Field hockey two wins shy of title

WINSTON-SALEM — Somehow, the North Carolina field hockey team was winning 2-1 at halftime in its NCAA regional finals game against Wake Forest.

The Demon Deacons had outshot, outhustled and outplayed the No. 3 Tar Heels through the first 35 minutes of play, but through proper execution and taking advantage of its few chances, UNC scored two goals on just three first-half shots.

No. 7 Wake Forest, though persistent, had just one goal to show for its labor on a penalty corner at the end of the half. That goal could have been a momentum shift for the Deacons.

But UNC coach Karen Shelton wanted to make sure it wasn’t, so she approached her captain, Dani Forword, at halftime.

“I came over to her while they were all huddling and I was like, ‘Dani. Dani. You’re the money player, it’s tournament time, just go,’” Shelton said. “And she scored not, what, like, two minutes later, and it was a huge goal and a huge momentum swing.”

Forword’s goal in the 38th minute of play, less than three minutes into the second half, put North Carolina up 3-1 and put Wake Forest’s elevated emotions back down, forcing the Demon Deacons to find more answers.

Throughout its 4-1 win against Wake Forest, UNC was uncharacteristically on its heels in much of the early goings and even in parts of the second half.

“Everybody gave it their all today,” senior back Melanie Brill said. “We had a game plan but things didn’t go as well as planned. Wake played a great game, but we scored and we’re just really happy with everything.”

The Tar Heels scored their first goal just more than five minutes into the game on a penalty corner attempt. UNC freshman Jaclyn Gaudioso-Radvany located a rebound off Wake Forest goalkeeper Kaitlyn Ruhf and tapped it into the back of the goal.

After the initial goal, Wake Forest attacked North Carolina’s defense for nearly 10 minutes until freshman Kelsey Kolojejchick took the ball down the left side of the field in transition, brought the ball across her defender and took a long shot that rolled past Ruhf’s left leg.

“I saw Jen (Slocum) coming, so I was going to aim for far post so she can maybe get a tip on it,” Kolojejchick said. “When it went in I was like, ‘Works for me, now we’re up so it’s even better.’”

The second half was more characteristic of North Carolina’s style of play.

Despite Forword’s goal in the opening minutes of the half, Wake Forest continued to fight.

North Carolina spent another extended period of time on defense during which Wake Forest attempted five penalty corners, including three in a row.

After North Carolina shut down the fifth penalty corner try, the team quickly pushed the ball up the field and junior midfielder/forward Elizabeth Drazdowski scored on a crisp pass from fellow junior midfielder Katelyn Falgowski.

“I think our team showed a lot of resilience, and I think our team scored a lot of goals, which helped take some of the pressure off us,” Shelton said.

North Carolina’s win was its third against Wake Forest this season and, coupled with Saturday’s 4-1 win against Ohio State, propels its record to 18-2 heading into next Friday’s final four matchup with No. 2 Virginia — the team that knocked UNC out of the ACC tournament.

When asked if they were excited to get a chance to play Virginia again, Shelton and Forword both looked at each other with mischievous smiles, and then nodded in agreement.

“Yes,” Forword said. “I cannot wait until Friday.”



Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.