No. 1 UNC field hockey loses season-opener to Michigan, 1-0, on last-second penalty corner

WINSTON-SALEM — The No. 1 North Carolina field hockey team lost in heartbreaking fashion, 1-0, to No. 10 Michigan in its season opener at Kentner Field in Winston-Salem on Saturday. 

What Happened?

UNC started off the game strong. The Tar Heels outshot the Wolverines 6-1 in the first half. North Carolina nearly had a goal off sophomore Malin Evert’s ball into the circle, but a goal-line save by Michigan senior midfielder Esther de Leijer denied the goal.

An hour-long lightning delay at halftime zapped some of the mojo out of the Tar Heels. While the team showed flashes of the brilliance the program is historically known for, the Wolverines stole the ball from UNC often in the open field, resulting in the Tar Heels never really finding an offensive rhythm in the second half.

Michigan didn’t have many scoring chances with UNC’s dominance in possession until late in the second half, when the team got two penalty corners with less than a minute left in the game. The Wolverines converted the latter of these off a rebound to win the game with no time left on the clock. 

Who stood out?

Redshirt senior Emma Bozek was a force in the midfield, having several nice bits of play that put pressure on the Michigan defense in her first game since 2014. While she had no shots, she was always around the play when something good happened for UNC.  

At times, sophomore Eva van’t Hoog was the entirety of the Tar Heels’ offense. Her skill with the ball often gave her open space to get a shot off or to pass it to a teammate in the circle.

Sophomore Alex Halpin came in the second half at goalkeeper for senior Shannon Johnson. While the Massachusetts transfer earned the loss by giving up the deciding goal, she did make three saves for UNC to keep them in the game as Michigan’s offense showed more life in the second half.

When was it decided?

Michigan earned a penalty corner with less than a minute left in regulation. The corner attempt was stopped by UNC, but Michigan was awarded another penalty corner as time expired. Michigan set up again, firing a shot from the top of the circle that was saved by Halpin, but Michigan sophomore Emma Way was waiting by the cage to get the ball off the rebound and score, giving Michigan the win.

Why does it matter?

This is UNC’s first season-opening loss since 2002. For a team with national title aspirations, there were too many moments of poor play and poor execution, including two misplayed traps on penalty corners, to get the job done. Coach Karen Shelton also said the team didn’t execute its game plan well at times, relying more on dribbling instead of passing the ball around like they are known for doing.

Shelton said, in the end, it might have been better for the team to lose this game so it learns the lessons it needed to learn from the game now, rather than later in the season, noting the players have plenty of time to fix issues that came up in the opener.

When do they play next?

UNC takes on the Iowa Hawkeyes on Sunday at 2 p.m. in the second game of the ACC-Big Ten Challenge.

@sjdoughton

sports@dailytarheel.com