Nov. 19, 2009
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Ten members of the North Carolina field hockey team have earned 2009 Longstreth/NFHCA Division I All-South Region honors, as selected by the National Field Hockey Coaches Association and announced on Thursday. Six Tar Heels - seniors Melanie Brill, Illse Davids and Danielle Forword, juniors Katelyn Falgowski and Jackie Kintzer, and freshman Kelsey Kolojejchick - were named to the first team, putting them in the running for All-America honors, which will be announced on Monday.
Four more Tar Heels - senior Riley Foster, junior Elizabeth Drazdowski, sophomore Meghan Dawson and redshirt freshman Caitlin Van Sickle - were named to the All-South Region second team.
Brill, a back from Oley, Pa., earned all-region honors for the first time in her career. Davids, a midfielder from Plumstead, South Africa, was named to the first team for the second year in a row after earning second-team honors as a sophomore. The all-region honor was the first for Dawson, a back from Berlin, N.J., who is in her first season as a starter. Drazdowski, a forward from Mountain Top, Pa., also was a first-time honoree. Falgowski, a midfielder from Landenberg, Pa., earned first-team recognition for the third year in a row.
Forword, a forward from East London, South Africa, moved up to the first team after earning second-team honors in her sophomore and junior years. Foster, a back from Fort Worth, Texas, earned second-team honors for the third time, following her freshman and sophomore years. Kintzer, a goalkeeper from Robesonia, Pa., earned all-region honors for the first time in her career, as did Van Sickle, a back from Wilmington, Del. Kolojejchick, a midfielder from Larksville, Pa., and the 2009 ACC Freshman of the Year, was the only freshman selected for the All-South Region first team.
Atlantic Coast Conference players filled 15 of the 16 spots on the South Region first team. Joining UNC's six on the first team were three players each from Virginia, Wake Forest, and Duke. Along with the four Tar Heels on the second team were two players each from the other three ACC schools in the region.
A total of 38 ACC players earned spots on the five all-region teams. Six Maryland players were named to the Mid-Atlantic Region first team, and one more was named to the second. In the Northeast Region, three Eagles were named to the first team, and two more on the second team.
Boston College senior forward Chelsey Feole was the Northeast Region Player of the Year, Maryland junior forward Katie O'Donnell was named Mid-Atlantic Region Player of the Year, and Virginia sophomore midfielder Paige Selenski was the Southeast Region Player of the Year.
North Carolina is one of three ACC teams playing in the NCAA semifinals on Friday at Wake Forest's Kentner Stadium. Top-seeded Maryland plays fourth-seeded Princeton at 2 p.m. in the first semifinal. Following at 4:30 is a match-up between second-seeded Virginia and third-seeded UNC. The winners meet at noon on Sunday for the NCAA championship.
