North Carolina
James Madison
No. 1 Tar Heels Pick Up Shutout Win Over JMU
October 17, 2010 | Field Hockey
Oct. 17, 2010
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - The North Carolina field hockey team won its 20th consecutive game and picked up its ninth shutout of the season Sunday afternoon, beating visiting James Madison 4-0 at Francis E. Henry Stadium.
The Tar Heels, defending NCAA champions who closed last season with four wins, improved to 16-0 this fall. James Madison fell to 8-8.
Senior Elizabeth Drazdowski, a midfielder from Mountain Top, Pa., who serves as the team's vice captain, scored the gamewinner just over eight minutes into the action. On the second of two consecutive UNC penalty corners, she got her stick on a ball from sophomore Caitlin Van Sickle in the middle of the circle and deflected it into the goal.
The Tar Heels added another just after halftime, also on a penalty corner. In the 39th minute, junior Meghan Dawson sent a straight shot into the goal, assisted by Katie Ardrey and Teryn Brill.
Carolina's remaining two goals both came from the field. In the 52nd minute, JMU keeper Stephanie Tarafas stopped two Tar Heel shots, but junior Taryn Gjurich grabbed the rebound on the second and put it back to make the score 3-0. In the 63rd minute, sophomore Jaclyn Gaudioso Radvany eluded defenders and shot from mid-circle to make it 4-0.
UNC finished with 17 shots to three by JMU. The Tar Heels had nine corners, six of them in the first half, and the Dukes had one.
The win was the second of the weekend for Carolina, which beat No. 3 Virginia 3-2 in an Atlantic Coast Conference matchup on Saturday.
"Today was a dangerous day for our program and I was worried about a letdown after yesterday's emotional win," UNC coach Karen Shelton said. "No disrespect to James Madison - we knew they'd be tough. I look at the scores and James Madison was a team that lost very tight games to Michigan, Michigan State, Duke, American, Drexel ... they were playing hard and tough against all these top 20 and top 10 teams. So I knew they were going to be a well-coached, well-organized team. I was worried we'd have that letdown, so I'm delighted to get a shutout and delighted with the four goals.
"We had to make some adjustments at halftime because we did come out a little bit flat in the first half, but I'm really pleased with the kids' response and the fact that we were able to practice back-to-back games. That's critical for our program. We like to think about postseason and we want to always use the regular season to prepare for postseason scenarios. This weekend and last weekend were certainly great preparation for that."
Next up for the Tar Heels is another big challenge, as Carolina travels to College Park, Md., to take on second-ranked Maryland Saturday in the final ACC game of the regular season. The teams last met in the NCAA Championship game in November, with UNC winning 3-2 to take the program's sixth title.
No. 1 North Carolina 4, James Madison 0
Scoring: UNC - Elizabeth Drazdowski (Caitlin Van Sickle), 8:07; UNC - Meghan Dawson (Katie Ardrey, Teryn Brill), 38:26; UNC - Taryn Gjurich, 51:17; UNC - Jaclyn Gaudioso Radvany, 62:14
Shots: UNC 17 (8/9), JMU 3 (2/1)
Penalty corners: UNC 9 (6/3); JMU 1 (1/0)
Goalkeeper saves: UNC 3 (Jackie Kintzer, 0 GA, 62:14; Team, 0 GA, 7:46); JMU 8 (Stephanie Tarafas, 4 GA, 8 saves, 70:00)
Defensive saves: JMU - Sam Smiertka, 1
Records: UNC 16-0 (4-0 ACC), JMU 8-8 (3-2 ACC)
UNC starters: Jackie Kintzer, Teryn Brill, Taryn Gjurich, Katie Ardrey, Kelsey Kolojejchick, Elizabeth Stephens, Elizabeth Drazdowski, Caitlin Van Sickle, Meghan Dawson, Marta Malmberg, Jaclyn Gaudioso Radvany
UNC substitutes: Katie Shanahan, Katie Plyler, Jen Slocum, Louise McNutt, Sinead Loughran
