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.
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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 in Winston-Salem | |||
| 28 | Friday | L, 2–1, OT | Michigan | 0–1 |
| 30 | Sunday | L, 3–2, OT | No. 9 Iowa | 0–2 |
| September | ||||
| 4 | Friday | W, 7–0 | Penn | 1–2 |
| 6 | Sunday | W, 1–0, OT (3–2 shootout) | No. 8 Princeton | 2–2 |
| 11 | Friday | L, 5–4, OT | Old Dominion | 2–3 |
| 13 | Sunday | W, 2–1 | at Richmond | 3–3 |
| 20 | Sunday | L, 2–1 | vs. No. 19 Virginia | 3–4, 0–1 ACC |
| 25 | Friday | W, 8–1 | at Stanford | 4–4, 1–1 |
| 27 | Sunday | W, 4–0 | at No. 17 California | 5–4, 2–1 |
| October | ||||
| 2 | Friday | W, 3–0 | at Louisville | 6–4, 3–1 |
| 9 | Friday | W, 8–0. | at Saint Joseph’s | 7–4 |
| 11 | Sunday | L, 2–1 | at No. 12 Liberty | 7–5 |
| 16 | Friday | W, 4–0 | vs. Boston College | 8–5, 4–1 |
| 18 | Sunday | W, 2–1 | vs. No. 13 Syracuse | 9–5, 5–1 |
| 23 | Friday | L, 4–3 | vs. No. 7 Wake Forest | 9–6, 5–2 |
| 25 | Sunday | W, 5–0 | at Appalachian State | 10–6 |
| 30 | Friday | 6 p.m. | at No. 6 Duke | ACCN |
| November | ACC tournament | |||
| 3–6 | Tue.–Fri | At Karen Shelton Stadium | ACCN | |
| NCAA tournament | ||||
| 13 | Friday | TBA | First round Campus sites | |
| 15 | Sunday | TBA | Second round Campus sites | |
| 20 | Friday | TBA | National semifinals Louisville | |
| 23 | Sunday | TBA | Championship Louisville |
Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics Communications
Blessings for the team.