Tar Heels Top Duke On Senior Day
Oct. 19, 2002
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - The University of North Carolina field hockey team celebrated Senior Day with a win Saturday, defeating Duke 3-1 at Francis E. Henry Stadium. The 12th-ranked Tar Heels bumped their record back above .500 to 8-7, while No. 10 Duke fell to 9-6. The win gave UNC 1.5 points in the Carlyle Cup race, the annual all-sports competition between Carolina and Duke, putting the Tar Heels up 4.5-3 for the year. The game did not count toward the Atlantic Coast Conference standings. UNC started the day by honoring its three seniors - Stephanie Fuller, Meredith Keller and Amy Tran - and their parents at midfield before the final home game of the season. The Tar Heels, with all three seniors in their usual starting spots, then set about earning a win. In the sixth minute of play on a busted penalty corner, sophomore Laura Douglas took a pass from Keller and powered the ball past Duke goalkeeper Christy Morgan to put Carolina up 1-0. The Blue Devils tied the score in the 17th minute when sophomore Chrissy Murphy slapped a ball past Tran, the UNC goalkeeper, and the game went into halftime at 1-1. In the second half, UNC drew an early penalty corner then got a second one off of it. On the second opportunity, Douglas scored her second goal of the game on a straight shot, assisted by Keller and junior Alison Stewart. In the 63rd minute of play, Carolina added a final goal after drawing its fifth corner of the half. Sophomore Kelsey Keeran stopped the ball then took a shot, which was tipped in by Stewart. "This win was a fitting way to honor three outstanding seniors," UNC coach Karen Shelton said. "I'm incredibly proud of Stephanie Fuller, Meredith Keller and Amy Tran, and for our team to beat a very good Duke team in our last home game is a great way for them to go out."
The Tar Heels return to action on Sunday when they travel to play No. 4 Wake Forest (12-2) in Winston-Salem, N.C., in a non-conference game. The Demon Deacons defeated UNC 2-1 in Chapel Hill on Sept. 28, but Shelton doesn't expect the same UNC team to take the field for this matchup with Wake. "We continue to get better as a team," she said. "From a coach's point of view, that's what you want to see. I'm not as focused on our record as I am on making sure that we continue to improve."
No. 12 North Carolina 3, No. 10 Duke 1
Scoring:
UNC starters: Naomi Weatherald, Mary Havell, Meredith Keller, Alison Stewart, Kelsey Keeran, Stephanie Fuller, Katy Potter, Karen Mann, Kerry Falgowski, Laura Douglas
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