Field Hockey Earns Spot In ACC Title Game

Wednesday, November 1

Charlottesville, Va.

1 PM

North Carolina

(13-3)

Virginia (ACC Semifinal)

(12-6)

North Carolina

Virginia

Photo by: ACC

November 1, 2023 | Field Hockey

Box Score

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – North Carolina took an early lead and held on for a 3-2 victory over host Virginia Wednesday in the Atlantic Coast Conference Field Hockey Tournament semifinals. On a chilly afternoon at the Cavaliers' Turf Field, the Tar Heels got goals from freshman Charly Bruder, sophomore Ryleigh Heck and graduate student Pleun Lammers to advance to Friday's championship game.

The Tar Heels, ranked second nationally and playing as the top seed in the event, will face off against Duke, which beat Louisville 1-0 in Wednesday's second semifinal. Game time on Friday is 7 p.m. and the action will air live on the ACC Network. It's the ninth year in a row that Carolina (13-3) has played in the title game, and the Tar Heels have won seven of the past eight, including the last six in a row.

Wednesday's score reversed the result from the UNC-Virginia regular-season matchup, played on UVa's blue turf just 12 days ago. In that one, Carolina took a 2-0 lead before the home team stormed back with three goals in a row to take a 3-2 win.

"Overall today just showed a lot of growth," UNC coach Erin Matson said. "The last time we were here we learned a hard lesson. They had a great couple weeks of practices working on it, identifying it, having those hard conversations and getting deeper into the kind of team they want to be and their identity. Today was the perfect opportunity for them to show that growth and they did."

As in the regular-season matchup, it was again Heck who started off the scoring, this time with a goal just 2:15 into the action on an assist from junior Jasmina Smolenaars. Smoleenars stole the ball from a Cavalier and sent a perfect pass to Heck, who was set up right in front of the cage. She spun and shot around the keeper for her 10^th goal of the season.

The Tar Heels added to the advantage in the 11^th minute of play on a penalty corner, when Lammers swatted in the initial shot by Bruder.

The Cavaliers got on the board in the 20^th minute on a penalty corner, and the score stood at 2-1 at halftime and all the way into the fourth quarter.

Late in the final period, the Tar Heels added another goal, scoring on a penalty corner in the 57^th minute after Virginia had pulled its keeper. Bruder, the ACC Freshman of the Year, had the score, assisted by Paityn Wirth on the insert and Romea Riccardo on the stop.

Two minutes later, Virginia added another goal on a penalty corner, the team's only one after halftime. Jans Croon got her second of the day to make the final score 3-2.

UNC led 13-6 in shots, 7-2 after halftime. Goalkeeper Maddie Kahn made two saves for the Tar Heels and junior Kelly Smith came up with a defensive save, her fourth of the season.

The Tar Heels are the six-time defending ACC Tournament champion and will play on Friday night for the 26^th title in program history and seventh in a row. This will mark the 16^th time overall that UNC and Duke have met in the tournament and the third time they've played in the championship. The others were 1990 and 2011, with both Carolina wins.

UNC and Duke tied for the regular-season championship, with both finishing conference play 5-1. The Tar Heels got the top seed in the tournament – and the first-round bye – by beating Duke 2-1 in the teams' regular-season meeting last Friday in Chapel Hill.

No. 2 North Carolina 3, No. 4 Virginia 2
Scoring: UNC – Ryleigh Heck (Jasmina Smolenaars), 2:15; UNC – Pleun Lammers (Charly Bruder), 10:30; UVA – Jans Croon (Emily Field, Dani Mendez-Trendler), 19:50; UNC – Bruder (Paityn Wirth, Romea Riccardo), 56:10; UVA – Croons (Field, Mendez-Trendler), 58:10
Shots: UNC 13 (3/3/0/7), UVA 6 (0/4/1/1)
Penalty corners: UNC 7 (1/0/0/6), UVA 6 (0/5/0/1)
Goalkeeper saves: UNC 2 (Maddie Kahn, 6:00, 1 goal allowed, 2 saves), UVA 3 (Tyler Kennedy, 55:34, 2 goals allowed, 3 saves; Team, 4:26, 1 goal allowed)
Defensive saves: UNC 1 (Kelly Smith)
Records: UNC 13-3, UVA 12-6)