Heck’s shootout goal, Kahn’s save give Tar Heels NCAA field hockey title, 2-1 over Northwestern

By The Associated Press

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — Ryleigh Heck scored in the sixth round of a shootout to lift defending champion North Carolina to a 2-1 win over Northwestern in the NCAA Division-I field hockey championships. The game was a rematch of last year’s championship, won by the Tar Heels 2-1. Northwestern beat the Tar Heels for the 2021 championship. North Carolina is now 11-11 in title games. After second-seeded Northwestern scored on the first two rounds of the shootout the Wildcats couldn’t get another shot past Maddie Kahn. Before Heck’s winner, Kahn stopped Peyton Halsey. Charly Bruder put the top-seeded Tar Heels on top by squeezing a long shot off a corner between the post and Wildcats’ goalie Annabel Skubisz early in the third quarter. Halsey tied it with a penalty stroke goal with 1:19 left in the quarter.