BELLINGHAM — In the anonymity of the far corner of the Northwest Soccer Park, one of Whatcom County’s most distinguished visitors from the world of athletics celebrated with the joy of a 12-year-old boy.

The University of North Carolina’s Anson Dorrance, the most accomplished women’s soccer coach in NCAA history, had just seen his Greensboro United 55-over men’s team score two goals in the final three minutes in a comeback that had him grinning from ear to ear.

Dorrance, who has coached 19 national champions and the Tar Heels women’s program to more than 600 victories in 28 seasons, made the final play with the panache and pride of a man 30 years younger.

He took a booming shot off his chest three seconds before the whistle sounded to end Greensboro’s 2-1 victory over highly rated Kutas of St. Louis in the opening round of the United States Adult Soccer Association Veteran’s Cup.

In his third year back on the pitch as a midfielder, Dorrance refuses to let what he calls “a useless right leg” interfere with the fun of playing soccer again after coaching Division I soccer since 1976.

Now Dorrance finds he never wants to quit playing. He already knew he had no intention of retiring from coaching.

“I hope to die of a heart attack on the sideline of a game against Duke, after having won,” he said with a smile.

Then he added: “That would be right after I’ve played in an over-80 tournament!”

Dorrance is inspired by the many older players in the tournament, which runs through Sunday and includes dozens of men’s and women’s teams in divisions from 30-over to 60- over.

“My heroes are the Japanese players in their 80s on one of the teams here,” he said. “If your local fans want to see the potential of the human spirit, this would be a great laboratory.”

Dorrance was a three-time all-conference selection and earned recognition in 2002 as one of the top 50 players in Atlantic Coast Conference history. Two years later, ESPN named him to its list of the best coaches over a 25-year span at any level of athletics.

“I came back as a player when I was 54 because I got a call from a friend, Tom O’Shea, who invited me to play with an old college teammate, Dan Ariel (who was part of Wednesday’s comeback).

“I had torn my right ACL in 1991 and never had it repaired,” he said. “So now I do everything off my left leg, and my right leg just sort of hangs there.”

That was hard to tell by watching him, although a blow to the calf in the first few moments worried him.

“It was my right calf, on my useless leg, and I was worried,” he said. “But I was able to continue. Now I’m just hoping to be able to play the rest of the tournament after we see how it responds.”

Dorrance got a special kick out of how his team won in an uncharacteristic July downpour — with two long free kicks and ferocious defense after falling behind 1-0 in the first 45-minute half.

He contained his excitement while talking about how Peter Uremovich scored with about three minutes to play and Jose Boyariso came through with less than a minute remaining.

Dorrance, who has coauthored two books on soccer, acknowledged he was fortunate to move into the coaching ranks during a time when soccer was far less known on the collegiate scene.

Born in 1951, he was only 25 in 1976 during his first season coaching the North Carolina men’s team. After the women’s program began in 1979, he coached both squads for 10 years.

“Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed coaching the men,” said Dorrance, who went 172- 65-21 with the men and has more than 800 victories overall. “But I felt I could have more impact with the women. I also enjoy how appreciative the women are. With the men, it was sometimes like a war getting them to do what I wanted them to do.”

Dorrance has won numerous national coach of the year honors and has coached many All- Americans, including Mia Hamm. He guided the U.S. women to the title in the first FIFA World Cup in 1991, and several of his players starred on the 1996 Olympic champions.

It’s no wonder that legendary Tar Heels basketball coach Dean Smith once said of Dorrance: “This is a women’s soccer school. We’re just keeping up with them.”