University of North Carolina Athletics
UNC Field Hockey Ready to Open ACC Tournament Play
November 3, 2000 | Field Hockey
Nov. 3, 2000
ACC Tournament Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
<>
Quick Facts on Carolina Field Hockey
School: University of North Carolina
Location: Chapel Hill, N.C.
Chartered: 1789
Enrollment: 24,635
Chancellor: Dr. James Moeser
Director of Athletics: Dick Baddour
Senior Women's Administrator: Dr. Beth Miller
Affiliation: NCAA Division I
Conference: Atlantic Coast
Nickname: Tar Heels
School Colors: Carolina blue and white
Athletic Dept. Website: www.TarHeelBlue.com
Head Coach: Karen Shelton (20th season)
Career/UNC Record: 334-81-9
Assistant Coaches: Nick Conway, Jana Withrow
Manager: Sam Trogdon
Head Athletic Trainer: Meredith Petschauer
Team Captains: Kristen McCann, Jana Toepel
Home Stadium: Francis E. Henry Stadium (Cap. 1,086)
2000 Record: 17-2 (4-0 ACC)
Probable Starting Lineup
Forwards: Holly Huff, Kristen McCann, Abbey Woolley
Midfielders: Meredith Keller, Carrie Lingo, Kate Sidebottom
Backs: Erin Cox, Susan Hayes, Abby Martin, Jana Toepel
Goalkeeper: Amy Tran
Tar Heel Leaders
Goals: Kristen McCann, 23, Holly Huff, 9, Abby Martin, 7, Abbey Woolley, 7
Assists: Erin Cox, 10, Abby Martin, 9, Jana Toepel, 9
Points: Kristen McCann, 47, Holly Huff, 24, Abby Martin, 23
Quick Hits
* Top-seed UNC opens ACC Tournament play Friday at 7 p.m. against fourth-seeded Virginia.
* UNC's regular season record of 17-2 is the team's best since 1996, when Carolina finished the regular season 18-1 en route to the NCAA title.
* UNC has five seniors on the roster, all of whom have earned starting spots.
* UNC leads the ACC in goals against average, 0.93
* Carolina coach Karen Shelton is in her 20th season as UNC's coach and has led the Tar Heels to 19 consecutive winning seasons.
Carolina at the ACC Tournament
UNC has won 14 of the 17 Atlantic Coast Conference Tournaments contested. However, the Tar Heels have gone two years without a crown, last winning in 1997. That year, UNC defeated Maryland 3-2 in overtime then beat Virginia 2-0 for the title.
Carolina won nine consecutive tournaments from 1983-91 and five straight from 1993-97.
Carolina in ACC Play
The Tar Heels finished ACC play 4-0, winning the regular-season title for the first time since 1996. That year, UNC went 8-0 in conference play and 24-0 overall for the only undefeated season in school history.
Carolina's Conference Honors
University of North Carolina senior Kristen McCann has been named field hockey's Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year and UNC coach Karen Shelton has been named ACC Coach of the Year in a vote by the league's coaches. The awards were announced Thursday night at the league's ACC Tournament banquet in College Park, Md., where the tournament is underway.
Also earning honors for the Tar Heels were senior back Jana Toepel, junior back Abby Martin and sophomore goalkeeper Amy Tran, who joined forward McCann on the All-ACC team. Other members of the All-ACC team are Rachel Hiskins, Keli Smith, Carla Tagliente, Carolina Walter and Autumn Welsh from Maryland, Heather Auginbaugh, Jemima Cameron and Jenny Everett from Wake Forest, Jessica Coleman from Virginia, and Courtney Sommer from Duke.
McCann, a psychology major from Macungie, Pa., leads the ACC in goals this season with a career-high 23, nine of which were game-winners for the Tar Heels. McCann earned ACC Player of the Week honors three times during the season. She currently ranks fifth in the nation in goals per game with 1.211 and 10th in points per game with 2.474. She was named All-ACC for the third time in her career.
Toepel also earned her third All-ACC recognition. A team captain along with McCann, she has scored five goals and contributed nine assists this season. Martin and Tran both were named to the team for the first time. Martin has seven goals and nine assists this season, and Tran leads the ACC and ranks third in the nation with a goals against average of 0.93.
Breakout Year for McCann
Senior forward Kristen McCann has put together the finest season of her career and established herself among the top players in the country. She leads the Tar Heels with a career-high 23 goals and 49 points and ranks among the nation's leaders in both categories. Her average of 1.211 goals per game ranks fifth nationally, while her average of 2.474 points per game ranks 10th.
McCann has scored in 12 games this season. In eight of those, she has scored multiple goals. On Sept. 10 in the championship game of the Temple Invitational, she scored four times in a 6-1 win over Temple. On Oct. 10, she scored three goals-including the game-winner-in a 4-3 overtime victory at Wake Forest. She also scored the overtime game-winner on Oct. 22 in a 1-0 win at Maryland.
McCann in the Carolina Record Books
With 55 career goals and 122 career points, senior Kristen McCann ranks among Carolina's alltime leaders. She is seventh on both the career goals and the career points charts and needs just one goal to move up to a tie for sixth on that list.
Among all ACC players, McCann is tied at 16th on the career points list with Maryland's Nadine Bennett and Wake Forest's Tracy Stickney.
UNC's Career Goals Games Goals
1. Cindy Werley (1993-97) 90 84
2. Nancy Pelligreen (1995-98) 89 82
3. Bashi Buba (1975-78) 59 81
4. Louise Hines (1982-85) 74 68
5. Julie Blaisse (1986-88) 62 57
6. Kate Barber (1994-97) 92 56
7. Kristen McCann (1997-2000) 84 55
UNC's Career Points Goals Assts. Points
1. Cindy Werley (1993-97) 84 44 212
2. Nancy Pelligreen (1995-98) 82 29 193
3. Bashi Buba (1975-78) 81 n/a 162
4. Louise Hines (1982-85) 68 16 152
5. Kate Barber (1994-97) 56 39 151
6. Julie Blaisse (1986-88) 57 25 139
7. Kristen McCann (1997-2000) 55 12 122
Tar Heels in the National Poll
Carolina began the season ranked second in the National Field Hockey Coaches Association national coaches' poll and is back in that position heading into the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament. The Tar Heels' low for the season was fifth for the week of Sept. 25. UNC has held its current ranking since the week of Oct. 17.
NFHCA National Coaches' Poll, Oct. 31
Team (Record as of 10/31) Points (1st-place votes)
1. Old Dominion University (19-1) 380 (19)
2. University of North Carolina (17-2) 359
3. University of Maryland (15-3) 337
4. Wake Forest University (16-2) 328
5. University of Michigan (16-3) 306
6. Princeton University (11-3) 282
7. Penn State University (15-4) 265
8. University of Massachusetts (16-3) 238
9. University of Virginia (12-6) 217
10. University of Connecticut (14-6) 215
11. Kent State University (17-3) 191
12. College of William & Mary (12-6) 169
13. James Madison University (11-8) 130
14. Boston University (13-7) 128
15. Ohio State University (11-7) 96
16. Harvard University (11-5) 86
17. Syracuse University (12-7) 71
18. Boston College (10-8) 65
19. Michigan State University (11-8) 41
20. Northeastern University (11-9) 26
Familiar Faces
Six Tar Heels have started all 19 games this season: forwards Kristen McCann and Abbey Woolley, midfielder Meredith Keller, backs Jana Toepel and Abby Martin, and goalkeeper Amy Tran. Forward Holly Huff has appeared in all 19, starting 17.
Two players have started every game in which they have appeared, but have been sidelined by injury. Back Erin Cox missed the Duke game on Oct. 1 after she was hit in the eye by a ball in the previous game, but has started the other 18. Midfielder Carrie Lingo missed the first five games of the season with a leg injury but has started all 14 since returning.
Forwards Lizzy Duffy and Katie McDonald, midfielder Kate Sidebottom, and backs Stephanie Fuller and Susan Hayes all have appeared in at least 15 games. Junior midfielder Stephanie Seery, an exchange student from Argentina, appeared in the first 11 games of the season and started nine of them before deciding to focus on other pursuits during her one semester at UNC.
