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Virginia Falls to North Carolina 4-1 in ACC Championship Final

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LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Virginia field hockey team (16-2) suffered a 4-1 loss to North Carolina (19-1) in the ACC Championship title game on Friday (Nov. 7) Trager Stadium in Louisville, Ky.
 
Goals (Assist)
3:19 North Carolina — Dani Mendez (Charly Bruder)
17:32 North Carolina — Dani Mendez (Isabel Boere)
22:20 North Carolina — Charly Bruder (Coco Courtright, Ryleigh Heck)
23:47 Virginia — Mia Abello (unassisted)
30:43 North Carolina — Reese Anetsberger (Dani Mendez)

HOW IT HAPPENED
Virginia suffered just its second loss of the season and second loss of the season to North Carolina falling 4-1 in the ACC Championship title game.

From the first whistle, North Carolina came out strong as Dani Mendez found the back of the net less than four minutes into the first quarter. Opening the second quarter similar to the first, Mendez netted her second of the day to put the Tar Heels ahead by two. Continuing to extend the lead, Charly Bruder scored her 17th goal of the season for North Carolina. Just before the half, junior Mia Abello showed why she is so dominant on penalty strokes. Abello continued her streak going five-for-five this season converting on penalty strokes. North Carolina was ahead at the halfway mark 3-1.

North Carolina opened the third quarter with a goal by Reese Anetsberger assisted by Dani Mendez. Virginia continued to battle on both ends of the field but were unable to catch up to the Tar Heels on the scoreboard.

Starting in goal, Virginia’s Nilou Lempers recorded six saves while North Carolina’s starting goalkeeper, Merritt Skubisz, recorded three saves.

NOTES
  • Mia Abello scored her eighth goal of the season
  • Abello has gone five-for-five this season scoring on penalty strokes
  • Virginia goalkeeper, Nilou Lempers, recorded six saves
  • North Carolina starting goalkeeper, Merritt Skubisz, recorded three saves
  • North Carolina held the edge in shots (14-5) and shots on goal (11-3)
  • North Carolina earned four penalty corners while Virginia earned three
 
FROM HEAD COACH OLE KEUSGEN
“We played one heck of a week. That was a very challenging week for many reasons including playing back-to-back high intense games, including overtime, including sickness, it was just a long stretch for everyone involved. I think the team did a good job but, in the end, it wasn’t enough and we will have to look into a couple things going into the national tournament that we have to be better at. All in all, I am very proud of how they played all week and represented our program in a great way.”

ON THE HORIZON
The NCAA Selection Show will stream live on NCAA.com on Sunday, Nov. 9 at 10 p.m.

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