East topples CHHS in field hockey

East Chapel Hill's Wildcats scored in first minute in Monday's match at Chapel Hill -- the season-finale for both teams -- and then made it hold up as they became the first NCHSAA school to down CHHS in field hockey this season. Helen Newton took the ball down one sideline and then fed Sophie Laas-Nesbitt in the middle for the game's lone goal.

Chapel Hill (15-1) had a 9-3 edge in penalty corners, but got off only 3 shots on-goal and East goalkeeper Kaori Sueyoshi stopped all three.

The win avenged East's 2-0 loss at home to CHHS earlier in the season and snapped Chapel Hill's 15 game win streak against other public schools. The Tigers' only loss this season came on the road at Charlotte Country Day, 1-0 in overtime.

Smith closing strong

Smith's Lucas Christy threw touchdown passes of 70 and 40 yards to Darius Allen in the second half Wednesday to help the Cyclones take a 32-14 win at McDougle. M.J. Craig scored the game's opening TD on a 70-yard run, and Quole Wilson returned a punt 60 yards for another just before halftime. Logan Tisch ran in two 2-point conversions for the Cyclones. Trey Sharpe ran one touchdown in from 6 yards out.

Wilson ended up having 102 all purpose yards, and Christy passed for 115 yards with 2 TDs. Smith's defense was lead by Devon Gattis, Tisch and Craig with four tackles each. Wilson, Aaron Smith and Juno Parks all chipped in with three tackles apiece.

Smith (6-1) will finish its season Wednesday at home against Culbreth, last year's OPAC conference champions. Phillips (4-3) will host Stanback at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday in the last game of the season for both teams.

Phillips won 20-14 at Culbreth last week, with Izzy Settles running in all three of the Falcon touchdowns plus a two-point conversion in the come-from-behind victory. Two-way starter Ian Levin made a crucial tackle-for-loss on the Cougars' last possession to help stifle their last attempt to rally.

Co-Rec finals Tuesday

No. 2 seed 300 East Main Street eliminated Ghost Riders from Carrboro's Co-Rec fall championship tournament with a narrow 18-17 win last Thursday, setting up a championship final with No. 1 seeded Cozart-Seagroves. They'll meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Anderson Community Park. If 300 East Main wins that one, a second game will follow at 8:10 p.m. to decide the title of the double-elimination tournament.

Ghost Riders fought their way back from a first-round loss to 300 East Main and reached the elimination bracket final by virtue of a forfeit from Armadillo Grill and then a 16-4 win over Bread & Butter in last Thursday's first game. 300 Main had not played a game since losing 12-10 on Oct. 20 to Cozart-Seagroves.

Cozart-Seagroves hasn't played since that second-round win over East Main, and the top seed will have gone two full weeks in between games win the first pitch is thrown Tuesday night.

Familiar faces at net

Northwood and Carrboro played all through the Carolina-Nine regular season to end up 1-2, respectively, in the new 2-A Conference, and now they're meeting one last time. Northwood (12-5) will host Carrboro (11-7) Tuesday at 4 p.m. in the third round of the NCHSAA 2-A state dual-team tournament.

Chapel Hill also advanced last week, blanking Ledford 9-0 in the second round of the NCHAA 3-A tournament. Notably, Hannah Kimbrough, Natalie Sutton, Kim Jones and Kelsey Wayne swept their singles and doubles matches without losing a game.

The Tigers (14-5) will play at Cardinal Gibbons (21-4) on Tuesday in another rematch of conference rivals. The Crusaders won the Carolina-Six 3-A, and CHHS was second in the new league.

In the NCHSAA Individual Championships, Chapel Hill's Tory Helpingstine and Hannah Kimbrough returned this weekend to the 3-A doubles tournament at Burlington Tennis Center. They beat the top doubles team from Burlington Williams last weekend to win the NCHSAA 3A Mideast Regional Championship last weekend at Union Pines.

This is the pair's second trip to the NCHSAA State championship. Last year, both were named to the PAC-6 All-Conference, the All-Mideast Regional, and the 4-A All-State women's tennis team as semi-finalists in both the year-end regional and state tournaments.

In the 2-A individuals, undefeated Catherine Shachtman and Claire Pauley of Northwood (20-0) won the Mideast Regional doubles last weekend to earn a No. 1 seed in this weekend's state championships

Wildcats out

Last week's dual team matches presented a real reversal of fortune for perennial state finalist East Chapel Hill. The Wildcats (21-3 and ranked second in the state) lost to Green Hope (20-2) by a 5-4 score in the second round of the NCHSAA 4-A tennis playoffs. Green Hope, which lost to East 6-3 on Oct. 7, carried four of the six singles matches on the way to an upset over the PAC-6 champion.

"It helped us to play East earlier this month, " said second-year Green Hope coach Kevin Taylor. "To come to a place that we've never been to before made us more prepared for tonight."

The difference between the two matches came in No. 3 singles. The Falcons' Laura Williams, who was injured in the prior match against East, rallied to beat Tegan Flynn 4-6, 6-2, 10-8, despite trailing 5-1 in the tiebreaker at one point.

It was a bitter night for the Wildcats, who scheduled senior night on Wednesday because they played so many of their final regular season matches on the road. East Chapel Hill was the 4-A state runner-up in 2008, losing to Charlotte Myers Park in the championship match.

Flynn and the other Wildcats had a chance Saturday to recover from their wounds. Virtually every one of East's top six players were in the NCHSAA Individual Championships contested Saturday. (See www.newsobserver.com or this weekend's editions of the News & Observer for results of Saturday's championships.)

The Tar Heels are in
(the NBA, that is)

A total of 53 players from 10 of the 12 current Atlantic Coast Conference schools are listed on the NBA opening day rosters for the 2009-10 season. In addition, six former ACC players are head coaches, and 11 assistant coaches played at a current ACC school.

University of North Carolina alums on the rosters include:

Vince Carter (Orlando), Wayne Ellington (Minnesota), Raymond Felton (Charlotte(Cleveland), Tyler Hansbrough (Indiana), Brendan Haywood (Washington), Antawn Jamison (Washington), Ty Lawson (Denver), Sean May (Sacramento), Rasheed Wallace (Boston), Jawad Williams (Cleveland), Marvin Williams (Atlanta), and Brendan Wright (Golden State).

Carolina finishing up

Sixth-ranked North Carolina started eight seniors and played all 26 players who were dressed Thursday night as the Tar Heel women's soccer team broke a two-match losing streak by beating Clemson 3-0 at Fetzer Field. Senior Casey Nogueira scored a pair of goals and junior Jessica McDonald added one .

UNC (13-3-1 overall, 6-3 ACC) will close out its 2009 regular season when it plays at Maryland today at 1 p.m. at Ludwig Field. The Terps (12-3-2 overall, 4-3-2 ACC) are ranked No. 8 by Soccer America and No. 12 by the NSCAA.

- chn -