University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Michigan
UNC Wins In Double OT On Senior Day
October 23, 2011 | Field Hockey
Oct. 23, 2011
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - With a penalty stroke by sophomore Marta Malmberg in the 95th minute of play, No. 2 North Carolina beat No. 7 Michigan 4-3 in double overtime Sunday afternoon as UNC celebrated Senior Day at Francis E. Henry Stadium.
Four seniors - Teryn Brill, Meghan Dawson, Taryn Gjurich and Elizabeth Stephens - were honored in pregame ceremonies, then all started and played major roles in the win. "Meghan Dawson had a gutsy performance today, Teryn Brill probably had the best weekend of her career, Elizabeth Stephens is a consistent threat up front for us, and Taryn Gjurich had some big-time plays and plays in overtime for us," UNC coach Karen Shelton said. "This was a nice tribute to our seniors, the four that played and had such a huge role in today's game. "
UNC's fifth senior, Katelyn Falgowski, is in Mexico competing as part of the U.S. National Team at the Pan American Games. Not only was Carolina playing without its captain again on Sunday, but the Tar Heels were coming off a battle against Maryland Saturday that gave UNC the regular-season Atlantic Coast Conference title. Add that fatigue to the emotional aspects of Senior Day and the challenge of facing a top-10 opponent, and Sunday's task was one of the season's toughest.
"We had a lot of things going on that could be concerning to a coach, so to see us gut through the two overtime periods and find a way to win was hugely important," Shelton said. "I almost couldn't have scripted it better for us in our preparation to face tough battles like that, to have to pull the goalkeeper, to have it work, to come from behind and win it on a penalty stroke ... it was pretty special for our group and I'm proud of every kid that stepped on the field and also those who didn't step on the field but contributed behind the scenes."
Carolina scored first, in the 27th minute. Junior Katie Ardrey's steal started the play at midfield and she sent a ball to senior Elizabeth Stephens, who took it down the left side and then shot from the left side of the circle. Ardrey, who had followed the play, deflected the ball in the air and sent it into the goal.
Michigan's goal came with 3:28 to play in the first half. On the Wolverines' first corner of the game, UM took two shots from the left side and had both blocked before senior Jess Allen sent a shot in from the right that got past UNC goalkeeper Sassi Ammer and into the right side of the cage.
Carolina opened the second-half scoring in the 40th minute. On a penalty corner, junior Kelsey Kolojejchick got her stick on Malmberg's shot and sent it in to put UNC up 2-1.
UNC held the advantage until the 54th minute of play when the Wolverines drew four consecutive corners and scored on the final one. Bryn Bain had the shot, assisted by Aline Fobe and Leslie Smith. Less than six minutes later, Michigan scored again to take the lead. On UM's first shot from the field (all of the previous ones had been on penalty corners), Bain sent a ball to the right side of the cage and Emy Guttman tipped it in to score her 10th goal of the season and put her team up 3-2.
With her team trailing by one and the minutes winding down, Shelton called a timeout with 6:29 remaining and pulled Ammer in favor of an extra field player. The gamble paid off less than two minutes later, when Kolojejchick dribbled into the circle from the right side and took a hard shot that junior Jaclyn Gaudioso Radvany tipped from the left side into the cage to tie the score. At 3-3. Ammer immediately went back into the goal and the teams played through the rest of regulation without a score.
In the first 15-minute, seven-on-seven overtime, UNC had three shots and Michigan one, but neither team could manage a goal. The teams battled through the first nine minutes of the second overtime period before Carolina was awarded a penalty stroke and Malmberg sent the ball into the upper right corner of the cage for the win. "I felt a lot of relief, but I was mostly just really happy for the seniors," said Malmberg, who is two-for-two on strokes this season. The Tar Heels have made good on all four of their penalty stroke attempts this fall and are now 3-0 in overtime games.
UNC has just one game remaining in the regular season, next Sunday at top-ranked Old Dominion in Norfolk, Va. This will mark the teams' second meeting of the season - the first, in which UNC was No. 1 and ODU was No. 2, was in Chapel Hill on Sept. 16. The Lady Monarchs won 3-1 and have held the No. 1 spot in the poll since then.
No. 2 North Carolina 4, No. 7 Michigan 3, 2OT
Scoring: UNC - Katie Ardrey (Elizabeth Stephens), 26:51; UM - Jess Allen, 31:32; UNC - Kelsey Kolojejchick (Marta Malmberg), 39:55; UM - Bryn Bain (Aline Fobe, Leslie Smith), 53:51; UM - Emy Guttman (Bain), 59:40; UNC - Jaclyn Gaudioso Radvany (Kolojejchick), 65:24; UNC - Malmberg (penalty stroke), 94:04
Shots: UNC 24 (8/8/3/5), UM 10 (3/5/1/1)
Penalty corners: UNC 8 (3/5/0/0), UM 8 (1/6/1/0)
Goalkeeper saves: UNC 1 (Sassi Ammer, 92:11, 3 goals allowed, 0 saves), UM 13 (Christi Barwick, 94:04, 4 goals allowed, 11 saves)
Defensive saves: UNC - Caitlin Van Sickle, UM - Aline Fobe, Mallory Albini
Records: UNC 17-1, UM 12-4
UNC starters: Sassi Ammer, Teryn Brill, Loren Shealy, Taryn Gjurich, Katie Ardrey, Kelsey Kolojejchick, Elizabeth Stephens, Caitlin Van Sickle, Meghan Dawson, Marta Malmberg, Jaclyn Gaudioso Radvany
UNC substitutes: Samantha Travers, Katie Plyler, Sophie Rudolph, Sinead Loughran
