By R.L. Bynum

North Carolina is the only undefeated Division I field hockey team in the country and is still No. 1, but it still isn’t a unanimous pick in the latest NFHCA national coaches poll.

The Tar Heels (9–0, 2–0 ACC) are top-ranked for the second consecutive week with 37 of the 40 first-place votes after getting 35 the week before. Maryland (11–1) moved up two spots to No. 2 but has no first-place votes, with No. 3 Northwestern (10–2) getting two and No. 4 Iowa (9–2) getting one.

In Carolina’s only game last week, it rolled to a 6–3 road victory over Liberty, which fell two spots to No. 16. Fifth-year forward Erin Matson notched her fourth career four-goal game in the match to push her career points total to 300, six shy of the ACC record.

Matson is the ACC’s co-offensive player of the week with Virginia’s Daniela Mendez-Trendler.

Carolina plays two ranked teams on the road this weekend, visiting No. 19 Boston College (5–6, 1–1) on Friday and No. 12 Connecticut (7–3) on Sunday.

UNC also is the only ACC team unbeaten in league play, with a half-game lead over No. 11 Syracuse (10–2, 2–1) and No. 6 Virginia (7–3, 2–1).

Other ACC teams in the poll are No. 14 Wake Forest (8–3, 1–1) and No. 25 Duke (4–7, 0–2).

Top 25

Rank	School	Record	Points (1st-place votes)	Previous rank	Change
1	North Carolina	9-0	997 (37)	1	―
2	Maryland	11-1	934	4	▲ 2
3	Northwestern	10-2	906 (2)	2	▼ 1
4	University of Iowa	9-2	849 (1)	3	▼ 1
5	Penn State	9-2	829	6	▲ 1
6	Virginia	7-2	769	7	▲ 1
7	Louisville	9-2	719	5	▼ 2
8	Princeton	7-4	666	9	▲ 1
9	Saint Joseph’s	8-3	647	10	▲ 1
10	Michigan	6-4	624	8	▼ 2
11	Syracuse	10-2	540	13	▲ 2
12	Connecticut	7-3	533	11	▼ 1
13	Old Dominion	7-2	525	12	▼ 1
14	Wake Forest	8-3	489	17	▲ 3
15	Harvard	7-3	409	15	―
16	Liberty	7-4	392	14	▼ 2
17	James Madison	7-4	382	18	▲ 1
18	Massachusetts, Amherst	9-2	353	20	▲ 2
19	Boston College	5-6	269	16	▼ 3
20	William and Mary	7-4	247	19	▼ 1
21	Albany	8-3	193	Unranked	―
22	Maine	8-3	135	23	▲ 1
23	Rutgers	6-6	131	21	▼ 2
24	Ohio State	5-5	126	24	―
25	Duke	4-7	83	22	▼ 3

Date	Month/day	Time/ score	Opponent/event (current ranking)	Record/ TV
	August		ACC/Big Ten Challenge
30	Friday	W, 4–1	at No. 8 Michigan	1–0
	September
1	Sunday	W, 2–1	vs. No. 7 Iowa in Ann Arbor, Mich.	2–0
			ACC-Ivy League Conference Crossover Louisville, Ky.
6	Friday	W, 5–0	Penn	3–0
8	Sunday	W, 2–0	No. 16 Princeton	4–0
			——————————
20	Friday	W, 5–0	vs. No. 15 Syracuse	5–0, 1–0 ACC
22	Sunday	W, 7–0	at No. 1`4` Liberty	6–0
	October
4	Friday	W, 3–0	at Stanford	7–0, 2-0
6	Sunday	W, 3–1	at Cal	8–0, 3-0
11	Friday	W, 2–1	at No. 13 Louisville	9–0, 4-0
13	Sunday	Noon	at Appalachian State	ESPN3
18	Friday	6 p.m.	vs. Wake Forest	ACCN
20	Sunday	1 p.m.	vs. No. 18 Old Dominion	ESPN3
25	Friday	5 p.m.	vs. No. 3 Virginia	ESPN3
27	Sunday	Noon	vs. No. 11 Boston College	ACCN
	November
1	Friday	6 p.m.	at No. 9 Duke	ACCN
			ACC tournament at Wake Forest
5	Tuesday	TBA	Quarterfinals	ACCN
6	Wednesday	TBA	Semfinals	ACCN
8	Semifinals	TBA	Championship	ACCN
			NCAA tournament
15	Friday	TBA	First round Campus sites
17	Sunday	TBA	Second round Campus sites
22	Friday	TBA	National semifinals Ann Arbor, Mich.
24	Sunday	TBA	Championship Ann Arbor, Mich.