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The University of National Champions has earned another high finish in the all-sports Learfield Directors’ Cup competition. Carolina finished fourth, the Tar Heels’ best finish since 2009, matching their 2020–21 finish, led by NCAA titles in women’s soccer and women’s lacrosse.
As the baseball team begins its pursuit on Friday of a second consecutive trip to the College World Series, it has already been a dominant school year for North Carolina athletics, continuing years of consistent excellence.
CHAPEL HILL — The stakes weren’t as high as for North Carolina’s previous home field hockey match at Karen Shelton Stadium 309 days earlier, but the expectations are. The No. 2 Tar Heels finally played their home opener Friday on a sun-drenched afternoon, dominated possession and brought consistent offensive pressure to thump No. 15 Syracuse 5–0 in a packed stadium in their ACC opener.
North Carolina has four top-10 teams with the latest polls. Coach Erin Matson’s two-time reigning NCAA champion field hockey team leads the way. The Tar Heels (4–0), who play No. 15 Syracuse (4–1) in their home opener at 5 p.m. Friday (ESPN3), remain No. 2 in the NFHCA Top 25.
No Tar Heels team has lost since athletics resumed in August. Carolina has been unbeatable in 16 events over seven sports, with five teams ranked.
North Carolina’s two football coordinators have the top two base salaries of any employee on the UNC campus, according to the UNC Salary Information Database. The database, updated on June 30, shows that Carolina’s defensive coordinator Geoff Collins (top photo) and offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey are the only employees on the Chapel Hill campus earning a base salary of more than $1 million.
Set your DVRs! It will be all Tar Heels victories on ACC Network on Friday topped by the thrilling victory over Northwestern in the NCAA field hockey championship game and RJ Davis’ Smith Center-record 42 points in a men’s basketball victory over Miami.
North Carolina’s tradition of overall athletics excellence continued as the Tar Heels earned their fifth consecutive top-10 finish in the Learfield Directors’ Cup standings. UNC’s run to the College World Series and fourth consecutive top-five finish in the NCAA Men’s Golf Championships helped the Tar Heels finish seventh for the eighth top-10 finish in the last nine seasons.
North Carolina finished the ACC’s last school year as a 15-school conference with six conference titles, the most of any school in the league, ending a 44-year drought in fencing and a 39-year drought in men’s cross country.
Carolina honored the best athletes and performances of the last year at the annual Rammys on Monday night. The top male and female athletes were no surprise, as All-American guard R.J. Davis and four-time NCAA championship diver Aranza Vazquez took home the top honors.
As part of its coverage of the West Regionals in Los Angeles, WFMY, the CBS affiliate in the Triad, did a story on R.L. Bynum and Tar Heel Tribune.
CHAPEL HILL — For the 11th time in North Carolina program history and the second year in a row, the Tar Heels are NCAA field hockey national champions. In UNC’s first season under 23-year-old head coach Erin Matson, sophomore forward Ryleigh Heck buried a stroke in the sixth round to propel UNC to win the shootout 3–2 and the game 2–1 over Northwestern, after 80 minutes and two overtimes, before a standing-room-only crowd at Karen Shelton Stadium.
In Erin Matson’s first season as the youngest Division I head coach in any sport, North Carolina is one win away from its 11th NCAA title and the Tar Heels’ second in a row. The No. 1 Tar Heels advanced with a 2–0 victory over No. 5-ranked Virginia in the NCAA tournament semifinals at Karen Shelton Stadium in Chapel Hill after the teams split a pair of earlier meetings.
In the first round of the NCAA tournament, top-seeded North Carolina looked like the dominant field hockey program that it has been for years. Paityn Wirth scored two goals and Katie Dixon added a goal and an assist as the Tar Heels rolled to 6–1 victory Friday afternoon over William & Mary at Karen Shelton Stadium.
Two Carolina women’s teams that have won multiple national championships — field hockey and soccer — fell Tuesday from No. 1 to No. 3, and the Tar Heels slipped in the men’s soccer poll.
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