UNC field hockey team walks away from national championship empty handed

For the fourth year in a row, the North Carolina field hockey team earned a national title berth.

And for the third straight year, it walked away empty handed.

The Princeton Tigers were too much for the top-ranked and top-seeded Tar Heels, and handed UNC its third-straight 3-2 loss in the title game.

“It was our last game and it just slipped away from us,” senior midfielder Kelsey Kolojejchick said. “It’s just hard when you’re that close for three years in a row.”

Early in the season, it appeared that this might have been the year that the Tar Heels could break their losing streak in the national title game.

UNC only suffered one regular season loss, a 1-0 overtime loss to Syracuse in the third game of the season. But it later avenged the defeat in the NCAA semifinals, beating the Orange 6-1.

The Tar Heels were at the top of the poll for the entire season, remaining a constant fixture in the top two spots.

The team set the record for most goals scored in a season with 112, due largely in part to the addition of sophomore Charlotte Craddock to the team.

Craddock, a native of Wolverhampton, England, and former member of England’s 2008 Olympic team, scored 25 goals in 18 games, setting the single-season scoring record for sophomores.

“When Charlotte scores, it’s so fun to watch, and it gets me excited no matter when she scores,” senior Jaclyn Gaudioso Radvany said after Craddock scored three goals in the NCAA semifinal.

Craddock’s explosive scoring was just one factor in UNC’s perfect ACC record and an ACC Tournament championship.

The Tar Heels were also led by a record-setting senior class. Kolojejchick was the first Tar Heel to earn All-American honors all four years.

Senior defender Caitlin Van Sickle also earned All-American honors for the third time.

Gaudioso Radvany, Van Sickle and Kolojejchick also set the record for career games played with 96. Van Sickle started all 96 and holds the school record for games started.

The senior class made the trip to the national championship every single year, but never reclaimed the glory of its freshman season.

Though its chance for another national championship is over, the senior class leaves the program in talented hands.

Freshman Emily Wold, as well as Craddock, earned All-American honors. Wold was also the ACC Freshman of the Year.

“We had chances,” Kolojejchick said after the championship loss. “It just sucks when you’re that close and you can’t end on a good note for once.”

Contact the desk editor at sports@dailytarheel.com.