CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Ryleigh Heck scored within the sixth spherical of a shootout to raise defending champion North Carolina to a 2-1 win over Northwestern on Sunday within the NCAA Division I discipline hockey championships, the eleventh title for the Tar Heels.
The sport was a rematch of final yr’s championship, received by the Tar Heels 2-1, a recreation that marked the top of Karen Shelton’s 42-year run because the coach and the fourth title for senior Erin Matson. Matson is now the Tar Heels coach and the championship was performed in Karen Shelton Stadium.
“There are not any phrases for this,” Matson stated. “I assumed being on the sphere, dashing to have a good time together with your teammates was nice. Then we hoisted the trophy with the ACC championship a pair weeks again and I assumed that was nice seeing it as a coach.
“Nothing tops a nationwide championship on your house discipline. … It is particular.”
Northwestern beat the Tar Heels for the 2021 championship. North Carolina is now 11-11 in title video games.
“It would not get any higher than a nationwide championship and a sudden loss of life shootout,” Matson stated. “I am so pleased with our ladies. They’re so glad, they wished it so badly. Unimaginable day. I am speechless.”
After second-seeded Northwestern (21-2) scored on the primary two rounds of the shootout, the Wildcats could not get one other shot previous Maddie Kahn, a graduate switch from Lehigh. Earlier than Heck’s winner, Kahn stopped Peyton Halsey, who had scored a objective for Northwestern within the first spherical of the shootout, as had Heck.
“She’s been a rock for us all season lengthy, she’s the precise piece of the puzzle we wanted,” Matson stated of her goalie. “She’s only a brick wall. We now have complete confidence and belief in her. … To see her do it in a shootout, sold-out stadium, nationwide championship ambiance, that is precisely why she is a Tar Heel for all times now.”
After a quiet first half, with neither staff getting a shot on objective, the motion picked up within the second half.
Charly Bruder put the top-seeded Tar Heels (18-3) on prime by squeezing a protracted shot off a nook between the publish and Wildcats goalie Annabel Skubisz early within the third quarter. Halsey tied it with a penalty stroke objective with 1:19 left within the quarter.
Each groups had probabilities with corners within the closing minutes of regulation however could not break by means of. Heck had a penalty stroke with 2:17 to go within the first extra time, however Skubisz obtained a stick on the shot.
North Carolina outshot Northwestern 14-8, with Skubisz making 5 saves and Kahn three.
