The No. 6 North Carolina field hockey team closed out its regular season with a victory over Liberty on Sunday afternoon. The Tar Heels dominated possession and defeated the Flames 6-4.
What happened?
The first half of the game was all North Carolina. The Tar Heels (13-4, 3-3 ACC) looked very aggressive on offense early in the game, jumping out to a 1-0 lead with a goal by Malin Evert just four minutes into the game.
North Carolina was absolutely dominant in the first half, with goals from Evert, Catherine Hayden and Meredith Sholder. With less than five minutes remaining in the first half, the Tar Heels had 13 shots — eight of which were on goal — and three penalty corners. Liberty (7-10, 5-2 Big East) had no shots or corners.
It looked as if the Tar Heels were going to head into halftime up 4-0, but Liberty was able to get some momentum going in the last few minutes in the first half, and with 3:36 to play, Liberty’s Agueda Moroni scored off a penalty stroke and put her team on the board.
The pace of the game picked up in the second half, and Liberty found themselves in more of a rhythm. The Flames played with more confidence and were able to control possession more than in the first half. Liberty finished with seven shots, all of which were on goal, compared to just one shot in the first half.
Liberty’s second half effort was not enough to overcome its deficit though, and Sholder scored North Carolina’s sixth goal of the game with under nine minutes to play to secure the Tar Heel the win.
“I’m delighted with the win,” head coach Karen Shelton said. “Coming into the game, our start was great. I don’t want to say we won the game in the first twenty, but we certainly set a very powerful tone.”
