University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Duke
Carolina Suffers Season's First Loss, 2-1 To Duke
September 23, 2005 | Field Hockey
Sept. 23, 2005
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Fifth-ranked Duke scored a pair of second-half goals on penalty corners to hand the third-ranked North Carolina field hockey team its first loss of the season, 2-1 on Friday night at Francis E. Henry Stadium. The Blue Devils improved to 6-2 on the season, 1-1 in Atlantic Coast Conference play. The Tar Heels fell to 7-1 overall, 0-1 in the ACC.
UNC led 1-0 at halftime after a goal by sophomore Alli Tanner, who flicked sophomore Heather Kendell's shot past Duke goalkeeper Caitlin Williams in the 22nd minute of play. The Tar Heels had five first-half shots to one by Duke and had one penalty corner while Duke had none.
In the second half, however, the Blue Devils led the way in every statistical category, with six shots to two by UNC and four penalty corners to the Tar Heels' one. Both Duke goals came on penalty corners, the first by Ashley Pultorak in the 41st minute of play and the gamewinner by freshman Julie Tromp with 1:13 left on the clock. Pultorak tipped in a shot by senior Nicole Dudek to tie the game at 1-1. Tromp's goal was assisted by sophomore Marcy Burns and freshman Marian Dickinson.
"We made some defensive mistakes, but Duke just played better," UNC coach Karen Shelton said of the game's second-half turnaround. "I give them all the credit."
The Tar Heels came into the game as the nation's top defensive team, having allowed just one goal in the season's seven games.
"I told the team at halftime we had one goal and that was enough to win the game," Shelton said. "All we had to do is keep Duke from scoring. We've hung our hats on our defense all season and it let us down today.
"We'll learn from this and get better and that's all we can do. You learn more from a loss than a win ... but I'd still rather have the win."
The game kicked off Carlyle Cup race for the 2005-06 school year and put Duke up 1-0 in the annual all-sports competition between the two schools. UNC won the cup 15-11 in 2004-05.
The Tar Heels return to action on Sunday, hosting Radford for a 1 p.m. game at Henry Stadium.
No. 5 Duke 2, No. 3 North Carolina 1
Scoring: UNC - Alli Tanner (Heather Kendell), 21:51; DU - Ashley Pultorak (Nicole Dudek), 40:42; DU - Julie Tromp (Marcy Burns, Marian Dickinson), 68:47
Shots: UNC 7, Duke 7
Goalkeeper saves: UNC 3 (Katy Tran), Duke 2 (Caitlin Williams 1, Christy Morgan 1)
Penalty corners: UNC 4, Duke 2
Records: UNC 7-1, Duke 6-2
UNC starters: Katy Tran, Ashley Judge, Hilary Hartman, Naomi Weatherald, Brooke Miller, Heather Kendell, Xan Funk, Liz Morris, Alli Tanner, Kate Scholl, Jesse Gey
UNC substitutes: Britt van Beek, Leslie Barrows
