PAGE 12
‘C SREBOiUI
MAH ESTREICH
STREICH ZONE
ACC teams
ought to
play twice
The last time the ACC got it
right was 1996.
That was the last time
field hockey teams in the coun
try’s best conference played each
other twice in a season.
Under the current system, the
six ACC-member schools meet
once in the regular season and
only under the rarest circum
stance do they face off that sec
ond time.
On Friday afternoon that
exception to the rule produced
a double-overtime thriller that
highlighted the need to revert
back to the way the conference
scheduled its season nearly a
decade ago.
North Carolina’s 3-2 loss to
Wake Forest marked the only
occasion this season that two
ACC teams played each other for
a second time.
From 1994 to 1996 the ACC
experimented with the double
round-robin system that resulted
in each team playing eight con
ference games per year (Boston
College wasn’t a member at the
time).
During those three years ACC
teams acquired increased skill
and big-game experience from
playing more games against top
notch competition themselves.
No surprise then that in two
of those three years the national
champion came from the Atlantic
Coast Conference.
And it should come as even
less of a surprise that the con
ference’s biggest proponent of a
return to the double round-robin
system is North Carolina head
coach Karen Shelton. Her Tar
Heels won the national champi
onship in both 1995 and 1996.
“My feeling is, you play good
teams you're going to be better,”
Shelton said. “I’ve always been a
proponent of a strong schedule.
No matter who they are, I want
to play them.”
In addition to better preparing
teams and producing more clas
sic contests such as Friday’s epic,
the system saves teams time and
money by playing more games
within the conference’s geograph
ic reach, provides more accurate
seeding for the ACC tournament
and lends increased credibility to
the conference’s regular season
champion.
With teams only meeting once
during the year the ACC regular
season champion typically has a
4-0 or 3-1 record. Even though
the conference is now six teams
strong with the Eagles in tow, it’s
tough to justify awarding a title
when only five games are played.
Even ACC football teams play
eight conference games.
“It makes the regular season
champion more meaningful,”
Shelton said. “(Now) when you
say you’re regular season ACC
champs, it doesn’t mean that
much.”
When the Tar Heels and
Demon Deacons met Friday it
was not only a battle of two of the
premier field hockey teams in the
nation, it was a meeting of two
like-minded coaches.
Shelton and her Wake Forest
counterpart Jennifer Averill are
the two supporters of the return
to the double round-robin system
wMjjh explains why the rivals
are the last remaining holdouts
thaf elect to play each other twicte
in aisSjgason.
EalfSh off-season the issue
to a vote and is regularly
turned down by the other ACC
schools.
In their short-sighted reason
ing they believe a double round
robin schedule will force ACC
teams to beat up on each other
and result in more teams having
less impressive records.
But if a second slate of games
proves to be as exhilarating as
Friday’s tilt, it’s hard to imagine
any school opposing the system.
Contact Matt Estreich
at estreich@email.unc.edu.
Sports Monday
WOMEN'S SOCCER UNC 3 Virginia Tech 1
THE FIRST BIG DANCE
* I 11‘t- I IBBR t jg
■
cu ~ . . DTH/RICKYLEUNG
Freshmen Danny Green (left) and Mike Copeland get down to the Jackson s's "ABC" during Late Night with Roy on Friday. The night included dance numbers, skits and a brief scrimmage.
BY DEREK HOWLES ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR
Surrounded by 18 million cubic feet of blueness,
beneath 95 years of history and amid an estimated
13,000 vocal cords ready to burst at Late Night
with Roy, one thing was readily apparent.
The Smithsonian’s not the only place to see the Spirit
of St. Louis.
So at 10:54 p.m. Friday, after a 2004-05 highlight video
finished playing and as a crowd that filled the lower bowl
and checkered the upper level of the Smith Center roared
its approval, a spotlight swung its gaze toward the top of
the west end.
And there, all by itself, tumbled down a rectangle
UNC yields
to Deacons,
downs Cavs
BY SAM SHEPARD
ASSISTANT SPORTSATURDAY EDITOR
Though the North Carolina field
hockey team was unable to will
itself to victory in Friday’s rematch
against Wake Forest, it realized
something nearly as important:
that it can go stick-to-stick with
the best team in the country for
70 minutes —and more.
The No. 4 Tar Heels fought a
rigorous battle against the top
ranked Demon Deacons before
losing, 3-2, in double overtime
at Henry Stadium.
“If we keep improving, the
next time we play them maybe
the outcome is different —and
that gives you hope,” said Coach
Karen Shelton. “And Wake, you
know, doesn’t want to see us
again. They don’t want to see us
DTH/RICKY LEUNG
The Tar Heels' Leslie Barrows (18) squares off against Wake Forest's
Ariel Meyers (17) on Friday at Henry Stadium. UNC lost the game 3-2.
www.dailytarheel.com
in the NCAA Tournament.”
And Virginia must not have
wanted to see the Tar Heels on
Sunday in Charlottesville, as UNC
manhandled the Cavaliers, 3-1, to
improve to 12-3 on the season.
Ttoo weeks ago, UNC (12-3,2-2
in the ACC) was shut out by Wake,
2-0. It was the Tar Heels’ second
consecutive ACC loss and marked
the first time
in history they
had started 0-
2 in the con
ference.
But after
three straight
victories by
a combined
score of 14-1,
FIELD
HOCKEY
UNC 3
Virginia 1
Wake Forest 3
UNC 2
2 OT
SEE FIELD HOCKEY, PAGE 11
MEN'S SOCCER Maryland 4 UNC 1
of white fabric that read,
“University of North Carolina, 33-
4,2005 National Champions.”
“Coach said he had a surprise for
us, but we really didn’t know,” said
David Noel. “He let the cat out of the
bag earlier today, and when we saw
it we were just like, Aww man.’”
But with a team that consists
of five freshmen, including a kid
appropriately named Green, and
five others who, save for Noel,
have played only the role of little
used understudy, no one’s expect
ing to see any new banners in the
rafters this season.
Unless, that is, they hang the
UNC has the ‘Wright’ stuff
BY DEREK HOWLES
ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR
A lot of kids in blue polo shirts
and braces must have walked
into the Smith Center on Friday
night.
But only one of those kids
sat directly behind the North
Carolina bench for Late Night
with Roy.
And only one of those kids was
a high school senior who had doz
ens of shrieking fans holding up
a makeshift UNC jersey with his
name on the back.
It seems he liked the idea so
Tar Heels spike 2 foes
Volleyball now
shares No. 1 spot
BY KRISTIN PRATT
STAFF WRITER
When the North Carolina
volleyball team took and left the
court this weekend, they were
accompanied by the thundering
roll of momentum.
That thunder can be heard
all the way to College Park, Md.
now.
The Tar Heels, tied with
Maryland atop
the ACC, have
gained some
major footing
in the stand
ings with two
three-game
sweeps this
VOLLEYBALL
Clemson 0
UNC 3
Georgia Tech 0
UNC 3
weekend.
North Carolina (13-6, 8-1 in
the ACC) earned that momen
tum by dominating Georgia Tech
(9-7, 5-2) and Clemson (9-7, 4-
4), and now are on a six-game
winning streak.
And those kinds of dominat
ing performances don’t come
WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY UNC 10th
“David Noel might go down as the great
est Late Night with Roy performer ever.”
ROY WILLIAMS, UNC COACH
honored jerseys for Felton, May and
McCants. Or unless someone starts
handing out awards for the theatri
cal side of sports Tonys in high
tops, if you will. Because heavens to
the ’BS Bears if this “dadgum” bunch
of backups and beginners wouldn’t
already deserve a “frickin” banner of
their own if they did.
As has become their custom for
the three years Williams has been in
much he decided to trade in that
makeshift jersey for a real one.
Dave Telep, Scout.com’s nation
al recruiting director, reported
Sunday afternoon that Brandan
Wright, a 6-foot-9, 200-pound
power forward from Brentwood,
Tenn., has committed verbally to
UNC.
Scout.com ranked Wright as
the best power forward in the
2006 class —and the fifth-best
prep senior in the entire country.
The commitment gives Coach
Roy Williams arguably the top
incoming freshman class in
HSRi a. ...
DTH/RICKY LEUNG
North Carolina's Amy Beaver (12) spikes the ball as Georgia Tech's
Nikki Kaminskas (5) goes for the block Friday night at the Smith Center.
easy for the Tar Heels. Heading
into the weekend they were com
ing off three five-game battles
and two four-game matches.
“It gives us victory confidence,
to win 3-0 against two really
good opponents,” said Coach Joe
Sagula.
SEE VOLLEYBALL, PAGE 11
cEl|p SaiUj ®ar MM
MONDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2005
charge, the Tar Heels put on quite a
show. They danced. They hammed
it up. And they performed several
gut-busting skits, including one in
which Quentin Thomas went 1-on-l
with a cardboard cutout of Marvin
Williams with the song “Lonely”
playing in the background.
“We started Sunday night and
SEE LATE NIGHT, PAGE 11
America for next season, as Wright
joins point guard Tywon Lawson,
shooting guard Wayne Ellington,
centers Deon Thompson and Alex
Stepheson and small forward
William Graves.
Lawson and Ellington also
are rated by Scout.com as the
best high school players at their
respective positions, and both
centers fall in the top 60 overall.
Ohio State, with center Greg
Oden and two more top-25
recruits, previously had the best
SEE WRIGHT, PAGE 11
ONLINE
Jenna Long advances to semis
of Regional Championships
Freshman comes through at
outside hitter for Tar Heels
Friday is a day of many firsts
for UNC field hockey