LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Malin Evert scored the game’s only goal and the Tar Heel defense posted its second-straight shutout as fifth-seeded North Carolina defeated No. 3 Louisville, 1-0, in the 2017 ACC Field Hockey Championship game Sunday afternoon at Trager Stadium.
 
With the win, North Carolina earned its 20^th ACC Championship and receives the conference’s automatic qualifying bid to the NCAA Tournament.
 
“They’ve been absolutely amazing,” said North Carolina head coach Karen Shelton, who has been with the program for all 20 conference titles. “Early in the year, we weren’t sure we were going to be a tournament team, so to come away with an ACC Championship and to potentially, maybe have a top-four seed, that’s remarkable.”
 
The game’s only goal came in the 19^th minute. Eva Smolenaars and Eva van’t Hoog set up Malin Evert on a penalty corner, her sixth goal in her last four games and 11^th on the season.
 
“I have to give all the credit to my coaches,” said Evert. “They told me where to shoot the ball and that’s what I did. They told me what to do and I just did it.”
 
North Carolina, which held top-seeded Virginia scoreless in a 4-0 on Friday in the semifinals, limited Louisville to four total shots in the contest for its seventh shutout of the season.
 
“It says a lot about our group,” said Shelton on the consecutive shutouts. “Hopefully we are peaking at the right time and still have a lot of good hockey to go.”
 
Ashley Hoffman was named ACC Championship Most Valuable Player for her performance in the three games in the tournament. The ACC Defensive Player of the Year led the Tar Heel defense in allowing only two goals in the three games.
 
“It was a defensive battle today,” said Hoffman. “Both teams had superb defense all weekend and the goalies had tremendous performances and it was really tough to get any goals.”
 
The Tar Heels (16-4) outshot the Cardinals by a 13-4 margin in the game and converted on one of their four penalty corner opportunities for the game winner.
 
The Cardinals, who entered the week having gone winless in the three previous ACC Championships, won two straight to advance to their first ACC title game.
 
“Unfortunately we were beaten by a more structured, organized, more skillful team today,” said head coach Justine Sowry.
 
“To win back-to-back against Syracuse and a formidable Duke lineup, that’s preparing ultimately for the NCAA Tournament and potentially the Final Four. I’m super proud.”
 
With the loss, Louisville falls to 14-7 on the season and will await the release of the NCAA Tournament bracket on Sunday night. The selections will be announced on NCAA.com at 10 p.m.
 
2017 ACC Field Hockey All-Tournament Team
Alyssa Chillano, Duke
Margaux Paolino, Duke
Carter Ayars, Louisville
Alli Bitting, Louisville
Ayeisha McFerran, Louisville
Malin Evert, North Carolina
Amanda Hendry, North Carolina
Ashley Hoffman, North Carolina (MVP)
Eva van’t Hoog, North Carolina
Tara Vittese, Virginia
Pien Dicke, Virginia