Tar Heels Top Duke In OT To Advance In ACC Tournament

Thursday, November 6

Durham, N.C.

1:30 PM

North Carolina

Duke (ACC Quarterfinals)

November 6, 2014 | Field Hockey

By: UNC Athletic Communications

DURHAM, N.C. - After almost 79 minutes of play Thursday afternoon in a field hockey battle between Duke and North Carolina, Tar Heel junior Nina Notman calmly sent a penalty stroke into the lower left corner of the cage to give her team a 2-1 win over the host Blue Devils in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship. With the overtime win, UNC (17-2) advances to Friday's semifinals and will face sixth-seeded Syracuse, a 5-2 winner over No. 3 seed Boston College. Game time on Friday is 3:30 p.m. and the winner earns a spot in the championship game on Sunday at 1 p.m.

"It was absolutely an exciting game - credit to Duke for giving us everything we could handle," UNC coach Karen Shelton said. "I thought Duke played really hard and tough. It's not easy to beat Duke at Duke and we knew that coming in. I'm incredibly proud of our team - we showed resilience and mental toughness - and of Nina Notman for performing under pressure."

UNC received the penalty stroke after calling for a video review, which isn't used during the regular season but is in place for the tournament. In the ninth minute of overtime play, junior Emily Wold was fouled in the circle, and the Tar Heels requested a review of the play. After viewing the replay, the officials awarded Carolina a stroke. Notman's gamewinner was her 11th goal of the year.

"There was a lot of pressure, but if you take strokes you know you're under pressure and you get used to it," Notman said. "You just have to be confident about your skills. It was great to score for the team."

The first UNC-Duke meeting of the year, on Oct. 17, ended in a 1-0 win for the Tar Heels, and the post-season meeting was another low-scoring matchup. Neither team scored in the first half, when Duke led 6-5 in shots. Duke's Ashley Kristen got past UNC goalkeeper Shannon Johnson to shoot on an open goal with about nine minutes to play in the period, but Tar Heel senior Samantha Travers, the team captain, stepped up with a defensive save to keep DU off the board.

The Blue Devils finally scored in the 40th minute, and again it was Kristen who had the shot. Jessica Buttinger sent a cross from the left side and Kristen tapped it in from the far post for her fourth goal of the year and a 1-0 Duke lead.

UNC tied the score in the 47th minute, on the Tar Heels' first penalty corner of the half and second of the game. Travers took the initial shot and junior Emma Bozek tipped the ball up and into the cage to tie the score at 1-1.

Both teams had opportunities in the closing minutes. UNC drew a corner with two minutes to play and Travers's shot went into the cage, but it was ruled high and the goal was not allowed. Following a video review, Duke was awarded a corner with seconds remaining in regulation, but the Blue Devils didn't score and the game went to overtime.

"Good day for us in the end, but we have a lot of things to work on to get better," Shelton said. "We're not where we need to be. We're not satisfied with the way we performed."

UNC, the No. 2 seed in the tournament, is now 3-0 in overtime games, with all three wins coming over ACC opponents on the road. The Tar Heels' other two OT wins were at Boston College and at Wake Forest.

No. 1 UNC 2, No. 7 Duke 1, OT

Scoring: Duke - Ashley Kristen (Jessica Buttinger), 39:39; UNC - Emma Bozek (Samantha Travers), 46:02; UNC - Nina Notman (penalty stroke)

Shots: UNC 11 (5/5/1); DU 2 (1/1)

Penalty corners: UNC 4 (1/3/0); DU 2 (1/1/0)

Goalkeeper saves: UNC 5 (Shannon Johnson, 78:49, 1 goal allowed, 5 saves); DU 3 (78:49, 2 goals allowed, 3 saves)

Defensive saves: UNC 1 (Samantha Travers)

UNC starters: Shannon Johnson, Loren Shealy, Kristy Bernatchez, Samantha Travers, Charlotte Craddock, Emily Wold, Nina Notman, Emma Bozek, Julia Young, Casey Di Nardo, Abby Frey