THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 27, 1996 TAG: 9610270192
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C12 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BRIAN J. FRENCH, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 44 lines
Old Dominion's field hockey team fell short on two counts Saturday.
Playing in front of a near-record crowd and facing top-ranked North Carolina, the Lady Monarchs could not capitalize on their penalty corners, losing 4-2 and giving the announced crowd of 2,765 at Foreman Field little to cheer about at the end.
ODU (14-3) had 12 penalty corners compared to North Carolina's nine, but only scored on one and was unable to get off shots on a number of occasions.
``We didn't execute as well as we should have,'' ODU coach Beth Anders said. ``Not to take anything away from North Carolina, but we just didn't execute like we were capable of.''
The turning point came in the last minute of the half. After both teams squandered scoring opportunities, the Tar Heels got a penalty corner with less than a minute left and forced another one seconds later, which led to Susannah Schott's score with 13 seconds remaining to give North Carolina the lead for good at 2-1.
ODU's Rosemarie van der Rijt had tied the game earlier, scoring on a corner with 23:32 left in the half.
Mimi Smith broke away in the second half, beating a North Carolina defender and slapping a shot past Tar Heel goalkeeper Jana Withrow with 29:10 left in the game to cut the Tar Heel lead to 3-2, but North Carolina added an insurance goal soon after when team goal-scoring leader Nancy Pelligreen deflected a penalty corner into the box. Anders pulled goalie Jamie Hill with 7:02 left, but ODU was unable to score.
``Revenge was not our motivation today,'' North Carolina coach Karen Shelton said, referring to ODU's 4-3 double-overtime win Sept. 22 against the Tar Heels. ``You always think about it, and it helps you to remember to play better, but we didn't use it as a motivational tool.''
Though the crowd fell short of the all-time record of 3,096 set in 1992's national title game, it did shatter the regular-season record of 1,976, established at Foreman Field in 1993 when these same two teams played to a scoreless tie.
``It's exciting playing in an atmosphere like that,'' Anders said. ``It's nice to see the area support us, and it's something we really appreciate.''
``It's not every day that you can play in front of a big crowd,'' added Pelligreen, ``and it really got us pumped up.'' by CNB