University of North Carolina Athletics
UNC Meets Syracuse For National Championship
November 22, 2015 | Field Hockey
ANN ARBOR, Mich. – North Carolina's 2015 field hockey season will reach its culmination Sunday as the top-ranked Tar Heels (21-2) take on Syracuse for the NCAA Championship. The teams meet at 1 p.m. at the University of Michigan's Phyllis Ocker Field to determine which will wear this year's crown.
Top-seeded, second-ranked Syracuse (20-1), which finished as the runner-up last year after eliminating the Tar Heels in the national semifinals, is playing for its first NCAA title. North Carolina, which is in its 16th title game but first since 2012, is playing for its seventh championship. UNC last won a title in 2009, but has returned to the final four each year since then in search of another.
As a senior, this is the fourth time that midfielder Emily Wold has played in the final four, but just the second time she's been in the title game. Her freshman year, 2012, UNC lost 3-2 to Princeton in the championship. The Tar Heels have lost in a penalty shootout in the semifinals in each of the past two years.
“It's always an honor (to reach the championship), and it's really cool now that I'm a senior,” said Wold, a communication studies major who serves as the team captain. “Freshman year we got here and didn't finish it the way we'd like to, and then we fell short my sophomore and junior years. Now that it's my senior year and we get to have another go around, it's really special.
“I think this is a great team that we have, the group of girls we have. We're really close – you can see that on the field when we're playing. We play together, united, and we have each other's back at all times.”
Sunday's game will be the third meeting of the season between Atlantic Coast Conference rivals UNC and SU. Syracuse won the regular-season matchup 4-2 on its home turf on Sept. 12. Carolina won the rematch in the ACC Championship Game on Nov. 8, handing the Orange its first loss of the season, 2-1 in overtime.
“Syracuse is tough – they're very athletic, very fast, aggressive,” UNC coach Karen Shelton said. “I think sometimes when you get to this point, you want to win so badly that you tend to be conservative and back off, you're afraid to take chances. But we want to be aggressive, and I think Syracuse feels the same way. You've got to come out of the blocks and dare to be brilliant, take chances and go for it. We hope to do that on Sunday, and we know that Syracuse is going to try that, too.”
Snow fell on Ann Arbor throughout the day on Saturday, and Sunday's temperatures are not expected to be above freezing at gametime. If that's the case, the field won't be watered, making for a very different surface than every other game this season.
“That's just something we have to deal with,” Shelton said. “When you're playing for a championship, as long as it's equal for both teams, both teams will have a chance to adapt.
“We'll do the best we can. At this point that's all you can ask of your players. I think we're well-prepared, I think Syracuse is well-prepared. I hope it's a great championship game.”
