Tar Heel Offense Punishes Radford

Amy Tran must have been bored out of her mind.

North Carolina's sophomore goalkeeper didn't see a whole lot of action in the UNC field hockey team's 10-0 rout of Radford on Sunday at Henry Stadium. Although she did kick the ball once, Tran wasn't even credited with a save.

It took more than 10 minutes for the ball to even come close to Tran in the first half - the UNC defenders passed to each other while setting up their plan of attack.

While Tran suffered the pangs of loneliness in the empty Tar Heel backfield, Radford goalkeepers Brooke Peterson and Tina Caiazza kept busy trying to stop UNC's 41 shots on goal.

The third-ranked Tar Heels (12-1, 2-0 in the ACC) missed three goal-scoring opportunities before sweeper Abby Martin nailed a penalty corner shot into the net with 24:36 remaining in the half.

Radford (2-10) responded by driving deep into UNC territory, but Tran easily kicked a Highlander shot away.

In its only real chance of the half, Radford drew its lone penalty corner of the game but did not capitalize because Highlander Tessa Brookes hit wide of the net.

The Tar Heels began to shut down Radford with 15 minutes left in the half. Once midfielder Carrie Lingo skipped in her first goal of the season, UNC began piling on the points.

"Nothing really special happened," Lingo said of her two-goal game. "It should have been happening all season."

North Carolina's objective against Radford was to score nine goals as quickly as possible and work through some passing problems that have hindered its offense.

The Tar Heels haven't scored as many goals as they would have liked to and used the weaker Highlanders as a chance to kick start their offense.

Although the Tar Heels scored 10 goals, UNC coach Karen Shelton said she doesn't like to score more than nine.

But when the Tar Heels took more time to rack up the nine than she anticipated, Shelton changed her mind. She said she also didn't want to tell her substitutes not to score if they got the chance.

Tar Heel forward Holly Huff scored the first of her three goals with 8:41 left in the half. Teammate Katie McDonald started the play by grabbing the ball around the midfield and charging up the left side of the field.

Battling two defenders, McDonald drew Peterson out from the goal and passed right to Huff, who tapped the ball into the left side of the net.

"Katie (McDonald) sent me a beautiful pass, and the goalie was totally out of the way, and I was able to push it in," said Huff, who scored four goals in the Tar Heels' weekend games. She entered the Princeton game with the same number of goals.

UNC defeated No. 8 Princeton 3-2 in Norfolk, Va. on Saturday. Forward Kristen McCann scored two goals and pushed her team-leading number to 15.

Sunday's Huff hat trick wasn't the only multiple-scoring performance by a Tar Heel. Forwards McDonald and Lizzy Duffy found the back of the net twice.

"I'm proud of those kids," Shelton said. "We need to be scoring goals, and that can help them down the road when we're in a bigger, more contested match that they would know they've (scored) in competition."

Those games Shelton is concerned about are Tuesday's match-up with ACC rival Wake Forest and Friday's game against Michigan.

UNC has already defeated both teams this year, but Wake and Michigan have potent offenses.

Against the two top-10 opponents, Tran will be challenged more than once or twice a game. Shelton said Tran probably prefers it that way.

"I think she's the kind of goalkeeper that needs to stay active and involved in the game," Shelton said. "I don't think these kinds of games are much fun for her."

The Sports Editor can be reached at sports@unc.edu.