Field Hockey Earns Shutout Win At Penn

Friday, September 1

Philadelphia, Pa.

2 PM

North Carolina

(2-1)

Penn

(0-1)

North Carolina

Penn

UNC earned a 4-0 win at Penn on Friday. (Photo courtesy of Mike Nance)

September 1, 2023 | Field Hockey

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – The North Carolina field hockey team earned a shutout win Friday in its first road game of the season, beating the host Penn Quakers 4-0 at Ellen Vagelos Field. Freshman Charly Bruder's first career goal was the gamewinner and she added another in the third quarter as the Tar Heels improved to 2-1 on the year.

The Tar Heels return to action on this same turf Sunday morning, facing Princeton at 10:30 in their second game of the ACC/Ivy League Conference Crossover weekend. Louisville beat Princeton 2-1 in Friday's opening game. The Cardinals and Quakers face off in Sunday's second game.

The game at Penn found the Tar Heels in an unusual position: seeking to bounce back from a loss. After a 21-0 season in 2022 and a win in the opener, Carolina fell to Iowa on Sunday in overtime. But Friday's effort got the Tar Heels back in the win column.

"We're proud of them," UNC coach Erin Matson said of her team. "Obviously coming off last weekend we had things to work on, and we see them implementing what we're working on in practice, what we're discussing in film, what we're focusing on. It's good to see them connecting up front, and we had a lot of defensive work together on the back end. We were lucky enough to roll the bench – it's great for us to see multiple players out there, multiple scorers, and multiple people making an impact."

Carolina got off to a quick start on Friday, drawing a penalty corner just over two minutes into the action and delivering on the opportunity. Pleun Lammers had the insert and Romea Riccardo the stickstop as Bruder drove the shot home.

Carolina added another in the 23^rd minute to go up 2-0. On a pass from Ciana Riccardo, Alli Meehan lifted the ball up and over the Penn keeper for her first goal of the season.

UNC scored twice in the third quarter. Less than four minutes after halftime, Lammers sent a ball toward the cage and Bruder deflected up and in for her second score of the day. Six minutes later, Kiersten Thomassey sent a long ball into the circle from the right side and Paityn Wirth slammed it into the back of the cage for a 4-0 lead.

Maddie Kahn started in goal for Carolina and played the first three quarters, making one save in Penn's only shot on goal of the day. Abigail Taylor closed out the game, playing the final 15 minutes.

Twenty-five Tar Heels saw action.

🗣️ 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬'𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘺𝘦𝘵 Check out Charly Bruder's postgame interview following today's 4-0 Tar Heel victory#GoHeels pic.twitter.com/Q8fYWGpoMc
— UNC Field Hockey (@UNCFieldHockey) September 1, 2023

The announced crowd of 391 included many fans in a lighter shade of blue than Penn's navy. The game was a homecoming for 10 current Tar Heels who call Pennsylvania home, and the crowd also included many UNC alums. "It makes us happy and proud to be able to look across the way and see tons of Carolina blue," said Matson, who is also from the state. "We feel the support. We love our fans in Chapel Hill, but it's great when we can have that same kind of support and energy even on the road."

During Friday's game, each Tar Heel player wore a strip of black tape on her leg in recognition of Monday's events on the UNC campus and in memory of Dr. Zijie Yan.

No. 1 UNC 4, Penn 0
Scoring: UNC – Charly Bruder (Pleun Lammers, Romea Riccardo), 2:23; UNC – Alli Meehan (Ciana Riccardo), 22:45; UNC – Bruder (Lammers), 33:25; UNC – Paityn Wirth (Kiersten Thomassey), 39:17
Shots: UNC 14 (3/2/7/2), Penn 3 (0/0/2/1)
Penalty corners: UNC 5 (1/0/4/0), Penn 1 (0/0/1/0)
Goalkeeper saves: UNC 1 (Maddie Kahn, 45:00, 1 save, 0 goals allowed; Abigail Taylor, 15:00, 0 saves, 0 goals allowed), Penn 2 (Frederique Wollaert, 60:00, 2 saves, 4 goals allowed)
Defensive saves: UNC 0, Penn 1 (Kylie Wall)
Records: UNC 2-1, Penn 0-1