UNC field hockey topples Syracuse, 3-0

It was a physical game, fast-paced and a little rough — and at the end, North Carolina was satisfied to see a big, fat zero on the scoreboard.

The No. 1 ranked North Carolina field hockey team (5-0, 1-0 ACC) took down the No. 5 Syracuse Orange (6-1, 0-1 ACC) 3-0 in its first shutout of the season Friday in Chapel Hill.

“We wanted to get a shutout,” senior forward Loren Shealy said. “That was one of our goals.”

UNC got on the board early after a goal by senior forward Charlotte Craddock, who slipped around several defenders and the goalkeeper to send the ball into the net. Shealy scored the second goal off a pass from redshirt freshman Sam Night, and junior midfielder Nina Notman scored the third on a penalty stroke in the second half.

Coach Karen Shelton said UNC looked fundamentally sound and communicated well — areas she wanted her players to improve on.

“(The Orange) are a very hardworking blue-collar team,” she said. “I think they’re very talented, and it was a tall task for our group today.”

Defensively, the Tar Heels played a tight game. Syracuse had four players at midfield, so UNC dropped a forward back to help with coverage.

“Intercept mentality was a huge focus,” Shealy said. “We stayed close to our marks, which helped us intercept a lot, and kind of kept it out of our circle, which was a focus.”

The defense held Syracuse to seven shots, and sophomore goalkeeper Shannon Johnson made four saves.

Even with its early success, UNC isn’t losing sight of its long-term goals or its focus, and Shelton said there are still areas where the team needs to improve, including ball possession.

“You notice that for periods of time in the first half, it was kind of turnover, turnover, turnover. It was a fast and furious game, a wide-open game, which we like playing. I think we thrive in a wide-open game, but we want to have better possessions,” she said. “We don’t want to give it up cheaply.”

But it’s clear to Shelton and the team that UNC is gelling. Junior forward Casey Di Nardo said the team is celebrating more enthusiastically — screaming, jumping up and down, punching each others’ arms — than it has in the past, creating a more positive environment.

“We celebrated but not to that extreme, and this year the celebrating, I think, is getting us amped to keep scoring and scoring and scoring,” Di Nardo said. “I think that’s the completely new atmosphere on the team that’s driving us to be so successful.”

With the win, UNC broke its pattern of alternating wins against the Orange, as UNC has now won the past two games.

Shelton said UNC looked composed and unselfish.

“This is a good day for us,” she said. “And we’re beat up. So it’s nice to have a rest.”

sports@dailytarheel.com