Tar Heels take rivalry game

In a top-five matchup with a history of close games it was two newcomers who made the difference and led North Carolina to a win Saturday.

Neither No. 4 UNC nor No. 3 Wake Forest could establish dominance" but a pair of first-year players scored their first career goals and the Tar Heels got another off the bench to pull out a 4-3 win at Henry Stadium.

Rookies Charlotte Verstraten and Taryn Gjurich each had their first goals at UNC and couldn't have done it in a bigger game.

""It was a focus for us. We've talked about it" that when they come in they've gotta go hard" coach Karen Shelton said. It was very important for our team.

""We've been relying on Dani Forword to do a lot of our scoring and creating scoring opportunities and penalty corners"" and we needed our bench to really come in and give us a spark.""

Ten of the previous 14 UNC-Wake matches had gone to extra periods" including the teams' earlier matchup this year.

So it came as no surprise that this game was tight as well. Verstraten opened the scoring on a fast break after a Wake Forest penalty corner was unsuccessful and the defense was slow to get back upfield.

The Demon Deacons (9-2 1-2 ACC) answered with two goals in a span of 1:08 to take the lead. The next two UNC goals came off the bench including Gjurich's goal. After Elizabeth Drazdowski deflected a pass by WFU's back line" Gjurich picked up the loose ball and was able to convert for a score.

""It was right when I came in" the rookie said. We're always told to get the interceptions and block on the press" and we finally got a ball from it.""

The 3-2 margin meant the game was still either team's to win" but UNC (9-2 2-0) was able to wrestle control on an unconventional set play for Forword.

On a penalty corner with just under 20 minutes left Melanie Brill waited until the ball was outside the scoring circle to trap it then passed to Forword who brought the ball back in the circle and blasted a reverse stick shot to the upper-right corner for the goal.

The goal by Forword who said the team had been waiting to use the play against Wake Forest pushed the lead to 4-2. The junior said of the play" ""it's called ‘Money' because it's meant to be the money shot.""

""It's something we've never tried before in competition"" Shelton said of Forword's goal, her 16th of the season. We've been practicing it and we just felt good about Dani and her ability to execute that kind of skill.

""Her backhand's really good and if she puts it on target it's a difficult shot to read"" so we practiced it and they executed it to perfection.""

The play spared the teams from having another overtime match" as the Demon Deacons scored again with eight minutes to play to cut the lead to one.

Shelton called a timeout in the final minutes and told her team to maintain possession" and the Tar Heels' defense was solid when they needed it. Wake Forest was held to one shot on goal and had no penalty corners in the entire second half.

""It was a huge game for us and so I'm incredibly proud for our team for performing under pressure late in the game"" Shelton said. Wake doesn't quit and so we knew they'd make a final thrust and we were able to handle that.""



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