UNC field hockey bests Duke in quarter?nals of the ACC tournament

DURHAM — Senior captain Samantha Travers was talking to the referee, fans were yelling, both teams were standing down at Duke’s goal and confusion permeated through Williams Field as the clock paused in the 79th minute of overtime.

The No. 1 North Carolina field hockey team was tied 1-1 in sudden death overtime Thursday in the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament with No. 7 Duke, the host of the tournament.

Minutes later, the announcer said the referees were going to review the final play. When they came back on the field, they announced UNC was awarded a penalty stroke after junior Emily Wold was fouled in the circle.

“It’s the captain’s job to call a review, and immediately, I knew I was right,” Travers said. “I was yelling to the ref closest to me, because I didn’t want to take a long corner because the minute we take a long corner, the opportunity to have that review is gone, so I was going ballistic until she listened.

“I had no doubt in my mind that we were going to get something.”

Junior Nina Notman stepped up for the penalty stroke and shot the ball into the cage in the lower left corner. Game over.

“There was a lot of pressure, but if you take strokes, you know you’re under pressure, and you get used to it,” Notman said.

Notman’s goal earned UNC the 2-1 victory and advancement to the semi-finals of the ACC tournament. The Tar Heels will play No. 6 Syracuse today at 3:30. UNC beat Syracuse 3-0 in Chapel Hill on Sept. 12.

Travers’ enthusiastic insistence wound up being the key for the Tar Heels’ victory. During the regular season, video reviews are not an option, so the situation was a little unclear.

“We thought it was a foul. I’m standing over here, and the kids are the ones that are playing the game, and I think they did the right thing,” Coach Karen Shelton said. “We knew we had a referral, and why not use it when you have one?”

UNC and Duke were scoreless in the first half and tallied five and six shots, respectively. But Duke’s shots were more on goal, and UNC had five saves in the first half compared to Duke’s one.

Shelton said she was proud of sophomore goalkeeper Shannon Johnson’s composure.

“She’s performing well under pressure and at critical times in the game,” she said. “I think she was peppered in the first three minutes of the game.”

UNC suffered a scare late in the first half when Duke intercepted the ball at the top of UNC’s circle. Duke’s Ashley Kristen beat Johnson, but Travers slid in front of the goal to block the shot.

“I got rid of the mistake. I made the mistake, and I just instantly knew I had to do something so that they wouldn’t score,” Travers said. “Shannon was going out, I put myself in the goal, and I just said, ‘There’s no way they’re going to score.’ And they didn’t.”

Duke scored in the 40th minute to take the lead, but UNC responded quickly.

Travers shot the ball off a penalty corner that led to junior Emma Bozek scoring the tying goal off a deflection in the 47th minute.

Senior All-American Charlotte Craddock, who had been sidelined with an injury, started her first game since she scored the game-winning goal in a 2-1 overtime victory against Wake Forest Oct. 9, but Shelton said she was still not feeling 100 percent.

UNC outshot Duke 5-2 in the second half, but it took a penalty stroke in overtime to break the tie.

Travers and Notman agreed the game was not UNC’s best.

“It was definitely not one of our greater games,” Notman said. “There’s definitely room to improve, and that’s what we’re going to focus on right now, because this was not Carolina field hockey.”

Even if it wasn’t “Carolina field hockey,” the Tar Heels still came out with the win.

“Both times we’ve played Duke, it just hasn’t been as good as we’ve played,” Travers said. “But the most important thing is survive and advance, and we found a way to win.”

sports@dailytarheel.com