Baily Sar Heri
Tar Heels look to fill defensive gaps as season nears
■ Two redshirt freshmen
likely will start for UNC in
the Aug. 30 season opener.
BY KURT TONDORF
ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR
Nothing ever fazes the North
Carolina field hockey team.
Nagging preseason injuries, the blazing
August sun...
The two-time defending national
champions, 68-3 the last three years, are
incapable of worry, a picture of confi
dence at Thursday’s practice at Navy
Field.
Being chased by a nation of would-be
competitors, facing heightening expectations
But with an Aug. 30 season opener
vs. Penn State nearing, perhaps the Tar
Heels should have one small, though fix
able, concern.
Three defensive starters, co-captains
Meredith Lawrence, Christy Utter and
Susannah Schott, graduated from UNC
last spring.
Lawrence, Utter and Schott were
starters in some capacity for four years,
the anchors of a Tar Heel defense that
allowed only 0.86 goals per game last
season.
The problem isn’t solely confined to
UNC focuses on special teams
to shore up weak link of 1996
BY JOSEPH ROLISON
ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR
These days, Brian Schmitz is far removed from the night in
Tallahassee, Fla., last September when North Carolina
watched its upset hopes against Florida State fizzle.
For that matter, Schmitz didn’t even punt or attempt a field
goal in UNC’s 13-0 loss to the Seminoles. He merely looked
on as FSU blocked three kicks and got the advantage it need
ed to win.
During the offseason, Schmitz along with his fellow Tar
Heels could only wonder what might
have been. So this preseason, North
Carolina's punters and placekickers have
put special emphasis on getting kicks off
high and fast so they won’t have to pon
der missed opportunities.
“There’s no question that had we
been a better kicking team last year, we
would have been a better team it’s a
given,” Schmitz said.
“You have to come out (to practice)
every day thinking that if we didn’t get
those blocks against Florida State, we
would have been right there.”
At times in the preseason, the UNC
specialists have performed as though a
championship rested in the balance.
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Near the end of Thursday afternoon’s practice, the Tar Heels
worked on a one-minute drill that puts the kickers in a do-or
die situation.
Both times, Schmitz and Josh McGee, the No. 1 kicker,
split the uprights. But while they were the heroes Thursday,
UNC coach Mack Brown already knew they had ability.
Instead, Brown wants his kickers and punters all of
whom have shown streaks of brilliance to save the day
more often.
“There have been days where (the kickers) have been better
than we’ve ever had,” Brown said. “And there have been days
when they're more inconsistent.
“We just need consistency.”
Unfortunately for North Carolina, consistency at kicker
remains an elusive goal. On Monday, the Tar Heel specialists
could hardly get the ball airborne, much less convert on their
first tries.
But just as at other positions, Brown is letting several kick
ers, punters and holders battle for playing time. Although
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the backfield.
Midfielder Ashley
Hanson (team
high 31 assists) is
also gone, round
ing out the list of
players for whom
UNC coach
Karen Shelton
will need to
replace.
But as team co
captain and 1996
national player of
the year Cindy
Werley is quick to
UNC freshman
ERIN COX
likely will start at
center back.
point out: “Those four were great play
ers, but (replacing them) is not as much
of a concern as people would think.”
Only one of the three players moving
into the starting lineup has a lick of col
lege experience junior Moira
McFadden, who has appeared in 38
games and started three. She is tenta
tively listed as the squad’s starting right
back.
The other two potential defensive
starters are redshirt freshmen. Erin Cox,
from Newark, Del., will likely start at
center back, and Jana Toepel from
Perkiomenville, Pa., will likely play
sweeper.
Junior midfielder Stacey
Schweighart, generally first off the
bench for Shelton last season, will team
McGee has a jump on the kicking slot, Schmitz out-booted
punter Derrick DePriest several times Thursday.
Schmitz, however, realizes that nothing is certain in pre
season football. And that means August’s most consistent
kicker will have a chance to be September’s standout.
“(The competition) is a good thing to have, because you can
never get complacent, ever,” Schmitz said. “I’m doing my best
to push Josh, and I know Derrick’s doing his best to push me."
Stevens' snags catch eyes
While McGee and Schmitz converted their crucial boots
during the one-minute drill, they shared the stage with UNC
wideout L.C. Stevens. Late in the practice, Stevens made a
pair of catch-and-runs that left the defense lagging.
“L.C. has improved so much since that long touchdown
catch (vs. Arkansas in the ’95 Carquest Bowl),” Brown said.
“He’s playing with so much more confidence now than
before.”
UNC sophomore
JOSH MCGEE
is leading the race to
be the Tar Heels'
starting kicker.
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with seniors Abbi
Keller and Joy
Driscoll in the
midfield.
In fairness to
Cox arid Toepel,
they might be
green, but like
nearly every other
player on the
North Carolina
roster they boast
outstanding high
school resumes.
Cox was first
team all-state in
Delaware and a
UNC sweeper
JANA TOEPEL
is currently on the
under-21 national
squad.
member of the under-18 U.S. national
team.
Toepel, an All-American, spent three
years on the under-18s and is currently
on the under-21 national squad.
Shelton wouldn’t have wasted the
time recruiting any of her freshman
defenders if they weren’t capable of
starting on her defense someday. That
day has arrived.
Besides, next year is when the real cri
sis hits North Carolina. Shelton will
have to fill the shoes of forwards Werley
and Kate Barber, goalie Jana Withrow,
back Jen DiCuollo and Driscoll and
Keller.
Barber, Werley and Withrow are all
first-team All-Americans, and Driscoll
SPORTS
was a second-team selection.
Best of luck, coach.
The gauntlet
How does the top team in college
field hockey stay there from year to
year?
Why, conditioning, of course.
“We train all through the spring, and
in the summer we have programs that
we follow,” Driscoll said. “Each player
knows you come in fit.”
If they don’t, they’ll fall prey to what
the Tar Heels call “the gauntlet,” a gru
eling running regimen that Shelton uses
to whip her players into midseason
form.
The gauntlet consists of five compo
nents, all separated by a minute’s rest: a
six-minute mile, a three-minute half
mile, a 1 1/2-minute quarter-mile, a 36-
second 220-meter run and 10 40-yard
shuttles.
“You definitely see where your hard
work pays off,” Driscoll said with a
smile.
Aside from their individual programs,
players took a well-deserved reprieve
from the sport this summer.
“We took that time off that we felt we
needed,” Werley said while stretching
after practice.
“We just worked hard over the sum
mer, getting in shape. I think we’re
ready.”
Woods survives bogey, shares lead at NEC tourney
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
AKRON, Ohio Tiger Woods
bogeyed the final hole and defending
champion Phil Mickelson birdied it to
share the lead at 3-under-par 67
Thursday after the opening round of the
NEC World Series of Golf.
Just a shot off the lead was a star
studded group of six that included U.S.
Open champion Ernie Els, Davis Love
111, fresh from winning the PGA
Championship, Greg Norman, Nick
Price, Mark O’Meara and John Cook.
Trailed by a record gallery that
crowded several deep around the ropes
to watch his every move, Woods didn’t
disappoint in his first professional
appearance at soggy Firestone Country
Club.
The course was pounded by heavy
rains just before the first group teed off
and again as the leaders played the back
nine. Long hitters had a big advantage
off the tee on the 7,149-yard course
which several players said was actually
a couple hundred yards longer.
Woods dodged trouble at the signa
ture 16th, the 625-yard hole dubbed
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DTH FILE PHOTO
UNC senior Joy Driscoll (4) is one of seven returning starters for the
two-time defending national champion Tar Heels.
“The Monster.” He pushed his iron
approach far to the right of the green,
but flopped a sand wedge to 4 feet and
then rolled in his par putt while the
crowd roared its approval.
At the 392-yard, par-4 17th, his 7-
iron second shot ended up 4 feet from
the hole. He tapped in to expand his
lead to two strokes.
The runaway winner of the Masters
had that lead cut in half when he pulled
his drive in the left rough near a
drainage grate on the par-4 finishing
hole. His 8-iron cut shot caught a tree
and dropped short of the green. He
chipped to 18 feet but missed his putt.
Mickelson got off to a rocky start
with a bogey but righted himself to take
the lead with birdies at 10 and 11.
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Bogeys at 12 and 13 cost him the out
right lead, but he rolled in a birdie putt
on the par-4 18th to grab a share of the
lead.
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