On Friday, the No. 1 UNC field hockey team routed No. 7 Virginia, 3-1 in a rematch of the 2021 ACC Championship.
What happened?
The Cavaliers began to press the Tar Heel defense early, putting up a shot and drawing a penalty corner within the first two minutes of regulation. UNC responded by earning a corner of its own, but a head-to-head collision between senior forward Erin Matson and a defender prevented North Carolina from capitalizing.
UNC earned its second corner without Matson on the field, who was getting tended to for her head injury. Inserted by first year forward Ashley Sessa, the ball was stick-stopped cleanly and then shot to the back left corner of the cage by first-year midfielder Siestke Bruning.
Back in the game, Matson earned a penalty stroke from a Cavalier hooking call. In textbook fashion, she easily slid the ball in to grant North Carolina a 2-0 lead in the first quarter.
Using their second earned penalty corner of the first half, the Cavaliers shot the ball wide, which ricocheted off the stick of a UNC defender and into the goal. With Virginia knocking on the door with less than a minute left in the half, Matson wove around the right side of the Cavalier goalkeeper and scooped the ball up for a score. Matson’s second goal of the game brought UNC to 3-1 by the half.
Throughout the second half, North Carolina withstood pressure from Virginia, defending six shots and three penalty corners. Even after drawing three consecutive corners in the last minutes of play and sending out five shots in the second half, UNC could not muster an accurate shot and held onto their two-goal lead, 3-1.
Who stood out?
Matson’s two goals put her at 19 for the season and tallied her to 308 points in her UNC career.
