The North Carolina Field Hockey team continued its now-three-year-long winning streak in the 2020 season opener on Sunday with a strong defensive 3-1 victory over conference rival Wake Forest at Kentner Stadium in Winston-Salem.
On the heels of back-to-back national championships, UNC field hockey enters an unusual 2020 season stacked with talent.
The athletics department "will continue to work with medical experts and the University to evaluate safety conditions with the hope that we can increase capacity in October," Director of Athletics Bubba Cunningham said in a statement.
With the coronavirus putting all seasons at risk, several UNC athletes are speaking out about the legacies they want to leave.
Two of UNC's finest college athletes have been honored with the Patterson Medal for outstanding athletic achievement, sportsmanship and leadership.
The fire inside Erin Matson has drawn comparisons not just to other legendary athletes, but to artists like Beethoven or Picasso. And when it’s all said and done, and the smoke has cleared, it feels entirely possible that it will have put her in the rarest of company: the greatest of all time.
NCAA President Mark Emmert announced Thursday evening that the NCAA is canceling all 2020 Division I fall championships. This announcement comes eight days after the Division II Presidents Council and Division III Presidents Council each canceled their respective fall championships. The NCAA will attempt to have the championships in the spring. Fall sports teams will still be allowed to participate in a regular season schedule, but they will not have a chance to win a national title.
If fall sports seasons are able to proceed as planned, two North Carolina teams will be right back in the title hunt, while a third will seek a return to national prominence.
After completing a second straight undefeated season with the UNC field hockey team, sophomore Erin Matson was named the ACC's Female Athlete of the Year.
Coming off back-to-back national championships, UNC field hockey returns a strong core that could have them in the forefront of national title contention once again. Still, the COVID-19 pandemic made this offseason different than any the team had seen before.
While Matson's training clips were intended for the U10 Carolina All Stars, a team that she helps coach in the winter and spring, the clips have since taken on a life of their own.
It would be difficult enough, one imagines, to muster up enthusiasm in the midst of a 46-game winning streak that goes back to August of 2018. Then add in a global pandemic that has social isolation at an all-time high and motivation at an all-time low. Players would be forgiven if they spent their days on “Tiger King” instead of stick skills. But Erin Matson doesn’t see it that way.
With COVID-19 bringing spring and winter competitions to an early end, we took an earlier-than-expected stab at handing out some of North Carolina's end of season athletic awards.
Karen Shelton has come a long way since her humble beginnings with UNC's field hockey team all the way back in 1981. The 10-time ACC Coach of the Year has won 22 ACC titles and eight national championships, but despite her success she still keeps the same hardworking energy that has propelled her teams to greatness.
Over the past 10 years, Karen Shelton has headed one of the most successful athletics programs in the country, let alone at UNC. Brian Keyes sat down with Shelton to talk about field hockey, UNC and women's athletics over the past 10 years for the The Daily Tar Heel's special Decade in Review series.
When this one was over, they ran: to their coaches, to their teammates, to parents and siblings and fans alike. They ran to whoever they could find, really, to celebrate a second straight season of literal perfection — one that ended with a 6-1 win over Princeton in the NCAA championship Sunday for the dynastic program that is North Carolina field hockey. And take it from the players themselves: all this pomp and circumstance? The rushing of the field, the tears, the hugs, the pure joy of the moment? It doesn’t get old.
UNC field hockey once again claimed the national championship. The Tar Heels defeated Princeton during Sunday's NCAA championship game. This is the second consecutive season that the team was undefeated. Here's how their season went down:
For the eighth time in program history, and the second year in a row, the UNC field hockey team is a national champion.
Erin Matson scored four goals on six shots — including two crucial ones in the second period — to tie an NCAA record for a semifinal send the now 22-0 Tar Heels to Sunday’s title game against Princeton.
The Tar Heels (22-0) beat Boston College, 6-3, in an NCAA semifinal game Friday afternoon. The reigning champions will now face either Princeton or Virginia in the NCAA championship match.
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