By R.L. Bynum

Carolina’s field hockey team is back in a familiar place atop the NFHCA national coaches poll.

The Tar Heels (8–0, 2–0 ACC), who have won nine NCAA titles, ascended to No. 1 in the latest poll released Tuesday after they beat Wake Forest at home 2–0 and the previously top-ranked Northwestern lost 2–0 to Iowa in Friday action. Four of UNC’s victories have come against teams ranked in the Top 10.

Carolina, which has shut out its last five opponents, is the only Division I team in the country that’s still undefeated.

Fifth-year forward Erin Matson is the ACC offensive player of the week for the second time this season after scoring both goals in the Wake Forest victory.

The Wildcats (9–1) fell to No. 2 and Iowa, which UNC defeated 3–2 in overtime in Winston-Salem on Aug. 28, slid up a spot to No. 3. Carolina got 35 first-place votes compared to five for Northwestern and one for No. 4 Maryland.

Northwestern had been No. 1 and UNC No. 2 in every poll until this week.

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Other ranked ACC teams are No. 5 Louisville (down one spot), which Carolina beat 3–0 on Sept. 16, No. 7 Virginia (up three spots), No. 13 Syracuse (down two slots), No. 16 Boston College (up two spots), the No. 17 Deacons (down two spots) and No. 22 Duke (down two spots).

Carolina plays its next three games on the road: against No. 14 Liberty at 1 p.m. Sunday, BC on Friday, Oct. 7 at 4 p.m. and No. 11 UConn at 1 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 9. The Tar Heels’ next home game is against Syracuse on Friday, Oct. 14 at 3 p.m.

Top 25

Rank	School	Record	Points (first-place votes)	Previous rank	Change
1	North Carolina	8–0	1,019 (35)	2	▲ 1
2	Northwestern	9–1	930 (5)	1	▼ 1
3	Iowa	8–1	915	5	▲ 2
4	Maryland	9–1	908 (1)	3	▼ 1
5	Louisville	8–1	824	4	▼ 1
6	Penn State	8–1	792	6	―
7	Virginia	5–3	708	10	▲ 3
8	Michigan	5–4	674	8	―
9	Princeton	5–4	644	7	▼ 2
10	Saint Joseph’s	6–3	608	12	▲ 2
11	Connecticut	6–2	568	9	▼ 2
12	Old Dominion	6–2	553	13	▲ 1
13	Syracuse	8–2	540	11	▼ 2
14	Liberty	6–3	461	16	▲ 2
15	Harvard	6–2	441	14	▼ 1
16	Boston College	5–4	388	18	▲ 2
17	Wake Forest	6–3	375	15	▼ 2
18	James Madison	7–3	370	21	▲ 3
19	William and Mary	6–3	337	17	▼ 2
20	Mass., Amherst	8–2	293	22	▲ 2
21	Rutgers	6–4	257	19	▼ 2
22	Duke	4–6	138	20	▼ 2
23	Maine	6–3	101	Unranked	―
24	Ohio State	3–5	88	23	▼ 1
25	American	6–3	71	25	―

Date	Month/day	Time/score	Opponent (current ranking)	Location	TV/ record
	August
26	Friday	5–1	No. 4 Michigan	Winston-Salem	1–0
28	Sunday	3–2 (OT)	No. 11 Iowa	Winston-Salem	2–0
	September
2	Friday	4–3	No. 7 Princeton	Home	3–0
4	Sunday	4–0	Penn	Home	4–0
9	Friday	7–0	California	Berkeley, Calif.	5–0
11	Sunday	6–0	Stanford	Stanford, Calif.	6–0
16	Friday	3–0	No. 12 Louisville	Louisville, Ky.	7–0, 1–0 ACC
23	Friday	2–0	No. 10 Wake Forest	Home	8–0, 2–0 ACC
	October
2	Sunday	6–3	No. 13 Liberty	Lynchburg, Va.	9–0
7	Friday	4–3	No. 20 Boston College	Newton, Mass.	10–0, 3–0 ACC
9	Sunday	3–0	No. 15 Connecticut	Storrs, Conn.	11–0
14	Friday	6–1	No. 8 Syracuse	Home	12–0, 4–0 ACC
21	Friday	3–1	No. 5 Virginia	Home	13–0, 5–0 ACC
23	Sunday	6–0	No. 9 Saint Joseph’s	Home	14–0, 6–0 ACC
29	Saturday	2–0	No. 25 Duke	Durham	15–0, 7–0 ACC
	November		ACC tournament
2	Wednesday	3–1	Semifinal: No. 8 Syracuse	Durham	16–0
4	Friday	3–2	Final: No. 5 Virginia	Durham	17–0
			NCAA tournament
11	Friday	5–1	First round vs. Delaware	Chapel Hill	18–0
13	Sunday	5–1	Second round vs. No. 9 St. Joseph’s	Chapel Hill	19–0
18	Friday	3–0	National semifinal vs. No. 6 Penn State	Storrs, Conn.	20–0
20	Sunday	1:30 p.m.	Championship vs. No. 2 Northwestern	Storrs, Conn.	ESPNU

Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics Communications