Nov. 7, 2004

2004 ACC Field Hockey Championship Central

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- The North Carolina field hockey team beat Maryland 3-1 Sunday afternoon to claim its first Atlantic Coast Conference title since 1997 and the 15th in school history. The top-seeded Tar Heels (20-1) scored all three of their goals in the second half to claim the win over the Terrapins (15-5) at Wake Forest's Kentner Stadium.

Tiffany Marsh got Maryland on the board late in the first half. With just 45 seconds remaining before halftime, the junior forward took a pass from Anja Boettcher on Maryland's sixth penalty corner of the half and shot the ball past UNC goalkeeper Katy Tran to go up by a goal.

Carolina answered quickly to start the second half, with sophomore forward Laree Beans scoring to tie the game less than three minutes into the period. Beans grabbed a pass from sophomore Brooke Miller and knocked the ball in from the front of the Maryland net to even the game at 1-1.

Less than four minutes later, senior Kelsey Keeran put UNC up for good. With 28:33 remaining in the game, Keeran deflected a shot by sophomore Rachel Dawson into the goal for a 2-1 North Carolina lead.

UNC's final goal came with 5:42 remaining in the game. On a penalty corner, Dawson passed the ball to senior Laura Douglas on her right, and Douglas shot to put the Tar Heels up by the final margin.

UNC finished the game with 11 shots to nine by Maryland. The Terrapins led in penalty corners with seven to Carolina's six. Tran and Maryland goalkeeper Kathryn Masson finished the game with four saves each.

Keeran, who also had the game-winner in UNC's overtime victory against Wake Forest in Friday's semifinals, was named ACC Tournament MVP. Joining her on the All-ACC Tournament team for UNC were Dawson, Tran and junior back Naomi Weatherald. Maryland's Paula Infante and Kristin Harris were also named to the all-tournament team, while Terp freshman Janneke van Leeuwen was named the 2004 ACC Freshman of the Year in the post-game ceremonies.

2004 ACC All-Tournament Team
Logan Carr, Virginia
Christy Morgan, Duke
Hillary Linton, Duke
Maeke Boreel, Wake Forest
Claire Laubach, Wake Forest
Paula Infante, Maryland
Kristin Harris, Maryland
Katy Tran, North Carolina
Rachel Dawson, North Carolina
Naomi Weatherald, North Carolina
Kelsey Keeran, North Carolina (MVP)

ACC Freshman of the Year: Janneke van Leeuwen