North Carolina
Wake Forest
Fourth-ranked Carolina Falls To No. 1 Wake Forest In Double OT
October 14, 2005 | Field Hockey
Oct. 14, 2005
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- Wake Forest's Lauren Crandall scored in the 92nd minute of play Friday afternoon to give the top-ranked Demon Deacons a 3-2 field hockey win in double overtime against No. 4 North Carolina at Francis E. Henry Stadium. UNC fell to 11-3 on the season with the loss, which did not count toward the Atlantic Coast Conference standings. Wake remained undefeated on the season, improving to 13-0.
The game was the first overtime contest of the season for the Tar Heels, who were playing their fourth game in the last week. UNC fell 2-0 at Wake Forest on Oct. 1 in this year's designated ACC game, but the Tar Heels had won three games since then.
"I felt like the Tar Heels gave a better battle than the first time we played Wake," UNC coach Karen Shelton said. "The bright side is that we're improving. I'm proud of the group and their effort and we'll just keep growing as a team as the season moves along. We don't feel great about a loss, but I think we should recognize when we're making progress and feel good about that."
On Friday, Wake Forest took a 1-0 lead seven minutes into the game when freshman Christine Suggs scored her ninth goal of the season on an unassisted shot from the left side of the circle. The Tar Heels tied the game just over six minutes later when junior Rachel Dawson powered the ball from the top of the circle into a knot of players in front of the goal and freshman Britt van Beek tipped it in.
After a 1-1 tie at halftime, Carolina took the lead with 28:00 on the clock when junior Laree Beans ` shot just caught the right corner of the goal for her first score of the season. UNC carried the 2-1 lead into the 66th minute of play before the Demon Deacons scored again, on a shot by Haley Scott, assisted by Crandall. The goal came while UNC was down a player, after sophomore Jesse Gey was given a yellow card and had to sit out five minutes.
Wake Forest had a final penalty corner, its ninth of regulation, with no time remaining, but senior Katy Tran made the save to send the game into overtime, not an uncommon occurrence for the Tar Heels and Demon Deacons. All three of last year's matchups went into extra periods, with the 2004 battle at Henry Stadium needing strokes to decide. (UNC won that game 3-2.)
In regulation, Wake had 16 shots to UNC's five, and the offensive disparity continued into overtime. In the first of the seven-on-seven, 15-minute periods, the visitors had five shots while Carolina had none. Midway through the period, Beans made a defensive save to keep the Tar Heels in the game. Dawson received a yellow card early in the period, leaving the Tar Heels down a player until the 8:23 mark.
Dawson had UNC's only shot of the overtime two minutes into the second period, when she sent a hard hit just wide left of the goal. Crandall's gamewinner, which came with 8:43 left on the clock, was her second goal of the season.
Tran had eight saves on the day, five of them in the second half. "I think Katy's the best goalkeeper in the country and she played well today," Shelton said. "When you play goalkeeper you always feel responsibility and she feels bad about the gamewinner, but she shouldn't. She played very, very well. I thought Brooke Miller played well, Rachel Dawson played well. I really felt like it was a great team effort."
UNC returns to action Sunday with an ACC game at Virginia. Game time in Charlottesville, Va., is 1 p.m. Carolina's next home game is Oct. 23, when the Tar Heels host Maryland for the final ACC contest of the season.
No. 1 Wake Forest 3, No. 4 North Carolina 2, 2OT
Scoring: WFU - Christine Suggs, 7:00; UNC - Britt van Beek (Rachel Dawson), 13:23; UNC - Laree Beans, 42:00; WFU - Haley Scott (Lauren Crandall), 65:23; WFU - Crandall, 91:28
Goalkeeper saves: UNC (Katy Tran) 8, WFU (Kristina Gagliardi) 2
Penalty corners: UNC 2, WFU 11
Records: UNC 11-3 (1-2 ACC); Wake Forest 13-0 (3-0 ACC)
