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CHAPEL HILL — Still grieving about Monday’s tragic campus shooting and processing the week’s events, the No. 4 North Carolina women’s soccer team tried to find joy on the pitch the evening after classes resumed. If only for two hours, Thursday night’s match against Gardner-Webb offered the Tar Heels players a distraction from the mental fatigue of what happened. Most of the players wore black wristbands in memory of professor Zijie Yan.
Leaky Black got the royal treatment in Charlotte. As part of a Charlotte FC tradition, the Major League Soccer team has a pregame coronation before each match. The guest of honor sits on a throne in the supporter’s section of the stadium the team shares with the Carolina Panthers after being crowned.
Tyler Hansbrough is one of five who will be inducted in Chicago on Wednesday night into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. The four-time first-team All-American at UNC will enter the Hall with legendary Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, former Duke star Johnny Dawkins, longtime Division II Jefferson coach Herb Magee and late talent scout Tom Konchalski.
NFL teams waived seven former UNC players in the last week, many on Tuesday when rosters had to be trimmed to 53 players ahead of season openers the weekend after next. Rookie wide receiver Antoine Green was among those making the cut after an impressive final exhibition game for the Detroit Lions.
Anybody who has watched North Carolina’s women’s soccer team this season knows that the Tar Heels, who fell one spot in the United Soccer Coaches national poll to No. 4, have performed as well as any team in the country defensively, and it’s showing in the weekly ACC awards. UNC (2–0–2), which has only allowed one goal in four games, slipped in the poll after playing Wisconsin to a scoreless draw on Thursday before blowing out USC 4–0 Sunday. The Trojans moved up five spots to No. 19.
As ACC adds Stanford and Cal beginning in the 2024–25 school year, the first concern should be for the athletes who must routinely take cross-country flights while also being students. The travel sounds daunting because it is. But there are scheduling models that could make it easier.
With no news yet on Carolina’s appeal to the NCAA on Tez Walker’s status, Mack Brown says his coaching staff is preparing two game plans. With Walker, the Tar Heels would have one of the best wide receivers in the country with game-changing ability. UNC must adjust its approach if the Kent State transfer can’t play in Saturday’s 7:30 opener in Charlotte against South Carolina (ABC).
The Athletic came out with its preseason Top 25 men’s basketball rankings Monday morning, with Kansas atop the list, with Marquette No. 2 and Duke No. 3. When it came to assessing the rebuilt North Carolina team, writers CJ Moore and Sam Vecenie, rated the Tar Heels No. 18.
CHAPEL HILL — No. 3 Carolina continued its unyielding defensive ways and turned up the offense to match Sunday, thanks to one of the heralded members of the Tar Heels’ No. 1-ranked freshman class. Midfielder Evelyn Shores, playing in only her second game since recovering from an injury, came off the bench to earn a brace with two second-half goals in less than 2½ minutes and spark the Tar Heels’ 4–0 rout of No. 24 USC on a hot afternoon at Dorrance Field.
NEW YORK — The ball flew long from her opponent, and North Carolina senior Fiona Crawley grasped her mouth and covered it, which is not something the loquacious, energetic Crawley does much at all. The bundle of 24–7 energy and enthusiasm walked over to her towel at the back of Court 6 here at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, fist-bumped a man in a Carolina cap, and slowly walked to the net, still seeming unsure if she could believe what she had just done.
CHAPEL HILL — The transition from Erin Matson, one the best college field hockey players in the sport’s history, to Coach Erin is complete. As she leads many of her former teammates — including one who is older — the team calls the 23-year-old first-year head coach Erin. But there’s plenty of respect for Matson, whose top-ranked team beat No. 4 Michigan 3–2 Friday night in her coaching debut at Karen Shelton Stadium in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge before a record crowd.
CHAPEL HILL — The scoring chances kept coming for No. 3 Carolina down the stretch. But a player wearing light blue denied the Tar Heels repeatedly. The Tar Heels played well and were unrelenting on defense. But Wisconsin fifth-year goalkeeper Erin McKinney, clad in shorts and a jersey that were light blue, made terrific saves all afternoon as the teams played to a scoreless draw on a steamy Thursday afternoon at Dorrance Field.
North Carolina fell one spot to No. 3 in the latest United Soccer Coaches women’s Top 25 on Tuesday, but star freshman center back Savy King in ACC Defensive Player of the Week. The Tar Heels (1–0–1) played Penn State (1–0–1) to a scoreless draw Thursday before knocking off Cal 3–1 in their home opener on Sunday. The Nittany Lions moved up two spots to No. 8.
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.
Sam Howell turned in another efficient performance Monday in his first exhibition game appearance since Washington Commanders coach Ron Rivera officially named the second-year quarterback his starter. His big night was topped when he connected with former UNC teammate Dyami Brown for one of two touchdown passes he threw in the final 1:49 of the first half.
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