Field hockey heading into second half with 2-1 lead against Wake Forest

It took North Carolina’s field hockey team roughly five minutes to find the back of the net in their second-round tournament game against Wake Forest.

The goal was scored by freshman forward Jaclyn Gaudioso Radvany on UNC’s first penalty corner attempt.

After scoring the first goal, Wake Forest fought back and applied relentless pressure, keeping the ball on UNC’s side of the field for nearly ten minutes. The Tar Heels fended off a penalty corner and a couple other scoring attempts.

In the 16th minute of play, just following a strong attack from the Demon Deacons, freshman Kelsey Kolojejchick took the ball down the left side of the field then crossed over an opponents body and took a long shot outside the scoring circle that rolled past the left side of Wake Forest goalkeeper, Kaitlyn Ruhf’s, body.

Following that, North Carolina and Wake went back and forth on the attack until Wake Forest, on a breakaway, got a great scoring opportunity. With a player approaching, UNC junior goalkeeper, Jackie Kintzer, charged the Wake Forest player to cut off her shooting angle. The Wake Forest player drove past her and took a shot that would have hit the goal, but freshman back Caitlin Van Sickle knocked it out of the air with her stick, keeping the score 2-0 in favor of the Tar Heels.

The first half has gone far from what has been expected. Wake Forest has controlled possession of the ball for close to three fourths of the half. But, even with the Demon Deacons dominating the game, the difference has been execution. North Carolina has made good of its scoring opportunities, scoring on its lone penalty corner attempt and also on its transition offense. Wake on the other hand has yet to punch one in despite its plethora of chances.

On one of Wake Forest’s final good chance to score, the Demon Deacons put an overload of pressure on the UNC defense but Kintzer stopped Wake from any attempt to punch it in, diving in the path of the ball and regaining possession for the Tar Heels.

The first half ended with a Wake Forest penalty attempt. Tension built as it was the Demon Deacon’s chance to pull within one goal at the half. The injection was smooth as well as the stop. The Demon Deacon’s Melissa Martin passed it to senior Aileen Davis and Davis shot it past Kintzer to end the half with UNC winning 2-1.