UNC welcomes Old Dominion in field hockey home opener

Last season, the North Carolina field hockey team traveled to Old Dominion University and knocked off the No.1 team on its home turf.

This year, No. 1 UNC (5-1) is charged with defending its home field and top ranking from the No. 8 Monarchs (3-2). The teams play today at 6 p.m.

“It’s always going to be a good game,” sophomore back Samantha Travers said. “It doesn’t matter the rankings, both teams are going to go hard at each other.”

ODU has dropped two games this season, but both were close losses to top-10 teams.

The Tar Heels are coming off of a strong weekend in Delaware, scoring 16 goals in two games and shutting out both opponents.

But simply matching last weekend’s level of play won’t be good enough to defeat the competitive Monarchs.

“I tell the girls all the time that we either have to match or surpass their intensity level in order to have a chance,” coach Karen Shelton said. “They just come in like no other team.”

The rivalry between Old Dominion and North Carolina stretches back to the early days of Shelton’s career.

She took the helm in 1981 and began shaping the program to reach the benchmark of success created by ODU coach Beth Anders, the winningest in NCAA history.

Shelton has steadily guided her team into being an elite field hockey program and, in the last three decades, has constantly competed with Anders at the top of the polls.

“We have a love-hate relationship,” Shelton said. “We both love to compete, and we both hate to lose. There’s not many people I know that are more competitive than Beth Anders, and I think she might say the same thing about me. It’s a privilege and an honor to work with somebody who is as good as she is.”

But this will be Anders’ last trip to Chapel Hill as coach — she will retire after this season.

“She’s certainly one of the legends, and forever everyone has been chasing her,” Shelton said. “She has nine national championships, and I have six. We’ve been chasing her for a long time. Maybe someone will be able to close the gap. I hope I will be able to. We’re losing one of the superstars of the sport.

With the end of Anders’ coaching era looming, the Old Dominion-UNC rivalry could reach a peak tonight as emotions rise.

“In the field hockey world, it’s kind of a big deal because Beth Anders is their coach,” senior Caitlin Van Sickle said. “She’s been there for a long time, and Karen Shelton has been here for 30 years, so ODU and UNC have always had strong field hockey programs — it’s a tradition thing.”

Contact the desk editor at sports@dailytarheel.com.

Multimedia: A video preview for the ODU v.UNC game on Friday September 14, 2012