No. 3 Tar Heels Fall At No. 7 Wake Forest

Friday, October 23

Winston-Salem, N.C.

3:00 PM

North Carolina

(13-2, 4-2)

At Wake Forest

(11-4, 4-2)

North Carolina

Wake Forest

October 23, 2015 | Field Hockey

Box Score

By: UNC Athletic Communications

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – The third-ranked North Carolina field hockey team fell 3-2 at No. 7 Wake Forest Friday afternoon, losing for just the second time all season after trailing through most of the game. The Tar Heels mounted a comeback in the final 10 minutes of play at Kentner Stadium but weren't able to scratch all the way back from an early 3-0 deficit. UNC is now 13-2 overall while Wake Forest improved to 11-4. Both teams are 4-2 in ACC play.

“I accept responsibility for our preparation not being what it usually is,” UNC coach Karen Shelton said. “Our kids went to class this morning and we pushed our pregame meal back and got here 10 minutes before warm-up. We can get away with that sometimes but not against Wake Forest. The warm-up was good but we just sleepwalked through the first 10 minutes and they scored two goals in that span.

“I was proud of our resiliency in the second half – we could have hung our heads and moped through it and instead we fought hard, but it was two little too late.”

Wake Forest scored just 2:14 into the match, on its second penalty corner of the game. After UNC goalkeeper Shannon Johnson made a save on the first shot, WFU junior Emily Conroe grabbed the rebound and scored to make it 1-0. It marked the first time this season that UNC has trailed in the first half, and just the second time the Tar Heels have trailed at all. Prior to Friday's game, Carolina's only loss was at Syracuse on Sept. 12, when the Orange took their first lead with less than three minutes to play in a 4-2 SU win.

The Demon Deacons quickly scored again on their next corner, which came in the ninth minute of play. In a similar scenario, Johnson saved the first shot but senior Madi Julius swatted the rebound in for a 2-0 lead.

Wake's third goal came in the 26th minute when the Demon Deacons were awarded a penalty stroke. Senior Jess Newak sent it into the lower left corner of the cage for a 3-0 lead.

The shutout stood through most of the second half. Then with 10:39 to play, UNC called a timeout and Shelton pulled Johnson in favor of an additional field player. Nine of UNC's 14 second-half shots came after that point, and Wake didn't get off another shot in the game. With just over seven minutes remaining, Carolina finally got on the board, on its 12th penalty corner of the afternoon. Senior Nina Notman had the goal, with assists to senior Emily Wold and sophomore Gab Major.

The Tar Heels continued to put pressure on the Wake defense and create opportunities. With 1:22 remaining, another one finally paid off, with Notman sending a hard shot at the goal, where it bounced off a WFU defender and went in. UNC was unable to mount another opportunity in the closing minutes.

“We did make some things happen, but we didn't play it as well as we possibly could have,” Shelton said. “So you go back to the practice field and work on it, and now it has more meaning. Our team had only trailed for three minutes all season, in the Syracuse game, and we had to handle being down today – at times we handled it well and at times not so well, but it didn't cost us an NCAA Tournament game. We're still playing. It's a good lesson learned.

“For me, the most important thing is that the last two ACC games our opponents out-hustled us. I thought Duke outhustled us and so did Wake Forest. If we aspire to win a national championship we've got to work harder – that's all there is to it.”

Next up for the Tar Heels are two home games to end the regular season. UNC hosts Liberty on Thursday evening (Oct. 29) and Old Dominion on Sunday afternoon (Nov. 1), both at Francis E. Henry Stadium.

No. 7 Wake Forest 3, No. 3 North Carolina 2

Scoring: WFU – Emily Conroe, 2:14; WFU – Madi Julius, 8:22; WFU – Jess Newak (penalty stroke), 25:58; UNC – Nina Notman (Emily Wold, Gab Major), 63:21; UNC – Notman, 68:38

Shots: UNC 22 (8/14), WFU 10 (7/3)

Penalty corners: UNC 12 (8/4), WFU 5 (3/2)

Goalkeeper saves: UNC 4 (Shannon Johnson, 59:21, 4 saves, 3 goals allowed; Team, 10:39, 0 saves, 0 goals allowed); WFU 11 (Valerie Dahmen, 70:00, 11 saves, 2 goals allowed)

Records: UNC 13-2 (4-2 ACC), WFU 11-4 (4-2 ACC)

UNC starters: Shannon Johnson, Lauren Moyer, Kristy Bernatchez, Emily Wold, Nina Notman, Ashley Hoffman, Malin Evert, Julia Young, Casey Di Nardo, Eva van't Hoog, Gab Major