The statistics are staggering: 17 NCAA titles — including nine straight between 1986 and 1994 —-only 27 losses in 27 years, a 103-game undefeated streak in the late 1980s, dozens of player-of-the-year and coach-of-the-year honors. Sportswriters have used words such as "legendary" and "dominant" to describe them.

The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, women’s soccer program is without question the most successful collegiate program in the sport’s history.

After the team’s most recent championship in 2003 — a season in which the team ran the table for the fourth time — Sports Illustrated On Campus named the program the greatest college dynasty of all time, ahead of the John Wooden-era University of California, Los Angeles, basketball teams and the Bud Wilkinson-coached University of Oklahoma football teams. It is not surprising then that North Carolina’s dominance in women’s soccer, culminating in the 2003 run to the title, is one of the NCAA’s 25 Defining Moments.

Coach Anson Dorrance built the program from its beginnings in 1979 to the powerhouse it still is today. Former Sports Illustrated writer Tim Crothers first met Dorrance in the early 1980s when Crothers was a student journalist working for North Carolina’s student paper and was instantly fascinated by Dorrance’s unorthodox character and the grinding playing style of his student-athletes. After several years of working as a sportswriter, Crothers approached Dorrance about writing a book. Dorrance agreed, and the relationship began.

Crothers was instantly struck by what he called the "chaos" of Dorrance’s coaching style — the team frequently was late to games or nearly missed flights because they wanted to see a movie or stopped off on the way for snacks.

"You assume coming into the program that you’re going to see this military discipline and they’re going to be run through their paces and Anson is going to be this dictator who is running this very tight ship, and it could not be further from the truth," Crothers said. "Anson sometimes has trouble remembering the names of his players. They often arrive late for games. It is total chaos. You would never in a million years think that."

Crothers believes Dorrance’s disorderly nature can take the pressure off the student-athletes. The laid-back nature of Dorrance’s approach to travel and competition time translated to practice as well — Crothers said he never saw him yell at a player in five years. Instead, he said Dorrance uses a sarcastic sense of humor and fosters a sense of competition among his players to motivate them.

Though the national title has become less of a sure thing for North Carolina because of increased parity in the sport, the Tar Heel program remains among the best in the country, respected by other coaches, particularly in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Steve Swanson coaches the University of Virginia women’s soccer team that won the ACC title in 2004 and finished as runner-up to the Tar Heels in 2005.

"It’s pretty remarkable what they’ve done. The whole program has done a lot for our sport and certainly set the bar," Swanson said.

The program has a rich history, a tradition of winning that can be formidable to any opponent, but many in the ACC relish meeting such a team on a regular basis — even if they come out on the losing end. Swanson said any coach who doesn’t look forward to and appreciate playing a team of North Carolina’s caliber should look for a different job.

"That’s the thing that excites you — you get to play the team that sets the standard, raises the bar," he said. "Our players accept that. They value that. We try to make our own history here at Virginia. What’s so amazing about their program is that they’ve been able to do it year in and year out — that’s not easy, either. It’s one thing to be a top-20 program in one year, but to win as many national championships as (Dorrance) has and to be as successful as he has, that’s pretty special."

Mark Krikorian, who coaches conference rival Florida State University’s team, said his student-athletes give North Carolina — and all their opponents — the respect due to them. Being recognized by the NCAA is one more way the program provides a measure by which other coaches can evaluate their own successes.

"I can’t imagine there are too many stories that are a whole lot more impressive in terms of the string of success that they’ve had. In some ways, as an outsider looking in, I think it’s a great model for what all the programs strive to achieve," Krikorian said. "It’s been fantastic for the sport. They’ve defined excellence over the course of 25 years."