Despite Early Lead, FH Falls At Virginia, 3-2

Friday, October 20

Charlottesville, Va.

4 PM

North Carolina

(12-3, 5-1ACC)

Virginia

(10-6, 3-4ACC)

North Carolina

Virginia

The Tar Heels are back in action on Oct. 27 at home against Duke.

Photo by: Keith Lucas

October 20, 2023 | Field Hockey

Box Score

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – North Carolina dropped a game in regulation for the first time this season on Friday, falling 3-2 at Virginia in Atlantic Coast Conference field hockey action. The Tar Heels led 2-0 at halftime at Turf Field, but the Cavaliers stormed back with three third-quarter goals and then hung on for the win in their Senior Day.

"It was a hard-fought game and UVA showed up to play with lots of energy," UNC coach Erin Matson said. "Props to them for utilizing that third quarter and capitalizing on their opportunities."

UNC falls to 11-3 overall and 4-1 in ACC play. The Tar Heels, whose first two losses came at home in overtime, had given up just two goals total in their first four conference matchups heading into Friday.

After a scoreless first quarter, sophomore Ryleigh Heck scored twice in the second to send UNC into halftime with a 2-0 lead. She got Carolina on the board in the 18^th minute, dribbling to the cage and flipping a shot over the keeper. In the 29^th minute, she scored again, this time after the first shot on a penalty corner was blocked.

UNC led 8-0 in shots and 4-0 in corners at the break.

Virginia came out of the locker room hot, with three goals in a span of just over five minutes. In the 33^rd minute on UVA's first shot of the day, Noa Boterman tipped in a pass from Taryn Tkachuk to cut the margin to one. Virginia tied the score just under three minutes later on its first penalty corner of the game. After the Tar Heel defense blocked Virginia's shot on the next corner, the Cavaliers scored again on their third and final corner opportunity of the game, with Tkachuk adding a score to her earlier assist.

Carolina pulled goalkeeper Maddie Kahn in favor of another field player with just over six minutes remaining in the game but couldn't get the tying goal.

"We talked about at halftime, 'don't get comfortable, a 2-0 lead is a dangerous lead,'" Matson said. "It's a lesson in being able to problem-solve. Things aren't going to go great for 60 minutes, and it's being able to not spend five, seven, 10 minutes before things get better.

"We're happy with three quarters of that game. Obviously, we want to be happy with four. Our team stuck together, they did it all together – when it was going well and when we needed to pick it up, they were right there beside each other, encouraging each other and that was the main focus for today."

The Tar Heels will be back in Charlottesville in less than two weeks for the ACC Tournament, which runs from Oct. 31 to Nov. 3 at UVa's Turf Field.

Next up is the final game of the regular season, at home next Friday (Oct. 27) against Duke at 6 p.m.

No. 7 Virginia 3, No. 2 UNC 2
Scoring: UNC – Ryleigh Heck, 17:06; UNC – Heck, 28:40; UVA – Noa Boterman (Taryn Tkachuk), 32:33; UVA – Emily Field (Jans Croon, Dani Mendez-Trendler), 35:12; UVA – Tkachuk (Lauren Kenah), 37:50
Shots: UNC 11 (2/6/2/1), UVA 4 (0/0/4/0)
Penalty corners: UNC 6 (1/3/1/1), UVA 3 (0/0/3/0)
Goalkeeper saves: UNC 0 (Maddie Kahn, 53:40, 0 saves, 3 goals allowed; Team, 6:20, 0 saves, 0 goals allowed), UVA 3 (Tyler Kennedy, 60:00. 2 goals allowed, 3 saves)
Records: UNC 11-3 (4-1 ACC), Virginia 10-5 (3-3 ACC)