Kolojejchick seals national championship rematch

It required the biggest comeback in NCAA tournament history and a serious attitude check defensively at halftime, but the top-seed North Carolina field hockey team eventually defeated fourth-seeded Connecticut 4-3 in a double overtime thriller Friday in the NCAA semifinals at Trager Stadium in Louisville, Ky.

After being fed a slick pass from Loren Shealy, forward Kelsey Kolojejchick’s 94th-minute reverse chip looped over UConn goalkeeper Sarah Mansfield and into the net, completing UNC’s three-goal comeback and launching the Tar Heels into the NCAA Championship Game Sunday for the third consecutive season.

On the play that led to the game-winning goal, forward Loren Shealey made a crucial interception in UConn’s defensive half and then picked her head up to look for an open teammate.

“We made eye contact, she looked at me and I just knew that this play was going to be crucial,” Kolojejchick said. “She was determined to get that tackle and she stayed with the play and she gave me an easy pass that was wide open.”

Kolojejchick said she wasn’t quite sure why she decided to use a reverse chip technique on the game-winning shot in double overtime. But then again, nothing about this NCAA semifinal matchup went according to plan..

For starters, UNC’s nationally top-ranked defense conceded three first half goals, the most goals allowed in a half by the Tar Heel defense all season.

UConn’s speedy forward Marie Elena Bolles got behind the UNC defense and redirected a ball into the net in the 15th minute to give the Huskies a 1-0 lead. Eight minutes later, Bolles and teammate Anne Jeute added goals before the interval to swell UConn’s halftime lead to three goals.

On the offensive side of the ball, UNC simply could not beat UConn’s goalkeeper Mansfield who made seven saves in the first half alone.

But even trailing by three goals at halftime, UNC head coach Karen Shelton knew her team was still very much in the game.

“Truly in the first half it could’ve been tied at 3-3,” Shelton said. “It wasn’t because (Mansfield) made some great saves.”

UConn continued to play suffocating defense in the second half, supplemented by Mansfield ability to make clutch saves when needed. in the 54th minute, Shelton decided to pull goalkeeper Sassi Ammer off the field in order to use an extra attacking player.

The strategic move immediately paid off as Kolojejchick scored a goal from close range in the 57th minute.

Entering the final minutes of the game, UNC still trailed UConn by two goals but the Tar Heels continued to believe in themselves.

“In the last minute, there was no doubt in my mind that we weren’t going to tie the game,” junior Caitlin Van Sickle said.

 When the Tar Heels drew a penalty corner in the 70th and final minute of the game, Van Sickle knew the ball was coming to her and that she needed to score.

“I just took it and hit it as hard as I could at the goal,” Van Sickle said.

Just 31 seconds later, Jaclyn Gaudioso Radvany scored on a blistering shot from the left side of the circle to complete the miraculous comeback and send the game into overtime where the eventually Tar Heels prevailed.

“It certainly was a little more adversity than we had expected, but we found a way to win,” Shelton said. “The bottom line is find a way to win, survive and advance – we were able to do that today.”