Field falters

Lady Flames lose three straight games

Lady Flames field hockey Head Coach Jodi Murphy knew a late-season stretch against three highly rated Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) opponents would be tough when she worked it into this year’s schedule. It proved to be every bit as difficult as she imagined, with the Lady Flames (9-7, 3-1 NorPac) dropping all three contests to the No. 1 North Carolina Tar Heels (13-2), No. 6 University of Virginia Cavaliers (12-5) and No. 8 Duke University Blue Devils (10-4).

Duke hosted Liberty Oct. 12 to begin the torrid stretch, and the Lady Flames battled back from a 2-0 deficit just 10 minutes into the game to tie the Blue Devils early in the second half. Duke defender Alexa Mackintire unknotted the score in the 69th minute, giving the Blue Devils the deciding goal in a 3-2 victory.

Five days later, the Lady Flames traveled to Charlottesville to take on Virginia, and got off to a strong start, scoring the first two goals of the game with Sarah Gipe tallying her 13th goal of the season and Bethany Barr notching her sixth. The Cavaliers came through late in the game, however, scoring two goals in the last 10 minutes to send it to overtime. Five minutes into the extra period, the Cavaliers earned a penalty stroke, which Tara Vittese converted to give Virginia the
3-2 win.

The stretch concluded with the Lady Flames hosting the No. 1 Tar Heels, but things did not go as smoothly as the previous two matchups with ACC foes. North Carolina dominated in every aspect in a 4-0 win, outshooting the Flames 11-5 while controlling the pace over the entire game.

“We really didn’t get started until the second half,” junior forward Natalie Barr said. “We allowed them to dominate play in the first half and we were caught off guard. We let them dictate the play, and we didn’t actually play a hard game of hockey.”

North Carolina’s Loren Shealy started the scoring for the Tar Heels in the 19th minute, sneaking one past Lady Flames goalkeeper Mallory Cuccio for her eighth goal of the year. Shealy and teammate Nina Notman sliced through the Lady Flames defense all afternoon, Notman notching two goals and an assist in the contest, while Shealy added two assists of her own to go along with her goal.

“(North Carolina) likes to play really spread out and then attack and take (its) moments,” senior midfielder Helen Dolittle said. “Each team has a different style, and we knew that coming into (the North Carolina matchup), so we just have to learn how to defend each style.”

The Lady Flames had a few good chances early in the game but could not convert, and it was all Tar Heels from there. Liberty did not force North Carolina goalie Shannon Johnson to make a save until the second half.

“We knew that they were No. 1 in the country, and maybe we were a little bit nervous,” Murphy said. “We just had some nerves that we started the game out with and had a hard time getting them out of their system.”

The Lady Flames conclude their regular season schedule with Oct. 23 and Oct. 28 home matchups with Pacific and Georgetown before heading to Stockton, California for the NorPac Conference Tournament. Liberty bested Pacific 2-1 in an early-season date with the Tigers. The Lady Flames are 2-0 all-time against the Tigers.

Tichenor is the sports editor.