Carolina Advances In NCAA Play With Shutout Of Stanford

Friday, November 15

Chapel Hill

Noon

North Carolina

(20-0)

Stanford (NCAA First Round)

(16-7)

Stanford

North Carolina

Starting keeper Amanda Hendry made four saves as UNC shut out Stanford.

Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati

November 15, 2019 | Field Hockey

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By: UNC Athletic Communications

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Top-ranked North Carolina shut out No. 15 Stanford 4-0 Friday afternoon to advance in NCAA Field Hockey Tournament play. With the first-round win on a cool, cloudy day at Karen Shelton Stadium, the Tar Heels improve to 20-0 on the season and advance to meet Iowa in a second-round game on Sunday.

"We were really worried about this one with [Stanford's] Kelsey Bing being the national team goalie, arguably the best goalie in the country, and [Stanford forward] Corinne Zanolli with 33 goals," UNC coach Karen Shelton said of the threats Stanford presents. "We were just very nervous about it and I'm proud of our team. I thought it was a great team effort. We moved the ball well. We gave extra attention to [Zanolli] and she didn't get many chances, many open looks at all. We gave a few too many corners away and that's an issue for us but overall I'm excited we had four goals.

"I'm proud of Julia Herrington for coming off the bench and getting her first career assist – that's a bright spot. We had a lot of activity and overall it's a great opening-round win for us to advance to the quarterfinals."

In the second of the two first-round games played in Chapel Hill Friday, Iowa beat Duke 3-2. The Hawkeyes and Tar Heels face off Sunday at 1 p.m. with the winner advancing to the NCAA semifinals.

Making their NCAA-record 36^th appearance in the tournament field, the Tar Heels scored early on what would prove to be their only penalty corner of the day to take the lead for good. In the seventh minute of play, senior Yentl Leemans had the goal on the direct shot, assisted by sophomore Abby Pitcairn on the insert and senior Feline Guenther on the stick stop.

UNC scored again in the 20^th minute, with Guenther tipping a rebound back into the cage for a 2-0 lead. The Tar Heels added one more in the second quarter, with sophomore Erin Matson scoring an unassisted goal on a close-range shot.

With no time on the clock before halftime, Stanford drew two penalty corners and got off its first two shots of the game. But UNC goalkeeper Amanda Hendry made saves on both to preserve the shutout and give UNC a 3-0 advantage going into the second half.

UNC scored one more with 3:22 to play in the game. Sophomore Julia Herrington recorded her first career assist with a long pass from the right side to Matson, who tallied her 26^th goal of the fall.

Senior goalkeeper Alex Halpin played the last 5:14 for UNC, making one save.

"Our goalkeepers were stellar," Shelton said. "Clean sheet for both of them. They faced hard shots on target, so I'm proud of them and proud of our entire team."

No.1 UNC 4, Stanford 0
Scoring: UNC – Yentl Leemans (Feline Guenther, Abby Pitcairn), 6:40; UNC – Feline Guenther, 19:45; UNC – Erin Matson, 28:12; UNC –Matson (Julia Herrington), 56:38
Shots: UNC 13 ( 6/3/1/3 ), SU 6 ( 0/2/3/1 )
Penalty corners: UNC 1 ( 1/0/0/0 ), SU 3 ( 0/2/1/0)
Goalkeeper saves: UNC 5 (Amanda Hendry, 54:46, 0 goals allowed, 4 saves; Alex Halpin, 5:14, 0 goals allowed, 1 save), SU (Kelsey Bing, 60:00 ,4 goals allowed, 7 saves)
Records: UNC 20-0, SU 16-7

UNC starters: Amanda Hendry, Erin Matson, Madison Orobono, Catherine Hayden, Romea Riccardo, Feline Guenther, Yentl Leemans, Eva Smolenaars, Courtnie Williamson, Megan DuVernois, Marissa Creatore
UNC subs: Bryn Boylan, Riley Fulmer, Karlijn Goes, Hannah Griggs, Abby Pitcairn, Alex Halpin, Julia Herrington, Mimi Leonard, Ellen Payne