Di Nardo, field hockey offense explode

Coming into the No. 3 North Carolina field hockey team’s final homestand of the season, sophomore Casey Di Nardo had scored one goal in the past month — on Oct. 12th against Wake Forest — and just five total on the season.

But in a 5-2 win against No. 7 Boston College on Saturday and a 10-0 rout of Davidson on Sunday, Di Nardo doubled that season total — scoring five goals on five shots.

“There was a period before this where I was kind of not scoring or not showing up in big games,” Di Nardo said after scoring three goals against Davidson.

“I really wanted to focus this weekend on getting the goals and capitalizing on my opportunities … they just happened to come one after another this weekend which was great.”

The Tar Heels have now scored at least four goals in eight of their 14 games this season, including their past four.

Despite her team’s recent scoring outburst, coach Karen Shelton said the Tar Heels struggled with their offensive consistency against Boston College. After scoring three early goals, the Tar Heels allowed the Eagles to pull within one before Di Nardo put the game out of reach with two late goals.

However, Shelton praised Boston College for fighting its way out of the deficit.

“They had nothing to lose,” she said. “… That’s what good teams do. They came after us, and they made it a game.”

A day later, UNC overcame those consistency troubles, scoring five goals in each half against Davidson, including Di Nardo’s hat trick.

Seniors Sinead Loughran and Marta Malmberg shined on Senior Day, where the team honored their four seniors and one graduate student.

Loughran scored two goals to go along with two assists, while Malmberg added a goal and assist of her own. Sophomore midfielder Nina Notman chipped in with two goals and an assist.

“I love the way our team honored them by playing hard and smart together,” Shelton said Sunday. “To honor the seniors in such an excellent fashion is important to all of us.”

Loughran, a native of Ireland, put on one of the best performances of her career in front of her mother, who made the trip to Chapel Hill from Dublin for the game.

“It’s a love-hate thing,” Loughran said of her Senior Day experience.

“It’s amazing that we did so well but it’s so sad that it’s my last guaranteed home game … It’s so nice to play with the girls and it was a great, great win.”

The underclassmen also enjoyed being a part of such a successful Senior Day performance.

“Marta played an amazing game and Sinead had great goals,” Di Nardo said. “It’s exciting when they score. And our seniors in the backfield had a shutout so that was just great all around.

“We try to make (Senior Day) really special for them.”

sports@dailytarheel.com