Undefeated champions

For the North Carolina coach who always says, "The most important game is the next one," there's finally a chance to rest.

After 24 wins and a school-record 16 shutouts, the Tar Heels have no more games to play.

They've won them all.

The undefeated North Carolina field hockey team captured its fifth national championship under coach Karen Shelton with one final shutout win against No. 9 Penn State on Sunday.

The 3-0 victory at Maryland's Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex sealed the Tar Heels' perfect record and gave them a seat in history as only the fifth Division I field hockey team to win it all without losing or tying a game.

"We're absolutely euphoric to have won the national championship," Shelton said. "We started this campaign a long time ago. From the first practice in preseason, to now, I've had a team that's remained remarkably focused and hard-working."

The Tar Heels (24-0) kept their last opponent in check with ironclad defense from the game's start to the middle of the second half. They had some breathing room thanks to goals by Katelyn Falgowski and Rachel Dawson, the second after a fake shot on the team's fifth penalty corner.

With 11:07 to go, facing a 2-0 deficit, Penn State called a timeout. Each side had only a pair of shots in the half, and the Nittany Lions (16-8) had the ball deep in UNC territory.

There would be one final push.

But the timeout proved to be too late to turn it around for Penn State. The Nittany Lions wouldn't take another shot, and when Danielle Forword nailed a reverse stick shot home off a pass from Dawson, the celebration could begin.

Both teams knew what to expect. They had met before on Sept. 16 in a game each team would later use to define its season.

At the time, the Nittany Lions were undefeated on the road and ranked No. 7 in the country, and goalkeeper Jen Beaumont hadn't allowed a goal in the last 283 minutes of game time. What resulted was what Beaumont would later call "the lowest point in the whole season."

In one of the teams' most complete efforts of the year, UNC held Penn State to zero shots while routing the Nittany Lions 6-0. Beaumont's goal-less streak was broken only three minutes into the game.

UNC would use the zero-shot standard as a goal for which to aim, while Penn State built off of the defeat for the rest of the season.

"We played them earlier . and there was a different team out there that we played today," Shelton said Sunday. "Remarkably scrappy and hard-working, and (they) really put a lot of pressure on us."

Before the showdown with Penn State, the Tar Heels on Friday had to beat No. 4 Connecticut, the only team in the final four UNC hadn't already met this season.

The Tar Heels struck early in that game as well, with a goal by Illse Davids just over five minutes into the match.

Forword deflected a shot by senior Laree Beans in midair for a goal 10 minutes later, and when Britt van Beek hit one in off a rebound to make the score 3-0, the Huskies still had yet to take a shot.

But in the final minute of the first half, the Huskies finally got their chance. Melanie Brill lost the ball deep inside UNC's territory, and UConn pounced on the mistake.

UNC goalie Brianna O'Donnell made the first save, but the Huskies had numbers in all the right places and with a mere 34 seconds left, the score was 3-1.

And when the teams came back after halftime, the Huskies picked up right where they left off. UNC, normally the aggressor, hadn't even had a chance to touch the ball and the game was 3-2 only 17 seconds into the half. North Carolina was back on its heels.

"I think we were all a little nervous. Obviously in the second half, we played like that," O'Donnell said Friday.

"It wasn't pretty at all. But our team brought it together. I don't think we ever felt at any point that we weren't in control. We move in waves, and I mean we kept going."

Battling possession for nearly 20 minutes, UNC came out on top again with a baseline goal by Forword to seal the 4-2 victory.

But after Sunday's game, there was no more battling to be done for North Carolina. It was a different feeling for these Tar Heels, who were always too focused on the next barrier to stop and look back at how far they'd come this season.

"It meant the world because there's always that doubt in your head," Dawson said. "That seed of doubt that says, 'Maybe you're just not able to. Maybe you're just not cut out to do it. Maybe it's just not meant for you.'

"The fact that it did - whew, I'm happy now."

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.