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.

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/event (current ranking)	Location	Record/ TV
	August		ACC/Big Ten Challenge
25	Friday	W, 3–2	No. 16 Michigan	Home	1–0
27	Sunday	L, 3–2 (OT)	No. 8 Iowa	Home	1–1
	September		ACC/Ivy Challenge
1	Friday	W, 4–0	Penn	Philadelphia	2–1
3	Sunday	W, 2–1 (OT)	Princeton	Philadelphia	3–1
			——————————
10	Sunday	W, 2–1	No. 17 Old Dominion	Norfolk, Va.	4–1
15	Friday	W, 2–0	No. 10 Louisville	Home	5–1, 1–0 ACC
22	Friday	W, 3–0	Wake Forest	Winston-Salem	6–1, 2–0 ACC
24	Sunday	W, 6–1	Appalachian State	Home	7–1
	October
1	Sunday	W, 4–1	No. 13 Saint Joseph’s	Philadelphia	8–1
6	Friday	W, 3–1	No. 14 Boston College	Home	9–1, 3–0 ACC
8	Sunday	L, 2–1 (OT)	No. 7 Liberty	Home	9–2
13	Friday	W, 4–1	No. 11 Syracuse	Syracuse	10–2, 4–1 ACC
15	Sunday	W, 4–3	No. 18 Albany	Albany, N.Y.	11–2
20	Friday	L, 3–2	No. 5 Virginia	Charlottesville	11–3, 4–1 ACC
27	Friday	W, 2–1	No. 3 Duke	Home	12–3, 5–1 ACC
	November		ACC tournament
1	Wednesday	W, 3–2	Semifinals: No. 4 Virginia	Charlottesville	13–3
4	Friday	W, 2–0	Final: No. 3 Duke	Charlottesville	14–3
			NCAA tournament Link to bracket
10	Friday	W, 6–1	First round: William & Mary	Chapel Hill	15–3
12	Sunday	W, 4–2	Second round: No. 9 Harvard	Chapel Hill	16–3
17	Friday	W, 2–0	National semifinal: No. 5 Virginia	Chapel Hill	17–3
19	Sunday	W, 2–1, 2 OTs (UNC wins shootout 3–2)	Championship: No. 2 Northwestern	Chapel Hill	18–3