The UNC field hockey team’s 62-game winning streak in Chapel Hill came to a screeching halt Sunday, when the No. 10 Liberty Flames dominated from start to finish in a 4-0 win over the Tar Heels at Karen Shelton Stadium. Of those 62 wins, 41 had come in Shelton Stadium, UNC’s new field hockey facility which opened in 2018.

“Congratulations to Liberty,” said head coach and stadium namesake Karen Shelton. “They played really well. They were tough and enthusiastic and aggressive and fast. They’re hard workers and I admire the way they play. They earned the victory today.”

The Tar Heels entered halftime only down a goal, but the Flames scored three times in the second half to put UNC’s fifth loss of the season on ice.

UNC took 19 shots versus just 10 for the Flames, but could not break through the Liberty defense. Carolina has now been shut out twice in its past four games. Before this season, the Tar Heels had not been held scoreless since 2016.

“We put pressure on their goal, we got corners, we got shots, and at times I thought we controlled the ball really, really well,” Shelton said. “But we just couldn’t buy a goal today and that credit goes not only to [Liberty’s] goalkeeper but their defense. They dove, they slid, they were very intense and determined to keep us out of the goal. Hats off to Liberty for a great game.”

Carolina, now 8-5, will travel down the road to Winston-Salem to face off against No. 15 Wake Forest on Friday, October 15. Their last home game of the season will come a week from that game on Friday, October 22 when Louisville visits Karen Shelton Stadium.

“The season is not over and we’ve got a lot of work to do,” Shelton said. “As far as losing on this field – all good things must come to an end. We’ve had a really great run and we’ll just start another run. That’s our goal.”

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