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The ACC came to expect high achievement from North Carolina when Erin Matson was the best field hockey player in the country, and those expectations haven’t changed with her head coaching debut ahead on Friday. In the preseason ACC poll released on Monday, UNC is the favorite to win its seventh consecutive league title after going undefeated last season and winning the program’s 10th national title season, the final year under Coach Karen Shelton.
CHAPEL HILL — UNC women’s soccer coach Anson Dorrance has no interest in the ACC adding Stanford and Cal, clearly backing Carolina’s reported vote against such a move. After the Tar Heels beat the Bears 3–1 in their home opener on Sunday, he bristled at any suggestion that the matchup could be a conference game in the future.
CHAPEL HILL — Carolina’s freshmen haven’t taken long to prove they’re worthy of being ranked the country’s No. 1 group in the class. Two freshmen, Melina Rebimbas and Olivia Thomas, scored their first college goals and another, Mia Oliaro, added an assist to lead No. 2 North Carolina to a 3–1 victory Sunday over Cal at Dorrance Field in its home opener.
Javonte Williams made his preseason debut for the Denver Broncos after his long recovery from right knee surgery and declared that he is 100%. His performance was productive for the number of snaps he got — 12 rushing yards on three carries and four catches for 18 yards — and just being back on the field for the Broncos’ 21–20 exhibition loss Saturday at San Francisco was huge.
The summer has been full of new experiences for Caleb Love, who first thought he would transfer from Carolina to Michigan and then joined former UNC assistant coach Steve Robinson at Arizona. Not only has Love played his first games in an Arizona uniform this month, although they were just exhibitions, he traveled outside of the country for the first time. The team went on a 10-day tour to Israel and the United Arab Emirates, playing in three exhibitions.
No. 2-ranked North Carolina couldn’t create enough quality chances, but the Tar Heels’ defense and goalkeeping stood tall in an opening-game 0–0 draw against No. 10 Penn State at State College, Pa., on a soggy field. While the Tar Heels held a 19–5 shot advantage, they only got two shots on goal compared to three for Penn State.
CHAPEL HILL — When Anson Dorrance knows his Carolina women’s soccer team is one of the best in the country, he has a history of putting together a schedule that challenges his players. He took that to extremes 31 years ago for a team that included Mia Hamm and Christine Lilly, stacking four games in four days on the West Coast.
North Carolina is ranked in the preseason AP Top 25 football poll for the third time in four seasons. The Tar Heels are No. 21 in the poll, released Monday, the lowest preseason poll appearances in Coach Mack Brown’s second stint in Chapel Hill after being ranked No. 18 in 2020 and No. 10 in 2021.
North Carolina’s incoming freshman baseball class is among the top 10 in the country and ranked the best in the ACC despite losing two recruits who signed with major-league organizations.
In his debut wearing an NFL uniform, Josh Downs made a case to start for the Indianapolis Colts and, at the very least, showed he’ll get on the field consistently in his rookie season. In his Colts’ 23–19 road exhibition loss to the Buffalo Bills on Saturday, he caught both passes targeted to him for 29 yards, including an 18-yard reception, and also showed his versatility on his 22nd birthday.
CHAPEL HILL — After last season ended in heartbreak, the No. 2-ranked Carolina women’s soccer team reloaded with the nation’s top freshman class, and the Tar Heels are poised to make another College Cup run with an “extra chip” on their shoulders. You won’t have to convince East Carolina, which could never get much going Saturday night at Dorrance Field. ACC favorite Carolina coasted to a 2–0 win in both teams’ second and final exhibition match, outshooting the Pirates 20–3.
Sam Howell looked good in his first game as an NFL starter, playing a little more than a quarter. Howell completed 9 of 12 passes for 77 yards and a touchdown for a 119.1 rating in 19 snaps over three drives as the Washington Commanders won their exhibition opener Friday at Cleveland 17–15.
No, the seven continents are not breaking apart and re-forming. But the nation’s big-time college sports conferences are, wrecking to shreds the Pac-12 and putting into doubt the long-term future of the Atlantic Coast Conference. What if football were to break away entirely, and become literally its own thing, with its own organizational and competitive structure?
For years, Mike Krzyzewski never scheduled true road non-conference games, only playing them in the defunct ACC/Big Ten Challenge. His Duke teams still faced tough opponents away from Cameron Indoor Stadium, but at neutral sites. Many wondered why Krzyzewski didn’t schedule road tests for his team before ACC play. Part of his strategy seemed to be to simulate an NCAA tournament game atmosphere.
Coach Hubert Davis’ reshaped team will get plenty of non-conference tests over a schedule North Carolina announced on Wednesday, including facing UConn, the reigning NCAA champion, and Kentucky in two of five neutral-site events.
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