No. 16 UVA Field Hockey Falls to No. 10 UNC 3-2 in Overtime on Senior Day

The No. 16 Virginia field hockey team honored an extremely accomplished senior class on Friday night in the regular season finale against No. 10 North Carolina.

UNC’s Erin Matson saw to it that UVA did not celebrate their seniors with a win, scoring three goals, including the game-winner in overtime to take down Virginia 3-2.

Matson missed North Carolina’s last three games with an injury, but was back in the starting lineup on Friday. She wasted no time making her presence felt, scoring just over three minutes into the match to give UNC the early lead.

Matson scored again early in the second quarter off of a penalty corner to double North Carolina’s lead.

UNC outshot UVA 13-10 and shots on goal were 8-5 in favor of the Tar Heels. Virginia goalkeeper Tyler Kennedy made four of her five saves in the first half to keep the Cavaliers in the game.

After falling behind 2-0, the Hoos responded well to the adversity, scoring two goals in the second quarter to tie the match.

A little over a minute after Matson scored her second goal, Makayla Gallen collected a rebound and finished the second chance goal to cut the Tar Heel lead in half. It was Gallen’s third goal of the season.

With less than three minutes left in the first half, the Cavaliers pulled themselves even on a goal by Laura Janssen. Peyton Tollaksen passed to Janssen, who chipped the ball high over the UNC goalkeeper to even the match at two goals apiece.

For as much of an offensive shootout as the first half was, the second half was a highly-defensive and scoreless affair. After combining to shoot the ball 14 times in the first half, the two teams had just six combined shots in the second half, with only one of those shots going on goal.

UNC had a 6-2 advantage in penalty corners, but UVA defended them well and kept the game tied.

For the fifth time this season, Virginia had a match go to overtime.

Nearly five minutes into the first overtime period, Erin Matson punctuated her fantastic performance with a third goal to end the match. Matson put the second chance shot into the back of the cage to win the game. The game-winner was Matson’s 21st goal of the season and 103rd goal of her career, giving Matson the all-time ACC goals record.

With the loss, Virginia finishes the regular season with a 10-7 overall record and a 3-3 record in ACC play. The Hoos are fifth in the ACC standings heading into the ACC Championship, which begins on November 4th at Syracuse.

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