North Carolina
Wake Forest (ACC Tournament)
Overtime Win Puts UNC In ACC Finals
November 6, 2004 | Field Hockey
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - The top-seeded North Carolina field hockey team edged fourth-seeded Wake Forest 2-1 in overtime Friday night to advance to the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game for the first time since 1997. The Tar Heels (19-1) will face second-seeded Maryland (15-4) Sunday at 1 p.m. for the league title.
The game will be televised live by the Regional Sports Networks, which consists of Fox Sports South, Comcast and Sunshine Network.
Friday's game was a matchup between the top two teams in the country in No. 1 Wake Forest and the No. 2 Tar Heels. With Duke at No. 3 and Maryland at No. 4, ACC teams hold the top four spots in the national poll.
UNC grabbed the win on a goal by senior Kelsey Keeran just over 10 minutes into the overtime period. Sophomore Rachel Dawson took a free hit from the top of the circle and Keeran deflected the ball in from the left side of the goal for the victory.
The win is the first in ACC Tournament play for every player on the team as UNC had lost in the ACC semifinals six years in a row. "It's awesome to see all the hard work pay off," Keeran said. "Not just for me, but for the team. We started slow tonight but we picked it up."
Wake Forest scored its only goal on a corner just four minutes into the game, when Claire Laubach tipped in a shot by Kelly Dostal to put the Demon Deacons up 1-0. The home team would hold the lead until midway through the second half. With 16:09 remaining in regulation, Dawson's initial shot on a penalty corner was blocked. Senior Kerry Falgowski found the ball and shot it past Wake goalkeeper Kristina Gagliardi, who had four saves on the day.
With the score tied at 1-1 after 70 minutes, the Tar Heels and Demon Deacons headed into their third overtime matchup of the year. The first meeting of the season between the country's top two teams needed penalty strokes to decide and UNC came out with a 3-2 win in Chapel Hill. The second matchup, in Winston-Salem, was a 4-3 overtime win for the Demon Deacons.
In the extra period, Wake drew one corner and got off three shots but couldn't score. Keeran's gamewinner was on UNC's second shot of the period.
"We didn't play as well as we were capable of, but that was mostly because of Wake Forest," said UNC coach Karen Shelton, named ACC Coach of the Year on Thursday. "Wake played really well. My hat's off to them.
"For us, getting the tying goal was big because it relaxed the team. I'm proud of our players. We picked it up in the second half and I think we did a better job in overtime than in the last time we played Wake Forest."
Maryland beat Duke 3-2 in the other semifinals game. In the season's first meeting with the No. 4 Terrapins, UNC won 2-1 in overtime in College Park, Md. The last time the teams played in the ACC title game was 1996, when Carolina won 4-0.
No. 2 North Carolina 2, No. 1 Wake Forest 1, OT
Scoring: WFU - Claire Laubach (Kelly Dostal), 1st, 30:26; UNC - Kerry Falgowski, 2nd, 16:09; UNC - Kelsey Keeran (Rachel Dawson), OT, 4:21
Shots: UNC 13, WFU 13
Penalty corners: UNC 5, WFU 6
Goalkeeper saves: UNC (Katy Tran) 4, WFU (Kristina Gagliardi) 4
Records: No. 2 UNC 19-2, No. 1 WFU 15-3
