University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Old Dominion
Field Hockey Tops No. 1 ODU, 2-1
October 17, 2001 | Field Hockey
CHAPEL HILL, N.C.--Junior Meredith Keller and redshirt freshman Amber Chambers scored second-half goals Wednesday afternoon to lift the University of North Carolina field hockey team to a 2-1 win over top-ranked Old Dominion at Francis E. Henry Stadium. The fifth-ranked Tar Heels are 11-3 (2-1 ACC) on the season heading into Saturday's game against No. 2 Maryland.
"I'm very proud of our team effort today," UNC coach Karen Shelton said. "Our seniors led the way, and we played with heart and intensity. When you play ODU, you have to play with heart and intensity or they'll beat you. This is a huge win for us and for our confidence. "
Neither team scored in the first half, when ODU outshot UNC 6-4. The Tar Heels broke the tie three minutes after halftime, when Keller scored her fifth goal of the season, assisted by Chambers. Just over two minutes later, Old Dominion evened the score at 1-1 on a penalty corner. Junior Tiffany Snow scored on direct shot, assisted by senior Adrienne Yoder and freshman Melanie de Jager.
The Tar Heels pulled ahead for good with 19:44 to play when Chambers scored the game-winner, assisted by senior Abbey Woolley. The goal followed a failed UNC penalty corner and was the fourth of the season for Chambers, who came off the bench to tally three points in Wednesday's game. "Amber has been playing very well," Shelton said. "It's a thrill for me to see her come in and get a goal and assist. I think that's the way it will be for us this year, with a different person scoring every game."
Senior midfielder Carrie Lingo, who traveled to Springfield, Mass., on Tuesday to compete against South Africa as a part of the U.S. National Team, returned to Chapel Hill just before 11 Wednesday morning, in time to make it to Henry Stadium for the team's warmup. She started and played all 70 minutes against ODU. With the national team, she came off the bench to play 50 minutes in a 3-0 loss by the U.S.
The Tar Heels' 1 p.m. game against Maryland Saturday is their final Atlantic Coast Conference matchup of the regular season. On Sunday, Carolina travels to No. 14 Duke for another 1 p.m. game. That matchup will not count in the conference standings, but will figure into the Carlyle Cup points race.
Following those two games, the Tar Heels host No. 8 Virginia on Thursday then travel to Norfolk, Va., for a rematch with ODU on Oct. 27 and a game against No. 11 William & Mary on Oct. 28 to close out the regular season. "I think our team recognizes our strength of schedule over our last five games," Shelton said. "We need to continue to build on today's success. We played our best game of the season against a very good ODU team. Now we'll just keep trying to get better. "
North Carolina 2, Old Dominion 1
Scoring: UNC - Meredith Keller (Amber Chambers), 2nd, 32:01, ODU - Tiffany Snow (Adrienne Yoder, Melanie de Jager), 2nd, 29:54, UNC - Chambers (Abbey Woolley), 2nd, 19:44
Shots on goal: ODU 11, UNC 9
Goalkeeper saves: ODU (Marybeth Freeman), UNC (Amy Tran) 7
Penalty corners: ODU 9, UNC 6
