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 12 months’s championship, gained by the Tar Heels 2-1, a sport that marked the tip 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 no words for this,” Matson stated. “I assumed being on the sector, dashing to rejoice 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 national championship on your home field. … It’s special.”
Northwestern beat the Tar Heels for the 2021 championship. North Carolina is now 11-11 in title video games.
“It doesn’t get any better than a national championship and a sudden death shootout,” Matson stated. “I’m so proud of our girls. They’re so happy, they wanted it so badly. Incredible day. I’m speechless.”
After second-seeded Northwestern (21-2) scored on the primary two rounds of the shootout the Wildcats couldn’t get one other shot previous Maddie Kahn, a graduate switch from Lehigh. Before Heck’s winner, Kahn stopped Peyton Halsey, who had scored a purpose for Northwestern within the first spherical of the shootout, as did Heck.
“She’s been a rock for us all season long, she’s the exact piece of the puzzle we needed,” Matson stated of her goalie. “She’s just a brick wall. We have total confidence and trust in her… . To see her do it in a shootout, sold out stadium, national championship atmosphere, that’s exactly why she is a Tar Heel for life now.”
After a quiet first half, with neither group getting a shot on purpose, the motion picked up within the second half.
Charly Bruder put the top-seeded Tar Heels (18-3) on prime by squeezing an extended shot off a nook between the submit and Wildcats’ goalie Annabel Skubisz early within the third quarter. Northwestern’s Petyon Halsey tied it with a penalty stroke purpose with 1:19 left within the quarter.
Both groups had probabilities with corners within the closing minutes of regulation however couldn’t break by. 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.
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