Tar Heels Advance To Final Four
Nov. 11, 2007
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CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Junior Britt van Beek's goal with less than nine minutes to play gave top-ranked North Carolina a 1-0 field hockey win over No. 7 James Madison in NCAA Tournament play Sunday afternoon, sending the Tar Heels to their first NCAA semifinals since 2000. The final four appearance will be the program's 13th. "I couldn't be prouder of the team," UNC coach Karen Shelton said. "We've played such great defense all year and we needed to play that way against James Madison. They packed it in and gave us everything that we could handle. They kept working and I give them all the credit in the world for stressing us like they did. We had a lot of shots on goal, we had lots of opportunities but you've got to get it by the keeper and we finally found a way." Van Beek, a forward from Den Bosch, the Netherlands, scored in the 62nd minute, dribbling the ball into the circle and sending a hard shot past JMU keeper Kelsey Cutchins. The goal was van Beek's eighth of the season. "We were just looking for a goal," she said. "We were getting so many shots and so many circle penetrations but we just couldn't get the goal. It was a good feeling to see it go in." UNC finished with 25 shots - 17 of them in the second half - and 12 corners, but scored its lowest number of goals all season as Cutchins finished with six saves. "When we get against a goalkeeper and we're shooting and she's saving, we just keep shooting," Shelton said. "What I get concerned about is when we don't have opportunities. We didn't have that many in the first half, but we were getting some in the second half and Britt finally got us on the scoreboard."
The shutout was the Tar Heels' 15th of the season, setting a school record. UNC beat Stanford 4-0 in Saturday's NCA Tournament first-round game, tying the season mark shared by the 1978, 1988 and 1994 teams. North Carolina will return to action on Friday with a final four matchup against No. 4 Connecticut in College Park, Md. The Tar Heels and Huskies play at 5 p.m., with No. 3 Wake Forest and No. 9 Penn State meeting in the other semifinal at 7:30 p.m. The winners meet next Sunday, Nov. 18, at noon for the NCAA Championship. The Tar Heels will be playing for the program's fifth title, following crowns in 1989, 1995, 1996 and 1997. For final four ticket information, click here.
No. 1 North Carolina 1, No. 7 James Madison 0 UNC starters: Brianna O'Donnell, Illse Davids, Riley Foster, Rachel Dawson, Melanie Brill, Britt van Beek, Jesse Gey, Laree Beans, Xan Funk, Danielle Forword, Katelyn Falgowski
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