No. 7 Hawkeyes Knock Off No. 1 North Carolina

Chapel Hill, N.C. – Freshman Lieve van Kessel’s first career goal in overtime sent the seventh-ranked University of Iowa field hockey team to an upset victory over top ranked North Carolina, 3-2, on Sunday afternoon in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge matchup at Karen Shelton Stadium.

“I could not be more impressed with this team,” said head coach Lisa Cellucci. “They were loose, poised, and stuck to the plan. Complete team effort. We will certainly enjoy this one and keep building.”

Freshman Dionne van Aalsum led the Hawkeyes to two victories in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge after recording back-to-back multi-goal games in the first two games of her collegiate career.

North Carolina jumped out to an early lead scoring first with an 11th minute goal by Katie Dixon.

van Aalsum first tied the game after finding the back of the goal in the 27th minute off an assist from junior Lieve Schalk.

The Tar Heels regained their lead late in the third quarter on a strike from Sietske Bruning assisted by Paityn Wirth and Kelly Smith.

van Aalsum sent the game into overtime after scoring her second goal with six minutes left in regulation, and van Kessel scored the golden goal one minute and 41 seconds into overtime.

OF NOTE… 
– Iowa has now defeated the top-ranked team in three straight seasons (3-1 vs. No. 1 North Carolina in 2021, 2-0 vs. No. 1 Northwestern in 2022 and 3-2 vs. No. 1 North Carolina in 2023)
– The Hawkeyes’ only loss from a non-Big Ten Conference team since the 2020 season came last season against North Carolina in a double overtime battle in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.
– Six of Iowa’s seven goals this weekend were scored by freshmen, including all three against No. 1 North Carolina.
– This was the Hawkeyes’ first win against UNC in Chapel Hill.
– This is the second time in program history that Iowa went 2-0 in ACC/Big Ten Challenge (since 2002).
– This was only North Carolina’s third loss in Karen Shelton Stadium which opened in 2018.
– This was the first loss for the Tar Heels since November 2021, and their first regular season loss since October 2021.

UP NEXT 
The Hawkeyes travel to Albany, New York for a neutral site match-up against Fairfield on Friday at 1 p.m. (CT).