University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Maryland
Tar Heels Claim NCAA Crown
November 22, 2009 | Field Hockey
Nov. 22, 2009
Photo Gallery 
| Watch Highlights
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Senior captain Danielle Forword scored the gamewinning goal on a penalty corner with 11.7 seconds on the clock Sunday afternoon at Kentner Stadium to give the North Carolina field hockey team a 3-2 win over No. 1 Maryland and hand the Tar Heels the sixth NCAA championship in program history. UNC finished the season 20-2 and claimed its second crown in the past three years after also winning in 2007. Maryland, which came into the game undefeated and had beaten Carolina 4-1 on Oct. 24 in Chapel Hill, finished the year at 23-1.
"I'm just thrilled for the team," said UNC coach Karen Shelton, who capped her 29th season with a 14th final four appearance and sixth national title. "I can't congratulate them enough for believing they could win the game. Perhaps another team or lesser student-athletes might have lost some hope, but they didn't. They were resilient, they stuck with it and were able to pull it through."
Although Maryland outshot UNC 8-1 in the first period, the game was well into the second half before either team managed a goal. In the 43rd minute of play, Terrapin Nicole Muracco got her squad on the board, scoring her 31st goal of the year on a two-on-one breakaway. Maryland held onto the 1-0 lead for 18 minutes before Forword picked up her first goal of the game, grabbing a ball that senior Melanie Brill sent into the circle and firing a shot past UM goalkeeper Alicia Grater to tie the score at 1-1.
Less than two minutes later, the Terrapins regained the lead when Megan Frazer scored on a penalty corner rebound. Shelton immediately called a timeout, with 7:49 remaining in the game, and pulled Tar Heel goalkeeper Jackie Kintzer in favor of an additional field player. The gamble paid off three minutes later when senior Illse Davids took a pass from junior Katelyn Falgowski and fired a reverse shot from the left-center of the circle past a charging Grater to tie the game at 2-2. "In a national championship game you've got to risk," Shelton said of pulling her goalkeeper. "We did it and it paid off and I'm delighted."
Kintzer immediately went back to the cage and the game was headed toward overtime before Forword's score in the closing seconds. The goal, the career-high 17th of the season for the forward from East London, South Africa, was assisted by Falgowski and redshirt freshman Caitlin Van Sickle on UNC's seventh penalty corner of the day.
"Mel Brill on my left just kept repeating, `I believe in you, I believe in you, I believe in you,' even when they (the Maryland defenders) were rushing out," Forword said. "There's nothing like knowing that your teammates really need this and they do believe in you. I don't know what it was that came over me, but it went in. And I did it for everyone."
Carolina had nine second-half shots after managing just one in the first half. UNC drew five of its seven corners after halftime. Kintzer finished the game with five saves and UM's Grater made six.
Maryland, the 2008 NCAA champion, occupied the No. 1 spot in the national poll all season. "Maryland had an outstanding season and it may have been a bit of an injustice that we were able to steal the game," Shelton said. "They played so well and so hard the first half. We were very, very fortunate to still be in the game at halftime.
"As the period went on, our kids started to get a little bit looser, I think they started to play with a little more confidence and poise and a little bit more desperation. We were able to get one (goal) back but then when Maryland scored again we had to so something desperate in a desparate situation. So we pulled the keeper and were able to get a couple of goals."
UNC and Maryland had met in the NCAA championship game on three previous occasions, with the Terrapins winning twice (1987, 1993) and the Tar Heels once, 5-1 in 1995 at the same site, Kentner Stadium, where Sunday's game was played. "They're all different and they're all special," Shelton said. "This one was different in that we were such an underdog and came from behind in such dramatic fashion. To win it against a Maryland team that pretty much dominated us and outplayed us for about 70 percent of the game and to win it with 11 seconds on the clock was an incredible thrill."
No. 3 North Carolina 3, No. 1 Maryland 2
Scoring: UM - Nicole Muracco, 42:02; UNC - Danielle Forword, 60:37; UM - Megan Frazer, 62:11; UNC - Jackie Kintzer, 5, 66:52; Team, 0, 3:08); UM 6 (Alicia Grater, 6, 70:00)
Records: UNC 20-2, UM 23-1
UNC starters: Jackie Kintzer, Illse Davids, Riley Foster, Melanie Brill, Kelsey Kolojejchick, Elizabeth Drazdowski, Caitlin Van Sickle, Meghan Dawson, Danielle Forword, Katelyn Falgowski, Jaclyn Gaudioso Radvany
UNC substitutes: Charlotte Verstraten, Taryn Gjurich, Elizabeth Stephens, Jen Slocum
2009 NCAA All-Tournament Team
Michelle Vittese, Virginia
Paige Selenski, Virginia
Katie Reinprecht, Princeton
Julia Reinprecht, Princeton
Brianna Davies, Maryland
Nicole Muracco, Maryland
Katie O'Donnell, Maryland
Danielle Forword, UNC
Jackie Kintzer, UNC
Katelyn Falgowski, UNC
Illse Davids, UNC
