By R.L. Bynum

From the last season’s final September poll until Erin Matson led North Carolina to the field hockey national championship, the Tar Heels were No. 1 in the NFHCA National Coaches Poll.

Matson will begin her head coaching career with her team back in the same spot as UNC tops the preseason poll, released on Tuesday.

Carolina garnered 955 poll points and 29 first-place votes, followed by Northwestern with 914 and 13. Carolina was No. 2 in the first four polls last season, but proved any doubters wrong by going 21–0 and beating Northwestern 2–1 in the national championship game.

Matson’s first two games as head coach won’t be easy, and the entire regular season schedule is challenging.

The No. 1 Tar Heels open at 8:30 Friday night at Karen Shelton Stadium against No. 4 Michigan (ACC Network) in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge, then take on No. 7 Iowa at 1 p.m. Sunday in the final game of the Challenge.

UNC beat both teams last season in the Challenge when it was played in Winston-Salem, topping Michigan 5–1 and Iowa 3–2 in overtime.

The Tar Heels face five other top-10 teams this season, with 12 ranked teams on their schedule.

All seven ACC teams are in the poll: No. 6 Virginia, No. 8 Syracuse, No. 9 Louisville, No. 12 Wake Forest, No. 17 Boston College and No. 20 Duke.

---

The Tar Heel Tribune Facebook group moved to a new location. Follow the page at this link so that you don’t miss any UNC sports coverage.

---

---

Top 20 poll

Rank	Team	Poll points (1st-place votes
1	North Carolina	955 (29)
2	Northwestern	914 (13)
3	Maryland	871 (6)
4	Michigan	751 (1)
5	Penn State	719 (1)
6	Virginia	676 (1)
7	Iowa	671 (0)
8	Syracuse	589 (0)
9	Louisville	520 (0)
10	Princeton	485 (0)
11	Saint Joseph’s	432 (0)
12	Wake Forest	431 (0)
13	Harvard	398 (0)
14	Liberty	361 (0)
15	Connecticut	309 (0)
16	Rutgers	301 (0)
17	Boston College	285 (0)
18	Old Dominion	193 (0)
19	Albany	188 (0)
20	Duke	103 (0)

---

UNC schedule

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. 14 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.

Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics Communications