Winning Streak Ends As Field Hockey Falls At Louisville

Friday, October 2

Louisville, KY

4:30 PM

North Carolina

(1-1, 1-1ACC)

Louisville

(3-0, 2-0,ACC)

North Carolina

Louisville

(Photo by Jared Anderson)

October 2, 2020 | Field Hockey

Box Score Box Score

By: UNC Athletic Communications

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The North Carolina field hockey team saw its record-breaking winning streak come to an end on Friday with a 3-1 loss to Louisville at the Cardinals' Trager Stadium.

UNC, which had won its last 47 games in a row, is now 1-1 on the season (0-1 in ACC play) heading into Sunday's game at Duke. Louisville improved to 3-0 (2-0 ACC) on the fall.

"Congratulations to Louisville," UNC coach Karen Shelton said. "Their defense was very cohesive and they did a nice job on Erin (Matson). They were more organized and composed than we were, and they put us under a lot of pressure – credit to Louisville for the way they played today."

The Tar Heels trailed 2-0 at halftime after Louisville scored goals in the first and second quarters. In the 13^th minute of play, the Cardinals pulled ahead, capitalizing on their first penalty corner of the game. Mercedes Pastor scored the goal, her third of the season, on assists by Meghan Schneider and Alli Bitting. Louisville added to the lead less than a minute before halftime on a goal from Margot Lawn, who deflected in a cross from Pastor.

Just under six minutes into the third quarter, junior Erin Matson got UNC on the board with an unassisted goal, her second of the season. With the score still at 2-1 midway through the fourth quarter, Shelton pulled goalkeeper Amanda Hendry in favor of an additional field player in an effort to score the equalizer.

With six seconds to play in the game, the Cardinals got behind the UNC defense to score into the empty cage. Lawn had her second goal of the game, assisted by Aimee Plumb.

Hendry finished with seven saves in just under 53 minutes of play for the Tar Heels. Cardinals keeper Hollyn Barr made three saves.

Louisville outshot (12-7) and outcornered (4-2) the Tar Heels, who held the longest current winning streak in Division I athletics as well as the longest in ACC field hockey and program history. They went 23-0 in both 2018 and 2019, and won their 2020 opener at Wake Forest on Sept. 20 to reach 47 victories in a row.

The Tar Heels have a quick turnaround to Sunday's noon game against the Blue Devils in Durham.

"We'll look at video now and pick out the things we can do better," Shelton said. "We're not passing the ball the way we can.

"Now we'll turn our sights on Duke – they're playing well and they're going to be really tough at home. We're going to see what we're made of."