FH Marches On With Dominant Victory

Friday, November 10

Chapel Hill

Noon

North Carolina

(15-3)

William & Mary (NCAA First Round)

(12-9)

William & Mary

North Carolina

The Tar Heels won 6-1 Friday at Shelton Stadium.

Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati

November 10, 2023 | Field Hockey

Box Score NCAA Tournament Central Photo Gallery

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Top-seeded North Carolina opened its field hockey title defense with a dominant win on Friday, beating visiting William & Mary 6-1 at Karen Shelton Stadium. The Tar Heels got off a season-high 31 shots in the victory.

UNC moves on to play Sunday at noon against No. 9 Harvard, which beat No. 6 Rutgers 2-1 in the second game at Shelton Stadium on Friday afternoon. The winner of Sunday's game earns a spot in the NCAA semifinals.

Coach Brown: 𝘌𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘺 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘵 Us: ✅#GoHeels | @CoachMackBrown pic.twitter.com/06J7hUJgke — UNC Field Hockey (@UNCFieldHockey) November 11, 2023

"It was a good first game for us," UNC coach Erin Matson said. "There's obviously stuff we need to work on – I think we turned the ball over a little bit in the midfield area, should have put a couple more away. But the goalie [William & Mary's Maddie George] just had an outstanding game – we had a ton of shots on goal, a season high, and she played awesome.

"There's stuff to work on, but the girls feel good about the performance today."

After a scoreless first quarter in which the Tar Heels got off nine shots and George made six saves, freshman Charly Bruder scored in the 19^th minute, sending a shot from the top of the circle into the upper right corner of the cage after a pass from graduate student Pleun Lammers.

Senior Katie Dixon added another just before halftime, deflecting in a ball from Jasmina Smolenaars on the Tar Heels' fourth of five penalty corners in the quarter to give UNC a 2-0 lead at the break.

The home team added three more in the third quarter, with senior Paityn Wirth responsible for the first two, both on penalty corners. Just over four minutes into the period, sophomore Sietske Brüning sent a ball through to Wirth, who had inserted and was waiting at the post to deflect it in.

Less than two minutes later on another corner, George saved Carolina's first shot and the ball then bounced off a defender's stick and over to Wirth, who tapped it in for a 4-0 lead and her first two-goal game since the 2020 season.

Senior Kiersten Thomassey added another in the 39^th minute on an assist from sophomore Ryleigh Heck. Heck drove along the baseline, spun and sent the ball across the cage to Thomassey, who was positioned behind the keeper and tapped it in for a 5-0 lead.

William & Mary scored on a corner just before the end of the third quarter, with Allison Goodwin on the goal to make it 5-1.

Carolina added one more in the 49^th minute, with junior Lisa Slinkert scoring on a penalty corner with assists from Lammers on the insert and Dixon on the stop.

The Tar Heels' 31 shots were three more than their previous high of 28 against Appalachian State back on Sept. 24. They outshot the Tribe 20-0 in the first half.

George, a senior, finished with a career-high 16 saves, the most in program history in NCAA Tournament play.

No. 1 UNC 6, William & Mary 1
Scoring: UNC – Charly Bruder (Pleun Lammers), 18:12; UNC – Katie Dixon (Jasmina Smolenaars), 28:18; UNC – Paityn Wirth (Sietske Brüning), 34:18; UNC – Wirth, 35:58; UNC – Kiersten Thomassey (Ryleigh Heck), 38:38; WM – Allison Goodwin (Pyper Friedman, Maddie McGaughey), 44:42; UNC – Lisa Slinkert (Lammers, Dixon), 48:12
Shots: UNC 31 (9/11/9/2), WM 3 (0/0/2/0)
Goalkeeper saves: UNC 1 (Maddie Kahn, 45:00, 1 goal allowed, 0 saves; Abigail Taylor, 15:00, 0 goals allowed, 1 save); WM 16 (Maddie George, 60:00, 6 goals allowed, 16 saves)
Records: UNC 15-3, WM 12-9