North Carolina
Virginia
Tar Heels Fall To No. 3 Virginia
October 4, 2014 | Field Hockey
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Despite an advantage in shots and penalty corners, the top-ranked North Carolina field hockey team fell to No. 3 Virginia 2-1 at Francis E. Henry Stadium Friday evening in an Atlantic Coast Conference battle. The Tar Heels are now 8-1 on the season, 2-2 in ACC play. Virginia improved to 10-2 and remained undefeated in conference play at 3-0.
"We're very disappointed not winning tonight against a talented UVa team," UNC coach Karen Shelton said. "We like to defend Henry Stadium so it doesn't feel good to lose a game."
Neither team scored in the first half, when UNC led 8-5 in shots. Two minutes into the second half, Virginia finally got on the board, scoring on its second penalty corner of the period. At the game's 37-minute mark, Kelsey LeBlanc deflected in Tara Vittese's ball from the left to put the Cavaliers up 1-0. "That was a beautiful goal on a penalty corner set piece," Shelton said. The lead was short-lived, however. Just 46 seconds later, UNC junior Emily Wold fired in a shot from the top of the circle to tie the game at 1-1.
The game stayed even for less than five minutes before Virginia scored again. In the 43rd minute of play Riley Tata got her ninth goal of the season on a shot from the left side of the cage, assisted by Caleigh Foust.
With 7:29 remaining in the game, Shelton called a timeout and pulled goalkeeper Sassi Ammer in favor of an extra field player, in an effort to score the equalizer. But the Tar Heels were unable to get another and fell for the second time this season, the first time at home. "I think there were some bright spots from our team," Shelton said. "We drew penalty corners today and we had a lot of shots, so there were some bright spots but in the end we couldn't find a way to win.
"We had enough chances. We needed to connect better and execute our penalty corners. If you have eight corners, you better score one or two. They did and we didn't."
While the Virginia game is UNC's only one of the weekend, the Tar Heels have a busy week ahead. They play Thursday at Wake Forest, next Friday at Longwood and then host VCU at Henry Stadium on Oct. 12.
No. 3 Virginia 2, No. 1 UNC 1
Scoring: UVa - Kelsey LeBlanc (Tara Vittese), 37:00; UNC - Emily Wold, 37:46; UVa - Riley Tata (Caleigh Foust), 42:12
Shots: UNC 17 (8/9); UVa 11 (5/6)
Penalty corners: UNC 8 (2/6); UVa 3 (1/2)
Goalkeeper saves: UNC 1 (Sassi Ammer, 62:31, 1 save, 2 goals allowed); UVa 7 (Jenny Johnstone, 70:00, 7 saves, 1 goal allowed)
Defensive saves: UNC 1 (Samantha Travers); UVa 1 (Nadine de Koning)
Records: UNC 8-2 (2-2 ACC); UVa 10-2 (4-0)
UNC starters: Sassi Ammer, Loren Shealy, Kristy Bernatchez, Samantha Travers, Charlotte Craddock, Emily Wold, Nina Notman, Emma Bozek, Julia Young, Casey Di Nardo, Abby Frey
UNC substitutes: Sam Night, Lauren Moyer, Gab Major
