UNC field hockey turns to experience, youth in tournament time

The North Carolina field hockey team survived its first weekend of the NCAA Tournament.

The No. 1 Tar Heels, who entered the tournament as a second-seeded squad, defeated No. 15 Boston University (15-7) in a 4-2 contest on Saturday and took down No. 10 Michigan (18-5) by a score of 1-0 on Sunday.

With the victories, UNC (20-2) is headed to its 20th Final Four, including its seventh in a row.

“Everybody played their hearts out,” Coach Karen Shelton said. “I couldn’t be prouder of our group.”

But despite clinching a semifinal berth, Shelton acknowledged her team played nervous in the opening minutes against Boston University.

“Certainly, I thought we had some tournament jitters early in the game,” she said.

Those nerves could be seen through UNC’s offense, which struggled to get the ball into the cage for the first portion of Saturday’s contest. But once the first goal was scored, the team began to loosen up.

“It’s a relief to get the first goal ...” Shelton said. “And once you get the first one, it’s easier to be aggressive.”

Experience played a big part for UNC this weekend, as senior Nina Notman fired the opening salvo Saturday to jump-start the Tar Heel attack.

“We kind of needed that confidence push to put us back in the game,” she said

Throughout the season, the Tar Heels have relied on their upperclassmen to help the team in big spots. But this weekend, the key to UNC’s success came on both ends of the spectrum.

North Carolina’s five goals scored on the weekend were split between two players: Notman and first-year Ashley Hoffman.

“(I’m) really proud of Ashley Hoffman ...” Shelton said following Saturday’s game. “I thought she played an awesome game, and she was good on the defensive side.

"(She was a) superstar for me today.”

Both Hoffman and Notman attributed their goals to crisp passing and teamwork, which created ball movement and led to scoring chances.

“I was in the right place at the right time,” Hoffman said.

Looking ahead to the Final Four, the Tar Heels head to Ann Arbor, Mich., with two-time defending champion Connecticut and two fellow ACC opponents — Duke and Syracuse — awaiting them.

And if a potential championship isn’t motivation enough, the Tar Heels open play Friday against their Tobacco Road rivals.

“Playing Duke is special to us,” Notman said. “It’s such a rivalry for our school.”

But Hoffman, whose three goals on the weekend came one short of matching her season total, expressed how tournament time motivates the team that much more.

“There is more on the line,” she said. “Everyone has a different type of — I don’t want to say mentality, but we’re going out there and we have to give everything we have, or our season will be ending.”

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