This time last season, sophomore Emma Bozek had scored four goals, and she was on pace to be a potent offensive threat for the No. 1 North Carolina field hockey team. But after missing five games to be with the U.S. Under-21 team, Bozek’s goal output slowed, finishing the season with six goals, and she took a backseat to UNC’s veteran scoring squad.
By the end of the season, Bozek occasionally cracked the starting lineup, usually coming off the bench.
But this year, it’s different. With the departures of second-leading scorer Kelsey Kolojejchick and fourth-leading scorer Jaclyn Gaudioso Radvany, Bozek has been forced to take on more offensive responsibility.
“A lot of our younger players this year needed to step up, but every year, every team is losing really good players,” Bozek said. “I think that you just always have the next best thing. We’re working really hard to fill the gaps that the great players left last year, but I think we’re doing an okay job.”
Like last season, Bozek has netted four goals through the first six games of the season, but now she’s doing so from the starting lineup. So far, Bozek has started all but one game.
In the Tar Heels’ (6-0) home-opener against No. 15 Old Dominion Friday night, Bozek scored the game-winning goal less than five minutes into the match. Nearly two-and-a-half minutes later, Bozek got her stick on a ball on its way out of the circle and redirected it to send it barreling to back of the cage, quickly putting her team up 2-0 before 10 minutes had even ticked off the clock.
In Sunday’s tilt against an unranked Radford team, Bozek didn’t put any points on the board, but she did assist on a goal by freshman Lauren Moyer in the 8-1 rout.
Bozek attributes her improved level of play to her experience with the national team program. Though she’s only 19, Bozek has played with the U-21 team since 2011. As a member of the national team program, Bozek has traveled all over the world including trips to Holland and England.
This summer Bozek competed in the Junior World Cup with the U-21 team in Germany along with fellow UNC sophomore Emily Wold. The team finished seventh, and Bozek scored the final goal in the team’s 4-2 win against South Africa.
