UNC field hockey sneaks past No. 5 Syracuse

Despite conceding two goals in the first half, the No. 2 North Carolina field hockey team mounted a thrilling comeback to defeat No. 5 Syracuse 3-2 in Friday’s home opener.

After a scoreless 22 minutes, Syracuse took the lead on a goal by Heather Susek. Receiving a cross from Leonie Geyer, Susek lifted the ball into the upper left corner past UNC goalie Caitlin Powers. It was the first goal given up by UNC this season.

Less than three minutes later, Liz McInerney extended the Syracuse lead to two goals off a penalty corner taken by Laura Hahnefeldt.

With the score 2-0, UNC entered halftime trailing for the first time this season.

“I was confident if we made a couple little changes and played harder together, moved the ball a little better, spread them out, that we would win the game,” coach Karen Shelton said.

In the second half, the Tar Heels came out firing, totaling 17 shots compared to one for the Orange.

UNC finally connected off a penalty corner in the Syracuse zone in the 50th minute. After a save by Syracuse goalie Leann Stiver, redshirt freshman Abby Frey knocked the rebound into the back of the net for the first goal of her career.

It was not until the 61st minute that North Carolina scored again. After a sequence of seven penalty corners in less than 10 minutes, All-ACC midfielder Kelsey Kolojejchick slipped a shot past Stiver, tying the game at 2-2.

“When we got those corners, we knew that they were always on frame, always on cage,” Kolojejchick said. “We weren’t going to quit, and we finally capitalized.”

Two minutes later, the Tar Heels went ahead for the first time in the match. Following another UNC corner, Kolojejchick poked the ball past Stiver to put North Carolina ahead 3-2. The second goal in three minutes was all the Tar Heels needed to seal the win.

After allowing two goals on two shots in the first half, the UNC defense limited Syracuse to one second-half shot.

“We had good team organization as a whole,” junior Caitlin Van Sickle said. “Team-oriented defense helped us out.”

The Tar Heels outshot the Orange 22-3 on Friday and held an advantage in penalty corners, 12-2.

North Carolina’s comeback win against a top-ranked opponent is an early benchmark for a team hoping to return to another national championship match.

“They gave us a really good test, and I think we needed that in this early home opener,” Kolojejchick said. “It’s a good step for us to start that way so now we can just get better.”

Shelton, who was proud of the team’s resiliency against the Orange, said she learned a little bit about her squad from the come-from-behind victory.

“I’m very proud of our team for battling back from a two-goal deficit,” Shelton said. “It took a determination, a mental and physical toughness for us to battle back.

“We did it together and showed a little bit of character early in the season.”

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@dailytarheel.com.