The No. 1 North Carolina field hockey team made its way up to New York and defeated No. 14 Syracuse 3-1 on a cold, rainy Saturday at J.S. Coyne Field.
What happened?
The Tar Heels came out strong, scoring in the 12th minute of play off a counter attack started by Erin Matson after the clearance of a Syracuse penalty corner. The sophomore forward passed the ball to Marissa Creatore, who streaked along the Syracuse end line and passed across the middle to Catherine Hayden for an easy tap-in goal.
At the end of the first period North Carolina, held a 1-0 lead and a 4-1 shot advantage over the Orange.
The Tar Heels continued to produce offensively in the second period, scoring off one of their seven total penalty corners in the 21st minute. Matson put away the goal, her 17th of the season, off an assist from senior midfielder Yentl Leemans.
In a play similar to the Tar Heels’ first goal, Creatore finished a redirected, tap-in goal off a pass across the middle from Hayden in the 48th minute.
North Carolina’s offensive production toed the line of perfection in this game. The Tar Heels had seven total shots and all seven of them were put on target, testing the Syracuse goalkeeper.
While UNC’s high-powered offense no doubt played a significant role in the Tar Heel victory, head coach Karen Shelton credits the defense for its ability to contain Syracuse’s key offensive threats.
“I’m proud of our young backfield that’s growing and getting better every game. It’s a team effort, but those three anchor the back,” Shelton said. “Charlotte de Vries is fourth in the nation in scoring and we held her to two shots on goal today. She scored one of the two, but we did a nice job on her because she’s tough to stop.”
