Scholl's goals lead UNC to two victories this weekend

Something had to break.

The North Carolina field hockey team faced off against No. 6 James Madison on Sunday in a clash of styles bound to produce some exciting play.

JMU led the nation in goals against average at 0.79 heading into the game while the No. 7 Tar Heels ranked second in the ACC in goals scored" with nearly four goals per contest.

""It was kind of a little bit of a chess match in the first half"" UNC coach Karen Shelton said. Both teams were kind of trying to figure each other out.""

The Tar Heels ended up beating the Dukes at their own game"" taking a 1-0 victory — UNC's second of the weekend against a top-15 team.

The Tar Heels defeated No. 13 Virginia 3-0 Saturday.

The game Sunday was controlled by JMU in the first hal as pressure on North Carolina's forwards kept the ball on the Dukes' side of the field for most of the game.

""They're a really good team and a really aggressive team"" senior Kate Scholl said. So we knew that they were going to come out hard so we just really focused on passing it around and working it to our strong side.""

The second half was a different story.

A strong Tar Heels attack saw North Carolina take penalty corner after penalty corner"" eventually scoring on a rebounded corner from Scholl.

""The corner we called didn't really work"" Scholl said. So it was just kind of improv.""

The goal was Scholl's second of the weekend as she got her first of the season against Virginia.

""It's been a very long streak" actually since I've scored" Scholl said. But it's always good to help the team out.""

The goose egg on JMU's side of the scoreboard didn't come easy for UNC. Sophomore goalkeeper Jackie Kintzer made seven saves"" including several on JMU penalty corners.

""Obviously you don't want corners" Kintzer said.

But I'm confident in our defense" and we have the mentality that nothing's going in.""

The most impressive stop came shortly before Scholl's goal on a James Madison penalty corner.

Kintzer sprawled to stop the initial shot" but after she failed to keep possession JMU's Ashley Walls seemed poised to put the Dukes on top.

But that wasn't the case. At the last second" Kintzer's glove got in the way and preserved the scoreless tie.

""I saw them rebound it" and I saw (Walls) wide open so I just tried to dive in front of the goal Kintzer said.

I figured she'd shoot it" so try to get behind it was really my thought.

""And I just tried to lay out and cover as much space as I could"" and she ended up hitting it right in my hand.""



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