Back-To-Back: Tar Heels Claim Eighth NCAA Title With 23-0 Season

Sunday, November 24

Winston-Salem, N.C.

1:00 PM

North Carolina

(23-0)

Princeton (NCAA Final)

(16-5)

Princeton

North Carolina

The Tar Heels celebrate the program's eight national championship.

Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati

Back-To-Back: Tar Heels Claim Eighth NCAA Title With 23-0 Season

November 24, 2019 | Field Hockey

Box Score Watch Highlights Photo Gallery Six Tar Heels Earn All-Region Honors

By: UNC Athletic Communications

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – The UNC field hockey team is perfect again.

The top-ranked Tar Heels beat No. 9 Princeton 6-1 Sunday at Wake Forest's Kentner Stadium to claim the program's eighth national championship and complete a second-consecutive undefeated season. This year's team finished the year 23-0, and Carolina has now won 46 games in a row.

UNC sophomore Erin Matson was named the NCAA Tournament's Most Outstanding Player, and she was joined on the All-NCAA Tournament Team by senior Yentl Leemans and juniors Amanda Hendry and Eva Smolenaars.

"I'm just thrilled for the team to have won another national championship, and for the freshmen on the team it's their first one," UNC coach Karen Shelton said. "Back-to-back is incredibly special. We did take it game by game. I'm just thrilled to represent the University of North Carolina. I know I say that a lot but it's absolutely true."

UNC fell behind early, as Princeton scored just 2:13 into the game. It was the third game in a row in which the Tar Heels have trailed 1-0.

The Tar Heels proved their resiliency, answering the deficit with a pair of goals on second chances. The first, by senior forward Marissa Creatore, came with 39 seconds to play in the first quarter. Sprinting into the circle, she took a pass from Catherine Hayden on the right and got off a quick shot. It was saved by Princeton goalkeeper Grace Baylis, but Creatore, a team captain from Chapel Hill, gathered the ball from right at the keeper's feet and tried again, scoring her 16^th goal of the season to tie the game at 1-1.

In the 22^nd minute, on UNC's second penalty corner corner of the game, Baylis saved a shot by Matson and then a defensive save sent the ball back out and right to Smolenaars, who rifled a shot just inside the left post for UNC's first lead of the game.

The Tar Heels carried that 2-1 lead into halftime, then added four more, two each in the third and fourth quarters. Just over three minutes after halftime, Matson scored the first of back-to-back goals, on a reverse after she got a pass from Smolenaars at the top of the circle.

In the 43^rd minute, Matson scored again, this time on a ball from freshman Karlijn Goes. She sent a reverse-stick chip past Baylis to make the score 4-1 with her 33^rd goal of the season.

Smolenaars scored her second goal of the game and fifth of the year in the 50^th minute when she got the ball in the circle, spun to elude a defender and sent a shot that went just wide of the keeper's left foot.

With just under three minutes to play, sophomore Hannah Griggs intercepted a Princeton pass just outside the circle and took the ball in for a shot that made the score 6-1.

With no time left on the clock, Princeton was awarded a penalty stroke. Reserve goalkeeper Alex Halpin, a senior playing her final moments in a UNC uniform, made the save to keep the final score at 6-1.

"I never felt comfortable in the game until we got the sixth goal," Shelton said. "Princeton is a dangerous team – very fast, very direct, hard-working and threatening. They threatened us the entire game. It was 6-1, but they had 15 shots to our 14. They had eight corners to our five. Stats don't always tell the whole story. I have to say what a great season they had and how tough it was to play them."

It was the second matchup of the season between UNC and Princeton. The two also met in Chapel Hill on Sept. 6, when the Tar Heels won 4-3 but needed three goals in the final 5:01 to do so. On Sunday, they again showed that ability to score in bunches.

This marks the third time in NCAA history that a team has gone back-to-back with undefeated seasons. ODU was the first and has done so on two occasions, in 1983 and 1984, and then in 1991 and 1992.

UNC won its eighth title on the same field where the Tar Heels won their second, in 1995, and their sixth, in 2009. With the game's close proximity to Chapel Hill, lots of fans as well as the UNC pep band and the Rameses mascot traveled west for the game. The crowd was announced at 1,466, the majority of which were cheering for the Tar Heels.

"Wake once again did an outstanding job of hosting the final four," Shelton said. "We loved having the opportunity to win a championship in front of so many of our fans. To look up in the stands and see so much Carolina blue was extremely special for us."

No. 1 UNC 6, No. 9 Princeton 1
Scoring: Princeton – Emma Street (Clara Roth), 2:13; UNC – Marissa Creatore, 14:21; UNC – Eva Smolenaars, 21:10; UNC – Erin Matson (Smolenaars), 33:04; UNC – Matson (Karlijn Goes), 42:48; UNC – Smolenaars, 49:35; UNC – Hannah Griggs, 57:14
Shots: UNC 14 (3/4/4/3), PU 15 (4/3/3/5)
Penalty Corners: UNC 5 (1/1/1/2), PU 8 (0/4/1/3)
Goalkeeper Saves: UNC 5 (Amanda Hendry, 52:14, 1 goal allowed, 4 saves; Alex Halpin, 6:56, 0 goals allowed, 1 save; Megan Ragusa, 00:50, 0 goals allowed, 0 saves); Princeton 5 (Grace Baylis, 60:00, 6 goals allowed, 4 saves)
Defensive Saves: Princeton 1 (MaryKate Neff)
Records: UNC 23-0, Princeton 16-5

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: Hannah Griggs, Julia Herrington, Bryn Boylan, Karlijn Goes, Abby Pitcairn, Ali Rushton, Riley Fulmer, Alex Halpin, Megan Ragusa