WINSTON SALEM — The No. 1-seeded North Carolina field hockey team (18-0, 9-0 ACC) captured the ACC championship with a 4-1 win over No. 3-seeded Boston College (14-6, 6-3 ACC) on Friday afternoon at Kenter Stadium in Winston Salem.
The victory marked the Tar Heels eighth consecutive ACC championship. Four different players scored for UNC, and the Tar Heel defense made two pivotal saves on the way to the title.
“Seven in a row last year, you know that was one thing and to speak of eight, there’s just something about number eight,” head coach Erin Matson said. “So, were just really happy we could bring this home to Carolina.”
UNC had an early opportunity off of a penalty corner. Senior back Kelly Smith stopped fifth year back Ciana Riccardo’s inbound and sophomore forward Charly Bruder took the shot, but it was blocked and went just wide to the right.
The Tar Heels maintained possession for most of the rest of the first quarter, but missed passes and fouls kept them from getting more than two shots on goal.
But North Carolina didn’t waste its second corner opportunity. Just a minute-and-a-half into the second quarter, Riccardo inbounded the ball to fifth year midfielder Katie Dixon, who held the ball for Bruder to smack it off a defender and into the top right of the goal to go up 1-0.
“Charly Bruder is a beast,” Dixon said. “It’s so nice to have her threat on that corner because a lot of teams, when they think our corners, they think of her, so we can use her also as a decoy.”
Then, after senior goalkeeper Abigail Taylor made a diving save to keep Boston College off the board, North Carolina drove down the field and captured another penalty corner. Riccardo once again inbounded the ball, but this time it bounced from Dixon to Bruder, who sent it behind the back to junior midfielder Sietske Brüning.
Brüning passed the ball back to Riccardo, who was running towards the left post, and the back shot the ball in front of the goalkeeper and into the right side of the goal for her first goal of the season.
