Tar Heels Advance To Title Game With 2-0 Win Over Duke

Friday, November 20

Ann Arbor, Mich.

2:45 PM

North Carolina

(21-2)

Duke (NCAA Championship semifinal)

(14-7)

Duke

North Carolina

November 21, 2015 | Field Hockey

Box Score

By: UNC Athletic Communications

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Freshman Malin Evert scored twice and the Tar Heel defense earned its sixth shutout of the season as top-ranked North Carolina beat No. 6 Duke Friday afternoon in the NCAA Field Hockey Championship semifinals at Michigan's Phyllis Ocker Field. The Tar Heels (21-2) will play No. 2 Syracuse, which beat defending national champion Connecticut 3-1 in the first of Friday's semifinal games, on Sunday at 1 p.m. for the NCAA championship.

Syracuse (20-1) is the top seed in the NCAA Tournament field, and UNC is the No. 2 seed. The game will be broadcast live on ncaa.com.

Back in August, North Carolina opened the 2015 season in Ann Arbor with a win over Michigan. On the same field (but in considerably chillier weather) three months later, the Tar Heels played well enough to extend their season one more game.

Coach Karen Shelton emphasizes a quick start by her team, and the Tar Heels delivered. On the first penalty corner of the contest, just over two minutes into the action, senior Nina Notman sent a hard shot toward the cage and freshman Malin Evert tipped it in for a 1-0 early lead.

“I'm proud of Malin,” Shelton said of her forward from Bad Schwartau, Germany. “She had two big goals today. The first corner was something we hadn't done in a while and it was executed beautifully, and that gave us a leg up on the game.”

That's where the score stood for 41 minutes, but keeping the shutout required some defensive heroics. With seconds to play in the first half, Notman made a defensive save on a Duke penalty corner, sending a Blue Devil shot up and over the cage.

Early in the second half, Duke drew another corner and after the first shot was blocked, junior Kristy Bernatchez made a diving save at the goal line to keep a second shot out of the cage and keep the Blue Devils off the board.

“I thought Kristy Bernatchez, our left back who is kind of an unsung hero, had the game of her career,” Shelton said. “She defended well, attacked well, made some really good decisions and gave us sparks when we needed them.”

Eight minutes into the second half, Evert struck for her second goal of the game and 11th of the season. Senior Casey Di Nardo carried the ball just into the circle and sent it to her left as she was falling to the dark blue Ocker Field turf. Evert redirected Di Nardo's pass into the goal put UNC up 2-0.

“I'm delighted we got the second one, because it gave us a little more breathing room,” Shelton said.

The Tar Heels held on for the win and another shot at Syracuse, which UNC beat 2-1 in overtime in the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship two weeks ago. The ACC has proven to be the top field hockey conference throughout the season, so it's not surprising that a pair of league rivals would square off for the NCAA crown, nor that that Carolina would have faced another conference rival in the semis.

“I want to congratulate Duke,” Shelton said. “We have a great deal of respect for them and their program and today was a defensive battle. I respect the way they defend their goal and I hate to see players like [seniors] Lauren Blazing and Aileen Johnson end their careers. That's kind of the downside, that we had to play each other and there had to be a winner and loser. But I'm delighted for our team that we advanced to the finals, and I'm proud of our effort.”

Carolina finished with eight shots to Duke's seven after each had just two in the first half. Duke drew five penalty corners and UNC four.

Friday's game was playing under sunny skies but in temperatures that hovered in the low 40s. Snow is in the forecast for Saturday.

The Tar Heels are making their seventh consecutive final four appearance and last played in the title game in 2012. UNC had lost in the semifinals in a penalty shootout in each of the past two years.

No. 1 UNC 2, No. 6 Duke 0

Scoring: UNC – Malin Evert (Nina Notman), 2:14; UNC – Evert (Casey Di Nardo), 43:01

Shots: UNC 8 (2/5), DU 7 (2/5)

Penalty corners: UNC 4 (1/3), DU 5 (2/3)

Goalkeeper saves: UNC 2 (Shannon Johnson, 70:00, 2 saves, 0 goals allowed); DU 2 (Lauren Blazing, 70:00, 2 saves, 2 goals allowed)

Defensive saves: UNC 2 (Nina Notman, Kristy Bernatchez)

Records: UNC 21-2, DU 14-7

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