GREENSBORO, N.C. (theACC.com) – Louisville’s Mercedes Pastor and North Carolina’s Bryn Boylan have been named the Atlantic Coast Conference Field Hockey Co-Offensive Players of the Week, while Virginia’s Amber Ezechiels earned Defensive Player of the Week honors.
 
Pastor’s goal in the sixth minute of overtime lifted No. 5 Louisville to a win over No. 8 Syracuse Sunday at Louisville’s Trager Stadium. The senior midfielder/forward from Buenos Aires, Argentina, notched her team-best 11th goal – and fifth game-winner – of the season as the Cardinals improved to 12-4 overall and 2-2 in ACC play in the spring season. Pastor leads the Cardinals in scoring with 27 points.
 
On Senior Day, North Carolina’s Boylan delivered the shot that gave the No. 1 Tar Heels a 4-3 win over No. 15 Duke in double overtime. With 2:58 remaining in the second overtime, the senior from Doylestown, Pennsylvania, was fouled in the circle then stepped up to take the penalty stroke. She sent a rocket into the lower left corner of the cage for the win. It was Boylan's second game-winning penalty stroke of the season, as she also converted to beat Syracuse 4-3 in overtime in the 2020 ACC Championship semifinals last Nov. 6. She has four goals this season and is 2-for-2 on penalty strokes. Boylan, who was named the ACC Defensive Player of the Week last Sept. 22, is the first-student athlete since 2018 to win each of the ACC’s weekly field hockey awards in the same season.
 
Virginia’s Ezechiels anchored a backline defensive effort that shut out visiting Boston College and limited the 11th-ranked Eagles to four shots in last Friday’s 1-0 win by the Cavaliers. The Niew-Vennep, Netherlands, junior led the way as Virginia limited BC to just one shot in the second half in posting its third shutout of the season.