North Carolina topples Monarchs

The No. 3 North Carolina field hockey team put on an impressive display in its 1-0 victory against No. 9 Old Dominion on Saturday.

Impressive, not because of the team's skilled stickwork or balanced ball movement, though those were certainly present as well. No, this was impressive because of something more important, if less pretty to watch.

Simply put, the Tar Heels (7-0) played with heart - a lot of it.

In the first half alone of the team's match against Old Dominion (4-4), the UNC defense weathered a seven-shot storm from the Lady Monarchs, and refused to give up a single goal.

With the Tar Heel defense fighting in the second half as well, all that was needed for the win was freshman Britt van Beek's goal in the 63rd minute, arriving not a moment too soon.

The victory was UNC's fourth 1-0 win on the season, underscoring the strength of the team's defensive core.

"We felt for a long time that it might be this kind of year," said North Carolina Coach Karen Shelton. "We're not a high-powered offensive team right now, but we're a very solid and steady hardworking defensive team, so as long as we can maintain our focus and our discipline in the back we're gonna be in every game."

Going into the game against ODU, however, many were skeptical as to whether the Tar Heels would be in it given the fact that they'd be playing without two of their regular starters - junior forward Laree Beans and junior midfielder Rachel Dawson.

The pair of juniors, who also will miss the team's next two games against Duke and Radford, are playing with the U.S. Under-21 National Team at the Junior World Cup in Chile.

As it turned out, though, all that North Carolina needed to make up for the missing players were a few position swaps, the addition of freshmen Kate Scholl and sophomore Jesse Gey to the starting lineup, and a lot of heart.

"The first half was pretty much almost half-field," said senior goalkeeper Katy Tran.

"We were pretty much playing defense the whole time, and that's not something we want to get in the habit of doing, clearly, but I was really proud of the defense and how we just fought and refused to give in and just didn't give anything up."

Thanks in part to the midfield corrections Shelton made at halftime, the second half of the game wasn't quite as brutal on the defense as the first, and the Tar Heels began to spend a bit more time on Old Dominion's side of the field.

Ultimately, this resulted in a penalty corner for junior Brooke Miller, who got her own rebound after her first shot was blocked and shot again. Van Beek then tipped the ball in for the goal, her second of the season.

"I think in the second half we played more to win," Van Beek said.

"And it was very exciting that we won because it could go either way. - We were both fighting to the end."

 

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.