By R.L. Bynum

In the first round of the NCAA tournament, top-seeded North Carolina looked like the dominant field hockey program that it has been for years.

Senior forward Paityn Wirth scored two goals and senior midfielder Katie Dixon added a goal and an assist as the No. 1-ranked Tar Heels rolled to 6–1 victory Friday afternoon over William & Mary at Karen Shelton Stadium in Chapel Hill.

“It was a good first game for us,” said first-year UNC coach Erin Matson, a four-time national champion as a player. “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.”

Reigning national champion UNC (15–3), which has won 10 NCAA titles, will play Sunday at noon against No. 9-ranked Harvard (16–3), the Ivy League champions, which won its 11th consecutive game by beating No. 6-ranked Rutgers 2–1 in Friday’s second game.

The winner gets a spot in the Final Four, which Carolina will host next weekend.

The Tar Heels have won five consecutive games.

With a 31–3 edge in shots, Carolina could have scored a lot more if not for the 16 saves from George.

After a scoreless first period, freshman forward Charly Bruder broke through for UNC in the 19th minute for her 12th goal of the season, and Dixon’s fifth goal in the 29th minute gave the Tar Heels a 2–0 halftime edge.

Carolina broke the game open in the third period with two Wirth goals 100 seconds apart (35th minute and 36th minute) to give her seven on the season, and senior midfielder Kiersten Thomassey’s sixth goal made it 5–0.

After Allison Goodwin put the Tribe (12–9) on the scoreboard in the 45th minute, junior midfielder Lisa Slinkert notched UNC’s sixth goal, her fourth score of the season, on a penalty corner in the 49th minute.

It’s the 40th NCAA tournament appearance for the Tar Heels and Friday’s game was Carolina’s 107th in tournament play. UNC has 78 NCAA tournament wins, the most of any school.

Carolina has won all nine meetings with William & Mary, including a 4–0 victory in the first round of the 2009 NCAA tournament during one of the Tar Heels’ undefeated national championship seasons.

No. 1 UNC 6, William & Mary 1

Date	Month/day	Time/ score	Opponent/event (current ranking)	Location	Record/ TV
	August		ACC/Big Ten Challenge
25	Friday	W, 3–2	No. 16 Michigan	Home	1–0
27	Sunday	L, 3–2 (OT)	No. 8 Iowa	Home	1–1
	September		ACC/Ivy Challenge
1	Friday	W, 4–0	Penn	Philadelphia	2–1
3	Sunday	W, 2–1 (OT)	Princeton	Philadelphia	3–1
			——————————
10	Sunday	W, 2–1	No. 17 Old Dominion	Norfolk, Va.	4–1
15	Friday	W, 2–0	No. 10 Louisville	Home	5–1, 1–0 ACC
22	Friday	W, 3–0	Wake Forest	Winston-Salem	6–1, 2–0 ACC
24	Sunday	W, 6–1	Appalachian State	Home	7–1
	October
1	Sunday	W, 4–1	No. 13 Saint Joseph’s	Philadelphia	8–1
6	Friday	W, 3–1	No. 14 Boston College	Home	9–1, 3–0 ACC
8	Sunday	L, 2–1 (OT)	No. 7 Liberty	Home	9–2
13	Friday	W, 4–1	No. 11 Syracuse	Syracuse	10–2, 4–1 ACC
15	Sunday	W, 4–3	No. 18 Albany	Albany, N.Y.	11–2
20	Friday	L, 3–2	No. 5 Virginia	Charlottesville	11–3, 4–1 ACC
27	Friday	W, 2–1	No. 3 Duke	Home	12–3, 5–1 ACC
	November		ACC tournament
1	Wednesday	W, 3–2	Semifinals: No. 4 Virginia	Charlottesville	13–3
4	Friday	W, 2–0	Final: No. 3 Duke	Charlottesville	14–3
			NCAA tournament Link to bracket
10	Friday	W, 6–1	First round: William & Mary	Chapel Hill	15–3
12	Sunday	W, 4–2	Second round: No. 9 Harvard	Chapel Hill	16–3
17	Friday	W, 2–0	National semifinal: No. 5 Virginia	Chapel Hill	17–3
19	Sunday	W, 2–1, 2 OTs (UNC wins shootout 3–2)	Championship: No. 2 Northwestern	Chapel Hill	18–3