Covering Carolina sports beyond just men's basketball and football — with the most complete women's basketball coverage
Hubert Davis has made a point to hire a coaching staff of Carolina alums, figuring there are many advantages, particularly on the recruiting trail. Who better to convince an athlete to play and study at UNC than a coach who did just that? With recent hirings, more head coaches on campus will have that advantage.
With Coach Brian Kalbas’ Carolina women’s tennis team winning the NCAA title on Saturday, here is a look at the University of National Champions by the numbers.
Two individual national champions — wrestler Austin O’Connor and diver Aranza Vazquez — earned Athlete of the Year honors at the Rammy Awards on Monday night at Memorial Hall. The awards program recognizes excellence in Carolina athletics over the previous year. Women’s basketball center Malu Tshitenge of women’s basketball and football defensive lineman Kaimon Rucker were the hosts for the event, which was back at Memorial Hall for the first time since 2019.
Two clubs with a rich history — Chelsea and Wrexham — will meet on Wednesday, July 19, in the first international soccer competition in Kenan Stadium history and the first neutral-site meeting between the clubs.
While the unstoppable Carolina field hockey team held on to its No. 2 ranking, the UNC women’s soccer team fell a spot, and both cross country teams moved up in their polls. Coach Karen Shelton’s field hockey team is 7–0 after blanking No. 4 Louisville 3–0 Friday in its ACC opener. The Tar Heels, who have won their last four games by a combined score of 20–0, face No. 15 Wake Forest in their league home opener at 4 p.m. Friday (ACC Network Extra/ESPN3).
UCLA leapfrogged Carolina and Duke to take the No. 1 spot in the latest United Soccer Coaches women’s soccer Top 25 after winning on the road 2–1 last week against the Tar Heels and the Blue Devils, who meet Thursday. The Bruins (5–0–0), No. 3 last week, got all eight first-place votes, with UNC (5–1–0) and Duke (5–1–0) each slipping one spot, the Tar Heels to No. 2 and the Blue Devils to No. 3.
UNC remained the unanimous No. 1 team in the United Soccer Coaches women’s poll Tuesday and face challenging upcoming matches, while Carolina jumped 11 spots to No. 13 in the men’s poll. Coach Anson Dorrance’s women (4–0–0) got all eight first-place votes for the second consecutive season. The Tar Heels have outscored their opponents 13–0 in four games after outscoring its two exhibition opponents 7–0.
CHAPEL HILL — After an offseason with a lot of roster turnover, North Carolina will need the type of leadership fifth-year midfielder Milo Garvanian gave the Tar Heels in Thursday’s opener. Garvanian (top photo) notched a goal and an assist in the first half to lead No. 24 UNC to a dominant 2–1 victory at Dorrance Field over Air Force to remain undefeated in openers under 12th-year Coach Carlos Somoano.
Highlighted by the field hockey battle against fellow national power Iowa, North Carolina teams will appear on ACC Network this fall several times. There will be 12 Tar Heels games involving football, men’s soccer, women’s soccer, field hockey and volleyball on the network. That total will likely rise, with the football opener at 8 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 27 unlikely to be the only ACCN appearance for Coach Mack Brown’s team.
When it’s UNC’s turn during ACC Network School Takeovers on Tuesday, you’ll see 10 memorable victories in nine sports from the last school year that aired on an ESPN channel. You won’t see the Tar Heels’ Final Four victory over Duke because that aired on TBS, but you’ll get a chance to relive their 94–81 victory in Durham to ruin Coach Mike Krzyzewski’s last home game (6 p.m.), a softball no-hitter, an amazing football comeback and three ACC Tournament championship wins.
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