing in the final, I think that's a wonderful example of parity -- of parity through the entire NCAA bracket, not just through the season."

The 17-time champion coach also said the Huskies had a better game plan than the score indicated.

"Like few teams we have played this year, they were able to get behind us and for a while made our defense look very disorganized," he said. "On transition, they were one of the best teams we played. We exert great pressure on the ball and during different stretches of the game, Connecticut was able to possess the ball under withering pressure, so I congratulate Lenny and his athletes.

"But obviously, with our athleticism, it was tough for them to stay with us for 90 minutes."

No one stayed with the Tar Heels during the tournament, or during the season. North Carolina dispatched High Point, North Carolina-Greensboro, Purdue, Santa Clara and UCLA before the final against Connecticut. The semifinal win against UCLA was a 3-0 conquest, the same margin of victory the Tar Heels enjoyed in a 5-2 regular-season win over the Bruins.

Connecticut defeated Florida State, 2-0, in the semifinal game. The Seminoles were making just their fourth appearance in the tournament.

Semifinals

Second half: C -- Kristen Graczyk (Jessica Gjersten), 62:02; C -- Graczyk (Gjersten, Kristin Fisher), 81:51.

Shots: Connecticut 14, Florida St. 19. Goalkeeper saves: Connecticut (Erin Rice) 3, Florida St. (Joy McKenzie) 3. Corner kicks: Connecticut 4, Florida St. 4. Fouls: Connecticut 15, Florida St. 14.

First half: NC -- Kendall Fletcher (Alyssa Ramsey), 23:34; NC -- Own goal, 28:48.

Second half: NC -- Heather O'Reilly (unassisted), 85:32.

Shots: UCLA 5, North Carolina 22. Goalkeeper saves: UCLA (Arianna Criscione) 8, North Carolina (Aly Winget) 1. Corner kicks: UCLA 3, North Carolina 10. Fouls: UCLA 11, North Carolina 6.

Championship

First half: NC -- Lindsay Tarpley (Lori Chalupny, Maggie Tomecka), 7:50; NC -- Chalupny (Heather O'Reilly), 30:04.

Second half: NC -- O'Reilly (Tarpley), 56:57; NC -- Tarpley (Alyssa Ramsey, Tomecka), 58:48; NC -- O'Reilly (Tarpley, Kendall Fletcher), 60:45; NC -- Ramsey (unassisted), 89:40.

Shots: Connecticut 4, North Carolina 26. Goalkeeper saves: Connecticut (Erin Rice 7, Megan Jessee 1) 8, North Carolina (Aly Winget) 0. Corner kicks: Connecticut 1, North Carolina 7. Fouls: Connecticut 12, North Carolina 9.