Entering Erin Matson’s third season as head coach, the North Carolina field hockey team aims for its ninth straight conference championship.
Entering Erin Matson’s third season as head coach, the North Carolina field hockey team will look to continue its ACC dominance in search of a ninth straight conference championship. Making it back to the national championship game after losing in the NCAA semifinals last season is a rightful goal given the programs’s history and expectations year in and year out.
After posting a 20-1 record in 2024 and the top seed in the NCAA tournament, UNC looks poised to do it again with all three of its leading scorers returning from last season. This includes junior Charly Bruder, who led the team in goals with 27, Ryleigh Heck, who had 15 goals to go along with a team-high 15 assists, and junior Sanne Hak, who tallied nine goals and seven assists.
“It’s really exciting when you have players like them on your team, but also leaders and people like them on your team,” Matson said on the Inside Carolina preview show. “I could go on and on about a lot of players, but those guys will definitely stand out.”
Seven starters will also return to the field alongside the trio. This will also be the final year of eligibility for the last of Matson’s former teammates from her 2022 senior season as a player at North Carolina.
Matson talked about this dynamic in depth with Tommy Ashley and Grace Nugent on the Inside Carolina podcast. She noted how the jump from teammate to coach was uncanny, but the slow phasing out of her teammate friends with recruits has been a year-by-year process, which takes time.
“Phase one was basically everybody except one or two, who I didn’t play with,” Matson said. “So I was coaching my roommates, my best friends, the people I was on Franklin Street with — like everybody. And that’s phase one.
“Now we’re kind of in phase two, and there’s been evolution since between both of those because right now it’s kind of half and half. There’s still a class that I’ve played with, there’s a class that wasn’t my recruits… and then there’s this fall, my first recruiting class.”
The Tar Heels did have to replace key graduating pieces like starting goalkeeper Abigail Taylor, who played in all 21 games and made 41 saves in her senior year. She will be replaced by Charley Vandenstockt, who appeared in eight games as a backup last season. UNC also added Merritt Skubisz, a true freshman goalie who Matson believes is the best keeper in her class.
Out of the portal, UNC added forward Kara Heck, sister of Ryleigh, for her final year of eligibility. Kara, who began her career at Boston College in 2021, transferred to Rutgers last season, where she scored six goals and had two assists.
The Tar Heels also added Virginia transfer Daniela Mendez-Trendler, who led the Cavaliers in scoring last season with eight goals.
“I’m extremely excited about the girls joining the program this year,” Matson said. “Not just by how they carry themselves and the value they add off the field, but also really excited to see what they’re going to do in between the lines.”
UNC will open its season with the ACC-Big Ten Challenge, where it will face Michigan on Aug. 29 and Iowa on Aug. 31 in Iowa City, Iowa. The Tar Heels play seven home games during the regular season, with a four-game home stretch against App State, Liberty, California, and Stanford slated for the middle of September.
Category: General Sports
