University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
William & Mary
No. 1 North Carolina Improves To 15-0 With Win Over Tribe
October 12, 2007 | Field Hockey
Oct. 12, 2007
WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - The North Carolina field hockey team beat host William & Mary 4-2 Friday afternoon at Busch Field, running its streak of wins to 15 but ending its string of shutouts at nine. The top-ranked Tar Heels, playing without three starters who are competing as part of the U.S. National Team this week, led 4-0 before giving up a pair of goals to the host Tribe (6-8).
UNC (15-0) had not allowed a goal since a 7-2 win over Villanova on Sept. 8 and now shares the NCAA Division I record of nine consecutive shutouts with Old Dominion and Virginia.
"In the first half, we played excellent defense even without our three national team members," UNC coach Karen Shelton said. "In the second half we also played well for a period, but we lost a little composure late in the game and it cost us some goals. We were disappointed to give those up, not just because it cost us the record but also because we know we can defend better than we did."
All five of William & Mary's shots came in the second half, as did four of the Tribe's five penalty corners. Carolina finished with 17 shots and six corners.
UNC's only first-half goal came from sophomore Illse Davids, who scored on a breakaway in the ninth minute of play. The Tar Heels increased their lead quickly in the second half, scoring 92 seconds into the period on a goal by redshirt freshman Elizabeth Drazdowski, assisted by sophomore Danielle Forword. Five minutes later, sophomore Melanie Brill scored on a penalty corner, with the assist going to sophomore Riley Foster. Forword scored UNC's final goal in the 50th minute of play on an unassisted shot from the middle of the circle.
Shortly after the Tar Heels went up 4-0, William & Mary scored. Kim Hedley's goal, which came in the 52nd minute off a rebound after a penalty corner save by sophomore goalkeeper Brianna O'Donnell, was the first UNC had allowed since the first half of the Villanova game. The Tribe's second goal also came on a penalty corner, this one with no time remaining on the clock and redshirt freshman goalkeeper Jackie Kintzer in the cage.
Missing from the lineup were seniors Rachel Dawson and Jesse Gey and freshman Katelyn Falgowski, the team's top three scorers. All are with the U.S. National Team this week for a series against Japan in College Park, Md., and will rejoin the UNC squad for Sunday's 1 p.m. Atlantic Coast Conference game at Virginia.
"All we want to do is continue to improve," Shelton said. "We improved our depth in this game with contributions from a lot of people. I thought Laree Beans did a great job of leading the team. We'll look forward to having Rachel, Jesse and Katelyn back on Sunday."
No. 1 North Carolina 4, William & Mary 2
Scoring: UNC - Illse Davids, 8:25; UNC - Elizabeth Drazdowski (Danielle Forword), 36.32; UNC - Melanie Brill (Riley Foster), 41:52; UNC - Forword, 49:32; WM - Kim Hedley, 51:12; UNC - Jessica Kacerek (Laura Kastelic), 70:00
Shots: UNC 17, WM 5
Penalty corners: UNC 6, WM 5
Goalkeeper saves: UNC 2 (Brianna O'Donnell 2, Jackie Kintzer 0), WM 8 (Gwen Hunter 8, Carrie Thompson 0)
Records: UNC 15-0 (3-0 ACC), William & Mary 6-8 (1-4 CAA)
UNC starters: Brianna O'Donnell, Illse Davids, Riley Foster, Alli Tanner, Heather Kendell, Melanie Brill, Hilary Hartman, Laree Beans, Elizabeth Drazdowski, Xan Funk, Danielle Forword
UNC substitutes: Kiki Norbruis, Kate Scholl, Britt van Beek, Meghan Dawson, Liz Morris, Jen Slocum, Jackie Kintzer
