8
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2003
Youth to drive UNC field hockey resurgence
BY BRANDON COWARD
STAFF WRITER
The North Carolina field hockey
team returns for the 2003 season
with anew look after suffering its
first losing season since 1981 and
missing the NCAA Tournament for
the first time since 1982.
“I think last year was a humbling
experience for us,” said Coach Karen
Shelton. “I think we responded
appropriately, and we will prove
that as the season goes on.”
While UNC has no seniors
returning for the upcoming season,
they still have seven experienced
juniors including Carey Fetting-
Smith, Kerry Falgowski and Kelsey
Keeran complemented by one of the
best recruiting classes in the nation.
The Tar Heels also will get a
boost from redshirt freshman
Brooke Miller and returning soph
omore Naomi Weatherald.
Shelton almost played Miller
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toward the end of the season last
year but decided it would be better
for Miller to retain her redshirt sta
tus.
“We’re delighted that we red
shirted Brooke,” Shelton said.
“She’s a force, and she’s going to be
good for four more years.”
Weatherald, who garnered All-
ACC Tournament honors last year,
returns as a team captain and the
defensive leader.
While an absence of seniors is
normally seen as a drawback, the
team views it as an opportunity for
everyone to step up and take charge.
“I think in every class you can
see people stepping up to fill those
roles,” said Fetting-Smith. “I think
that's definitely one of our strong
points. Asa unit, we re able to be
cohesive because it is open to
everyone to step up and fill that
role.”
The lack of seniors has supplied
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the incoming octet of freshmen
with a chance to perform right
away instead of waiting for their
sophomore years.
Three newcomers Laree
Beans, Rachel Dawson and Ashley
Judge are projected to jump
immediately into starting positions.
“I think that potentially we
could have three freshmen start
ing,” Shelton said. “I think the com
bination of our returning players
and these freshmen make for a
good and balanced team.”
Though they are the most visible
on the field, the freshmen aren’t
the only new additions to the
North Carolina roster.
The Tar Heels recruited four
new members to the assistant
coaching staff, including three
time Olympian Jackie Pereira, for
mer Tar Heel standout Cindy
Werley, recent graduate Meredith
Keller and administrative assistant
Sophomore captain aided
by Australian toughness
BY WILL ROBINSON
STAFF WRITER
Naomi Weatherald is no
stranger to being the center of
attention.
At Immanuel College in
Adelaide, South Australia, she was
her field hockey team’s most out
standing player and her school’s
Sportswoman of the Year, a premi
um accolade considering
Australia’s higher level of competi
tion in the sport.
Then last season, she became
the first Australian to play field
hockey for North Carolina coach
Karen Shelton and surprised many
by making the All-ACC
Tournament team as a freshman.
And this year, in the absence of
senior leadership, she will repre
sent her team as a sophomore cap
tain along with junior Carey
Fetting-Smith.
Weatherald isn’t your typical sec
ond-year Division 1 athlete in
addition to being a year older than
her sophomore teammates, she also
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Shelley Johnson.
Pereira and Werley were
brought in mainly to focus on the
forwards, while Keller works with
the midfielders and Shelton and
returning assistant Jana Withrow
fine-tune the backfield.
The team also added Johnson as
an administrative assistant to help
make practices more efficient and
organized.
After last year’s losing season,
the changes the Tar Heels made
give the team a renewed positive
outlook.
“After having had a tough sea
son, we’ve been down that road,
and that’s not where we belong,”
Fetting-Smith said. “We knew it
was wrong. We are a top team that
had some bad luck last year. This
year, it’s payback time.”
Contact the Sports Editor
at sports@unc.edu.
is more battle-tested than the aver
age American field hockey player.
“It’s more a sign of respect since
I’m a bit older and I come from a
different background," Weatherald
said. “In America, people start field
hockey at a later age than they do
in Australia, so reading the game
isn’t necessarily a strong asset of
the Americans because they
haven’t been brought up with it.”
Considering her knowledge of
the game, notable athleticism and
calmness under pressure, it’s no
surprise that her teammates trust
ed her with a leadership role.
“She’s poised, she’s calm and she
doesn’t freak out or go nuts on peo
ple on the field,” said sophomore
goalkeeper Katy Tran. “She’s defi
nitely a natural leader.”
Weatherald’s situation as an
international field hockey player
isn’t unusual at UNC. On the field,
she joins junior Laura Douglas of
New Zealand and sophomore
Karen Mann of British Columbia.
On the bench, she receives encour
t ——sSIK bl
DTH/GABITRAPENBERG
The North Carolina field hockey team, flush with youth, failed to reach
the NCAA Tournament last season for the first time since 1982.
agement from Australian Jackie
Pereira, a three-time Olympian
who is in her first season as a Tar
Heel assistant coach.
In a sport in w’hich leg bruises,
ice bags and black eyes are com
monplace, the toughness of experi
enced international players is wel
comed with open arms, especially
with North Carolina trying to
bounce back from its first losing
season since 1981.
But Weatherald doesn’t feel
added pressure from the program’s
history and even thinks the team
might have better chemistry' with
out seniors.
“I think not having a senior can
be more beneficial because more
girls step up into leadership roles
and we’ve bonded better,”
Weatherald said. “The girls are are
a lot happier if you’re happy and
enjoying your hockey, you’re going
to play better.”
Contact the Sports Editor
at sports@urw.edu.
QJljp oaily (Ear HM
Position
battles
rage on
for UNC
BY AARON Fin
SENIOR WRITER
Just four days before the North
Carolina football team hosts
Florida State to open the season,
the Tar Heels still have several
starting jobs up for grabs.
“Question marks still remain at
wide receiver, and, to an extent,
running back and backup tight
end,” said UNC Coach John
Bunting Tuesday at his weekly
press conference. “There are still
question marks at who’s the strong
safety, who’s the backup corners
and what rotation will we use, if
any, against Florida State.”
One of the most intriguing bat
tles has been at the running back
position, where injuries and com
petition have rendered depth
charts obsolete weekly.
A thigh bruise sidelined junior
Jacque Lewis from practice last!
week and caused him to fall to
third on the depth chart, behind
senior Willie Parker and junior
Chad Scott. Freshman Ronnie
McGill, star of the spring football •
game, is currently fourth on the
depth chart.
“I see all four playing,” Bunting
said. “I see them playing different
roles during the course of this'
game. It probably will have some
thing to do with down, distance
and personnel. Willie Parker I see
as our number one back right:
now.”
Lewis is 95-percent healthy now,
Bunting said. In order to keep him
as injuiy-free as possible, Lewis will!
play on fewer special teams than
last year. Bunting said he plans only
to use Lewis on the punt team. ;
Lewis’ injury is one reason;
Parker was able to seize the top
spot, but not the only reason.
Bunting said Parker has made two
important changes.
“Number one is durability,”;
Bunting said. “Number two is his
ability to see the cutback or see the
inside running lane and take it as
opposed to stuttering prior to hit
ting the hole. See it and hit it, and
that’s different (from last year).”
Another battle is raging for play
ing time at wide receiver. Jarwarski-
Pollock and Derrele Mitchell figure
to be the starters Saturday, with
Brandon Russell and Danny
Rumley as the backups. But the lat
ter two are feeling pressure from
freshmen Jesse Holley, Mike
Mason and Adarius Bowman. J
Quarterback Darian Durant has
yet to find his go-to target, partly
because so many different
receivers are getting reps.
“They’re doing a lot of
so it’s still kind of hard to get intq
a rhythm with certain guys, but I’m
not worried," Durant said. “If they
can get open, I’ll get them the ball;
But at the same time, there has to
be a guy that you feel like you can
go to when it’s crunch time, and |
don’t think I’ve yet found that guy.?
Some players have distinguished
themselves to Bunting during
camp. He rewarded two of them
Tuesday, announcing that kicked
Topher Roberts and snapper Greg
Warren would get scholarships. J
“Roberts wall continue to do
kickoffs,” Bunting said. “He has a
year left of school, and we will
reward him with a
That’s fun to do. Believe me, yot)
don’t know how much fun that i$
to do.”
Contact the Sports Editor
at sports@unc.edii