While you were planning the Thanksgiving menu for this week, the UNC field hockey team was feasting on turtles, as they upset top-ranked Maryland 3-2 to take home the NCAA crown. The game was decided by senior Danielle Forword's game winning shot off a penalty corner with 11.7 seconds remaining, giving the team it's second title in three years and avenging last year's championship game loss to the Terps. Maryland was undefeated and had beaten the Heels in their regular season matchup 4-1.

The title was the Heels' sixth all-time, and bore similarities to the 1995 title, where UNC also beat Maryland in Winston-Salem to take home the trophy. This season Carolina also put three players on the All-American first-team, and an additional three on the second and third teams - the three seniors who finished their careers in Chapel Hill with goals scored in the national championship game. More detail and highlights of the game can be found here.

In case you're unaware, both the UNC field hockey and women's soccer teams have their respective ACC tournaments this weekend, and neither team is starting from a number one seed.

In women's soccer, the Heels are in fact a third seed, after a disappointing (for them) ACC sate that found them losing three games to Virginia Tech, Miami, and top seed Florida State. That being said, UNC is still the highest ranking team in the tournament, and easily slipped by their opening opponent Maryland today in Cary. They'll get #2 seed Boston College tomorrow, who was taken to double overtime today by Virginia in a game decided on penalty kicks. All signs look good for Carolina to advance to Sunday's championship game.

The field hockey team, on the other hand, is a two seed as a result of their only loss, at the hands of #1 Maryland. And that's both the Terps' seed and national ranking; in fact, Maryland, UNC, and Virginia are 1-2-3 both this weekend in Charlottesville and in the national polls. They're all practically guaranteed NCAA tournament slots, and seeded ones at that, despite the fact only four of the sixteen slots are given seeds. But let's be honest, with their football season going the way it is, Terps fans need something to hold on to. It is thus UNC's job to snatch that away from them.

Oh, and the women's field hockey national team also announced their roster today, and UNC placed six players on that sixteen team squad. Kate Barber, Rachel Dawson, Katelyn Falgowski, Jesse Gey, Carrie Lingo, and Amy Tran will get the chance to breathe the toxic air of Beijing while representing the United States. Dawson, Falgowski and Gey were all on last fall's national champion UNC team - Dawson was Player of the Year - but only Falgowski will be a student in Chapel Hill after the Olympics.

The U.S. has qualified for the Olympics in field hockey only for times - 1980, 1984, 1988 and 1996, winning a bronze in the Los Angeles games. 12 teams will compete in Beijing, up from 10 in 2004. 

Fifteen of the sixteen players hail from four different schools. In addition to UNC, Old Dominion, Maryland, and Wake Forest are sending 4, 3, and 2 players. The sixteenth hails from Indiana.

It only took three minutes and ten seconds for Katelyn Falgowski to score Carolina's first goal against Penn State. It would be the only one they needed, as UNC went on to spank the Nittany Lions 3-0 in the NCAA championship.

The Heels dominate the game, controlling the ball for most of it and only allowing three Penn State shots on goal to UNC's 12. The first of the Lions' didn't come until a penalty situation with 12:20 to play in the first half, and the other two both occurred after the break. UNC took a 1-0 lead into the half on the backs of excellent defensive play, and you could already see the spirit draining out of their opponents. Penn State trudged on and off the field to some desultory words of encouragement, and kept the ball in Carolina's backfield for the start of the second half. But after an absolutely gorgeous fake on a penalty shot in the second half with 26:42 left led to a Rachel Dawson goal, it was all but over.

The Heels' offense kept the ball in Penn State territory for almost all of the last fifteen minutes, resulting in a third goal, this time from Danielle Forword, and Carolina won the fifth national championship for Karen Shelton and the first in a decade.

The standing room only crowd of 2,374 was weighted towards fans in Carolina Blue, which was a bit of a surprise considering the relative distances of Happy Valley and Chapel Hill. UNC even sprung to send a pep band up for the game - any Penn State chants were drowned out by the cheers of pompom waving fans in blue.

UNC only had one senior (Dawson) among its four members of the all-tournament team, boding well for next year's squad attempt to follow the last two champions, Maryland and Wake Forest, in repeating the title run. Carolina never lost a game all season and posted 16 shutouts, including three in the tournament.

Want to see UNC hoist some NCAA hardware in the air this year? Don't want to wait to the end of basketball season? After last night, not really confident in March?

With regards to last night, Davidson is even better than you remember, and hey, slow starts are good omens. But none of that is the point of today's post. No, it's time for the first NCAA Championship of the academic year - Women's Field Hockey.

The Tar Heels, top seed of the tournament, undefeated for the season, and laden with talented seniors roll in to Maryland for the Final Four. Carolina meets the Huskies in the early game at 5:30. The Huskies have lost twice (twice!) this season, and have allowed their opponents to score in a solid majority of their games. Clearly they aren't in UNC's class. (I did mention Carolina has posted shutouts in 13 of the last 15 matches, didn't I?)

Should Friday go as planned, the Heels face on Sunday either Wake Forest or Penn State, who have five and seven losses this season respectively. Wake has been the closest thing UNC has had to an equal this year, taking the Heels to overtime in both of their previous meetings. Careful research on my part has discovered that Wake does not have the only collegiate member of the World Cup team. Advantage, Carolina.

The games are broadcasted on the internet, but if you happen to live in the area - like, say, me - you should head out to see the games in person. I haven't seen a field hockey championship in twelve years, where oddly enough UNC defeated Maryland on Wake Forest's campus, and will definitely be there Sunday. And not blogging, because I like to pretend I have some self-respect left. Anybody heading out to the game, I'll be the guy you don't recognize.

And if you can't make it out to College Park, there's always the next national championship. I hear they have some pretty good players, too.

Your still undefeated, number-one ranked, nail-biting overtime winning ACC Champions.

The most-emailed story on the News and Observer's website today was one that was published last Friday, about the field hockey teams for UNC and Duke. Not because of the way they're playing - although UNC held Maryland to zero shots on goal in their 3-0 win this weekend. No, the story is about their use of water.

I'll admit, I was amused when I learned they water the astroturf in field hockey back in the early nineties. I also got a kick out of those library signs they put up for people who can't read. Things that seem absurd are funny. But I'm guessing most of the folks shooting this story around the interwebs are more outraged than entertained, as that is the emotion the story's trying to whip up.

So yes, if you live in NC or the rest of the South, you're in the midst of a severe drought, and aren't allowed to water your lawn. And yet athelitc departments are watering astorturf. Outrage! On the other hand, I've lived the last six years in Southern California, and they know from water resources. And I'm going to put a dissenting opinion out there:

I'd rather see the water go to field hockey than to your front yard.

Maybe I just don't have the respect for lawns. I grew up in a house where the grass naturally turned a golden yellow every September. It was actually very attractive, and pretty fun to play football on. Hell, for years N.C. State's football turf changed color around the same time. The world did not end.

At least the water on the field hockey turf serves a purpose. It protects the players, affects the physics of the game, and all and all increases the enjoyment for the players and the fans. (You did go to the Maryland game, right?) Your lawn doesn't really benefit much of anyone. So relax a little.

Meanwhile, zero shots on goal. Undisputed number one team in the country. Held the entire ACC scoreless. That's pretty damn impressive.

Well, there's nothing much in the way of football news, and it's still to early for basketball. (Although, hey! Meaningless numbers support Carolina!) But there's always everyone's favorite 23 sport, two school competition no one cares about but me - the Carlyle Cup!

Oh, I've missed you, dippy little Carlyle Cup logo.

It turns out, this year UNC is better than Duke. But not only in the standard metrics of taste, intelligence, attractiveness, all-around wonderfulness, et al. - the Heels are kicking their ass in a fair amount of sports. First was field hockey, where Carolina is undefeated, top-ranked, and supplying a women's-soccer level of players to the national team. They stomped Duke 5-0 back in September.

The women's volleyball team had the next game - but they lost in five games - so we'll move on to women's soccer. Now, the women's soccer team is struggling this year. They've lost three games, something that's happened twice in the history of Carolina soccer (In 1980 and 2000. They still won the national championship in 2000.). UNC is vulnerable. They can be beaten, and Duke was poised to strike.

Duke lost 2-1, Casey Nogueria had another game-winner, UNC remains in the Top 10 and the Blue Devils go back to being "previously ranked."

Maybe it would be different on the men's side. UNC's only 4-3-5 there - with five ties I can't imagine why men's soccer isn't catching on - and Duke's in the Top 10, a strong challenging team who... screw it. The Heels won that one too, behind Ryan Adeleye's overtime goal. And for that bit of heroics, I'll decline to make the cheap Huey Freeman joke at his expense.

UNC is currently running up the score in the Carlyle Cup 3 to 0.5 - the volleyball team get's another bite of the apple November 16th - with the next event next Saturday at the ACC Cross Country championships. More important, there's a non-Duke showdown this Saturday, when the aforementioned top-ranked, undefeated, four-time national champion (1989, 1995, 1996 and 1997) field hockey team meets the second-ranked, also undefeated, five-time national champion (1987, 1993, 1999, 2005 and 2006) Maryland squad. This is pretty much an ACC and NCAA championship preview, it's 1pm on Saturday in Chapel Hill, and there's no reason whatsoever why you shouldn't be there. It'll be just like a Saturday of football, but with exponentially more winning.

No interceptions thrown by former UNC quarterbacks in a shocking trick play. Guaranteed.