Wolverines Fall in Rematch at No. 2 North Carolina

Sunday, October 2

Chapel Hill, N.C.

1:00 PM

Michigan

(8-4)

North Carolina

(9-2)

Michigan

North Carolina

Eliza Stein

10/2/2016 12:00:00 AM | Field Hockey

Box Score PDF Boxscore

By: Leah Howard

» No. 2 North Carolina broke open a deadlocked game with four goals in the second half and scored four of its five tallies off penalty corners.
» Eliza Stein scored the game's first goal, pouncing on a loose ball and sweeping it in at 8:40 for her second goal of the season.
» Michigan dropped its third straight loss -- all to teams ranked among the nation's top eight.

Site: Chapel Hill, N.C. (Francis E. Henry Stadium)
Score: #2 North Carolina 5, #9 Michigan 1
Records: U-M (7-4), UNC (9-2)
Next U-M Match: Friday, Oct. 7 -- at Rutgers (Piscataway, N.J.), 3 p.m.

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- The No. 9-ranked University of Michigan field hockey team scored first but could not hold its advantage, giving up four second-half goals in a 5-1 loss at No. 2 North Carolina on Sunday afternoon (Oct. 2) at the Tar Heels' Francis E. Henry Stadium.

The contest was knotted up, 1-1, at halftime, but North Carolina kept U-M on its heels throughout the second half, scoring four goals -- three off penalty-corner opportunities -- while outshooting the Wolverines, 10-1, and outcornering them, 5-1. Ashley Hoffman paced UNC with a goal and two assists.

Michigan struck first, at the 8:40 mark, when senior captain Eliza Stein took advantage of a flurry in the UNC circle to pounce on a loose ball and sweep it in for her second goal of the season. Freshman Fay Keijer tried to get a shot off from the top of the circle, but the ball was deflected and kicked to the left side -- and right to Stein, who fired off her shot in stride.

North Carolina evened the scored eight minutes later, at 16:52, on its second of successive penalty-corner opportunities. Junior goalkeeper Sam Swenson made the save on the first -- on a drag flick attempt -- but UNC faked the drag on the subsequent corner and fed a pass to Eva van't Hoog, who wound up and fired a hard shot to the lower left corner.

Wolverines responded with a stretch of extended pressure in the UNC defensive 25, ultimately outshooting the Tar Heels, 7-5, in the first half, but they could not finish on several opportunities, including a pair of saved corner shots from freshman Meg Dowthwaite. U-M also withstood a late North Carolina flurry, turning away three penalty corners in the final four minutes of the half.

The rest of the game was all North Carolina, however, as the Tar Heels scored two goals in the first eight minutes of the second half to set the tone for the frame.

North Carolina outshot the Wolverines, 15-8, through 70 minutes and outcornered them, 10-4. Swenson earned six saves in the Michigan cage, while UNC goalkeepers Shannon Johnson and Alex Halpin combined for five stops.

The Wolverines will return to the road next weekend, heading to Piscataway, New Jersey, to face Rutgers at 3 p.m. on Friday (Oct. 7) before wrapping the trip with a 4 p.m. slate against Delaware on Saturday (Oct. 8) in Newark, Delaware.