By R.L. Bynum
CHAPEL HILL — As a young North Carolina field hockey team works to improve, it’s going through a process that’s not common for the program: learning from losses.
That has sometimes meant taking risks to create some momentum.
On Sunday at Karen Shelton Stadium, one of those risks was Coach Erin Matson pulling goaltender Merritt Skubisz with seven minutes left for an extra attacker, trailing by a goal.
That led to plenty of pressure and three corners, but no goals at Karen Shelton Stadium as No. 9 Virginia ended a five-game losing streak against UNC with a 2–1 victory.
Matson said she trusted the move based on her playing days under Coach Karen Shelton while acknowledging that most coaches wait until two or three minutes left.
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“In Coach Shelton’s eyes, it was never enough to actually utilize the extra number and get into momentum, so she used to call it with seven, eight, nine minutes left when I was a player here, and it always worked for us,” said Matson, whose team was outshot 16–14. “It’s more about giving us the advantage on the attacking front, and we’ve practiced it just like every situation and scenario, so it was good to give it a go today.”
It was a gritty seven minutes with Skubisz out, as UNC had to fend off two Virginia corners in the 55th minute, relying on solid defense and blocks. UNC freshman back Morgan O’Donnell made a huge play to stop a shot toward an open net in the 56th minute.
Matson pointed to that sequence as proof of what the group can do when the moment demands it.
“In the big moments, once we pull our goalkeeper and we need that last-ditch effort to protect our cage, it’s there,” Matson said. “I think kudos to our girls for stepping up big, especially Morgan with that one. You give up five, six corners to a team, of course it gets harder and harder every time, but the fact that our girls keep defending it and keep coming up in those moments is really promising.”
Matson saw a lot of improvement in the ACC opener for Carolina (3–4), but the corners disparity (12–8) ultimately cost the Tar Heels against the Cavaliers (5–2, 1–1 ACC).
“We knew this was going to be one of the hardest games so far this season, and they did a really good job at executing their game plan,” Matson said of Virginia. “That was the first game we really felt us problem-solving and applying it, and we did.
“We came up with the game plan, and we stuck to it the entire game,” Matson said. “It doesn’t always feel like it in games like this when we don’t capitalize on the opportunities we create, and we don’t finish in the moments we need to finish. There’s plenty from this game, and that’ll be a section in the debrief film.”
Virginia earned two corners in the first 37 seconds, cashing in on the second one with a Lauren Sloan goal.
Junior midfielder Coco Courtright slung a pass from outside the circle to senior forward Charly Bruder 6½ minutes in. Bruder fired a backhander around a defender and just to the left of Virginia goaltender Nilou Lempers for the equalizer.
The Cavaliers kept piling up the penalty corners, and scored again on their ninth, with Amelie Rees knocking in a shot as the first half ended. Virginia led 2–1 at halftime, having outshot UNC 12–4.
Matson said the weekly preparation for an opponent like Virginia is built around balance.
“It’s a balance of what we feel like our game needs to continue, what we feel like in our game needs to improve, and then basically making them aware of the other team to eliminate surprises,” Matson said. “UVa has a lot of threats, and we want them to be aware of that. They also have opportunities, just like when they scout us. They need to be prepared and feel like when it happens on game day, there’s nothing new from UVa.”
UNC finally got its first corner in the 32nd minute and appeared to tie it, but the goal was overturned because of a body obstruction (field hockey’s version of a moving pick).
“This year it’s the same message of we’re focused on the good, we’re focused on the continual improvement,” Matson said of the contrast of recent seasons when the learning came in victories. “There’s a lot of good today. But we need to keep fixing it. We can’t keep giving up so many corners. We need to finish when we have numbers up in the circle and people on the far post.”
The pulled goalkeeper wasn’t the only gamble Matson pointed to when asked about risk-taking elsewhere in the match.
“We’re trying to play forward a lot. UVa presses highly, so just like us, when we’re pressing a team, we think about it like a two-way street,” Matson said. “When we press high teams, it’s because we want to put them under pressure so they go backward and feel like, here’s Carolina, they’re coming.”
Notes
— UNC takes a two-game West Coast trip next weekend, playing at Stanford at 9 p.m. ET Friday and at California at 4 p.m. ET Sunday. It will be the ACC opener for the Cardinal (6–1), which comes off a 3–1 home loss to No. 1 Northwestern and hosts UC Davis on Tuesday. The Bears (5–1), which lost to Northwestern 2–0 on Saturday, host No. 16 Louisville on Friday.
— The game was on ACC Network, with UNC moving to 17–2 on linear TV under Matson.
— UNC still leads the all-time series 69–19, including 30–6 in Chapel Hill.
No. 9 Virginia 2, No. 11 UNC 1
| Date | Month/day | Time/ score | Opponent/event (current ranking) | Record/ TV |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August | ACC/Big Ten Challenge in Winston-Salem | |||
| 28 | Friday | L, 2–1, OT | Michigan | 0–1 |
| 30 | Sunday | L, 3–2, OT | No. 10 Iowa | 0–2 |
| September | ||||
| 4 | Friday | W, 7–0 | Penn | 1–2 |
| 6 | Sunday | W, 1–0, OT (3–2 shootout) | No. 9 Princeton | 2–2 |
| 11 | Friday | L, 5–4, OT | Old Dominion | 2–3 |
| 13 | Sunday | W, 2–1 | at Richmond | 3–3 |
| 20 | Sunday | L, 2–1 | vs. No. 18 Virginia | 3–4, 0–1 ACC |
| 25 | Friday | W, 8–1 | at Stanford | 4–4, 1–1 |
| 27 | Sunday | W, 4–0 | at California | 5–4, 2–1 |
| October | ||||
| 2 | Friday | W, 3–0 | at Louisville | 6–4, 3–1 |
| 9 | Friday | W, 8–0. | at Saint Joseph’s | 7–4 |
| 11 | Sunday | L, 2–1 | at No. 13 Liberty | 7–5 |
| 16 | Friday | W, 4–0 | vs. Boston College | 8–5, 4–1 |
| 18 | Sunday | W, 2–1 | vs. No. 16 Syracuse | 9–5, 5–1 |
| 23 | Friday | L, 4–3 | vs. No. 6 Wake Forest | 9–6, 5–2 |
| 25 | Sunday | W, 5–0 | at Appalachian State | 10–6 |
| 30 | Friday | W, 2–1 | at No. 8 Duke | 11–6, 6–2 |
| November | ACC tournament At Karen Shelton Stadium | |||
| 3 | Tuesday | W, 6–0 | First round: vs. Stanford | 12–6 |
| 4 | Wednesday | L, 3–2, (3–1 shootout) | Semifinals: No. 13 Syracuse | 12–7 |
| NCAA tournament | ||||
| 13 | Friday | TBA | First round Campus sites | |
| 15 | Sunday | TBA | Second round Campus sites | |
| 20 | Friday | TBA | National semifinals Louisville | |
| 23 | Sunday | TBA | Championship Louisville |
Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics Communications
