Tar Heels Take On Syracuse Saturday

Saturday, September 23

Syracuse, N.Y.

2:00 PM

North Carolina

Syracuse

Cassie Sumfest and the Tar Heels take on Syracuse Saturday for the third ACC matchup of the season.

Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati

September 23, 2017 | Field Hockey

Game Notes (.pdf)

No. 7 UNC faces No. 6 Orange at 2 p.m.

By: UNC Athletic Communications

Setting the Scene
After three home games in a four-day span, the UNC field hockey team is back on the road. The Tar Heels visit ranked teams on back-to-back days, playing at No. 6 Syracuse on Saturday and at No. 20 Albany on Sunday.
The seventh-ranked Tar Heels head into the weekend 7-2 overall and 1-1 in Atlantic Coast Conference play.

Fast Facts on UNC
2017 record: 7-2 overall (1-1 ACC)
Final 2016 record: 20-6 (3-3 ACC), ACC runner-up, NCAA runner-up
NFHCA poll ranking: 7th (Sept. 19 poll)
Head Coach: Karen Shelton (37th season at UNC)
Record at UNC and overall: 635-161-9
Staff: Grant Fulton, Associate Head Coach; Mark Atherton, Assistant Coach
Team Co-captains: Gab Major, Ashley Hoffman
ACC Titles: 19 (1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2004, 2007, 2011, 2012, 2015)
NCAA Titles: Six (1989, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2007, 2009)
Conference: Atlantic Coast
Home Stadium: Competing in 2017 at Duke's Williams Field at Jack Katz Stadium (Address: 20 Brodie Gym Dr., Durham, NC 27708) while an on-campus stadium is under construction

The Road Ahead
Sept. 23: At No. 6 Syracuse, 2 p.m.
(J.S. Coyne Stadium, Syracuse, N.Y.)
Sept. 24: At No. 20 Albany, 1 p.m.
(Alumni Turf, Albany, N.Y,)

Following the Tar Heels
Live stats: GoHeels.com
Live video: ACC Network Extra, available through the WatchESPN app or the link on GoHeels.com
Twitter: @UNCFieldHockey

Quick Hits
• The Tar Heels' 32 goals this season have come from 13 different players. In the top five scorers are a senior, a junior, two sophomores and a freshman.
• Syracuse and Albany are UNC's seventh and eighth ranked opponents of the season.
• Tar Heel junior Ashley Hoffman, a member of the U.S. National Team, is this week's ACC Defensive Player of the Week.
• UNC is No. 7 in this week's NFHCA national coaches' poll. The Tar Heels were No. 1 in the preseason poll and then No. 4 in the first ranking of the season. They've been No. 7 for the past two weeks.
• UNC will play all six of its home games this fall in Durham, N.C., at Duke's Williams Stadium at Jack Katz Field. The Tar Heels' new on-campus stadium is under construction and is slated to be ready for the 2018 season.

UNC's Statistical Leaders
(Through nine games)
Goals: Ashley Hoffman 7, Catherine Hayden 5, Meredith Sholder 4, Marissa Creatore 3, Gab Major 3
Assists: Major 9, Eva van't Hoog 7
Points: Hoffman 16, Major 15, Hayden 12

Scouting the opposition
• At Syracuse, Sept. 23: The Orange is 8-1 overall and 1-1 in ACC play coming off a 4-0 win over Rutgers last Sunday. The Tar Heels will see a familiar face on the sidelines in SU assistant coach Kelsey Kolojejchick, a UNC graduate. Kolojejchick is the only Tar Heel ever to earn first-team All-America honors in all four years.
Last meeting: UNC won 3-2 in the second overtime period on Sept. 23, 2016 in Chapel Hill. Tar Heel junior Malin Evert scored the gamewinner in the 90th minute of play. Just four players who were in the starting lineup for that game (Andriessen, Hoffman, van't Hoog and Goetz) are expected to be in the starting lineup on Saturday.
• At Albany, Sept. 24: The Great Danes won 3-2 in overtime at Delaware on Friday to improve to 4-3 on the year. Goalkeeper Melissa Nealon had a career-high 13 saves in the win.
Last meeting: UNC and Albany last met in 2015, when the Tar Heels won 4-2 in Albany on Sept. 13. Carolina junior Eva van't Hoog, then a freshman, was one of three Tar Heels to score in that game.

Last time out: UNC 10, Davidson 0
Sept. 19, 2017
DURHAM, N.C. – The North Carolina field hockey team got six goals from the bench and didn't give up a shot in a 10-0 win over Davidson Tuesday evening at Williams Field at Jack Katz Stadium. Sophomore Catherine Hayden led the way with her first career hat trick as the seventh-ranked Tar Heels improved to 7-2. The Wildcats fell to 0-6.
UNC played 22 of 24 players on its roster and 10 of them notched either a goal or an assist. After Hayden's three goals, junior Ashley Hoffman had two, and the Tar Heels got one each from Meredith Sholder, Marissa Creatore, Leila Evans, Malin Evert and Courtnie Williamson. Seven of those goals came after halftime, when this Carolina team has sometimes lagged in offensive production.
"I'm very pleased with the way we moved the ball," UNC coach Karen Shelton said. "We were able to work on some things and got a lot of goal production. We also played a pretty solid second half – we'd been struggling putting two halves together. I was pleased with our group today."
Hayden scored the gamewinner in the 11th minute of play, with a deflection from the left side of the cage. The next goal came less than a minute later, on UNC's second penalty corner of the game. Hoffman had the shot, assisted by sophomore Feline Guenther and senior Gab Major. Hayden made it 3-0 in the 21st minute, gathering a loose ball in the circle and putting it in for her second goal of the day.
The Tar Heels opened the second half scoring with penalty corner deflection by sophomore Marissa Creatore, assisted by Hoffman, to make it 4-0. Less than a minute later, junior Malin Evert sent a shot into the roof of the cage for a 5-0 margin.
In the 49th minute, Evans scored the first goal of her Tar Heel career to make it 6-0. In the 53rd minute, on a penalty corner, sophomore Megan DuVernois inserted the ball to freshman Meredith Sholder, who shot it in for a 7-0 lead.
The next goal, in the 56th minute, was from redshirt freshman Courtnie Williamson, a reserve defender who was seeing time in the midfield and got her first career goal.
In the 59th minute, Hoffman was true on a penalty stroke, the Tar Heels' second attempt and first make of the year.
After opening the scoring, Hayden also closed it out, dribbling into the circle for a close-range shot with just under seven minutes to play to make it 10-0.
"I think we're getting better," Shelton said. "This group has been a joy to work with – they're focused and motivated and trying to get better. All of us are working toward the same thing, and it's fun to see them make these steps. That's what we're doing – each game, each week we're making strides."

Hoffman Honored As ACC Defensive Player of the Week
North Carolina's Ashley Hoffman was recognized on Sept. 18 as the Atlantic Coast Conference Field Hockey Defensive Player of the Week.
Hoffman manned the center back position as North Carolina beat two ranked teams the previous weekend during its first homestand of the season. Playing at Duke's Williams Field at Jack Katz Stadium, the Tar Heels beat No. 10 Boston College 2-1 in overtime on Saturday and earned a 3-0 shutout against No. 13 James Madison on Sunday. In addition to her defensive play, Hoffman scored the game-winning goal in overtime for the Tar Heels against the Eagles.
Kinnear Joins UNC Staff
Kate Barber Kinnear, one of the most decorated players in UNC field hockey history and a long-time member of the U.S. National Team, has joined the North Carolina coaching staff as a volunteer assistant coach. The Sept. 16 game against Boston College was her first on the sidelines.
"We're extremely fortunate to have Kate Barber Kinnear join our staff," Shelton said. "She's one of the greatest Tar Heels of all time, and one of our greatest leaders – she was a captain here and a captain on the National Team. She's just an incredible role model for our players. She's gone on to success in the private sector, and now to have her back in college field hockey and working with our team is something that's going to be incredibly valuable to us."
Kinnear lettered at UNC from 1994-97, helping the Tar Heels to three NCAA Championships (1995-97) and to Atlantic Coast Conference titles all four years. She was a three-time first-team All-America selection and a two-time finalist for the Honda Award as national player of the year. On the conference level, she earned All-ACC honors three times and All-ACC Tournament honors all four years, and was named ACC Rookie of the Year, ACC Player of the Year and ACC Tournament MVP during her time in a Tar Heel uniform.
She was an undergraduate assistant coach for the Tar Heels during the 1998 season while completing her degree in exercise and sport science.
Kinnear continued her hockey career as a member of the U.S. National Team from 1998 to 2008, earning more than 200 international caps. She captained Team USA at the 2008 Beijing Olympics as the U.S. made its first appearance in the Summer Games since 1996.