University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels Open 2011 Season Aug. 27 At Michigan
August 4, 2011 | Field Hockey
Aug. 4, 2011
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - The North Carolina field hockey team, NCAA runner-up in 2010, will play a challenging slate of Atlantic Coast Conference and non-conference games in 2011, kicking off the season in late August at the ACC-Big Ten Challenge. For the 10th year in a row, UNC will open against Michigan, on Aug. 27 in Ann Arbor, Mich., then face Iowa the following day. Wake Forest is the fourth team in the event.
Also highlighting the schedule is an Oct. 22 game with Maryland that will air live on ESPN3.com. Carolina and Maryland have met in the last two NCAA title games, with UNC winning in 2009 and the Terrapins in 2010.
The Tar Heels will play 19 regular-season games, 11 of them in Chapel Hill, and a total of seven matchups with teams that reached the NCAA tournament last season.
"Our theory on scheduling doesn't change from year to year," said UNC coach Karen Shelton, who is heading into her 31st season at the program's helm. "We want to play a strong schedule that will challenge us early, help us improve throughout the season, and prepare us well for the postseason. I believe this schedule will accomplish those goals."
The Tar Heels open the conference season on Sept. 24 with a home game against Duke. (UNC and Wake Forest will continue their home-and-home series, but only one game each season counts toward the ACC standings. This year, that game is the Sept. 30 game in Winston-Salem. The UNC-WFU matchup on Sept. 18 in Chapel Hill is a non-conference game.)
Some new additions to the schedule are Syracuse (Sept. 2 in Chapel Hill), Delaware (Sept. 9 in Newark, Del.) and Lafayette (Sept. 11 at Delaware). UNC and Syracuse have met twice, but not since 1996. The Tar Heels and Blue Hens also have had two previous meetings. The matchup with Lafayette will be the teams' first. Additionally, the Tar Heels will play a home-and-home with Michigan for the first time, with the Wolverines traveling to Chapel Hill on Oct. 23 for the final home game of the season. The Tar Heels will also continue home-and-home series with Old Dominion and Wake Forest.
This year's ACC tournament is set for Nov. 3, 4 and 6 in College Park, Md. Louisville will host the final four, Nov. 18 and 20 at Trager Stadium.
UNC finished the 2010 season 22-3, with all three losses coming to Maryland, the eventual NCAA champion. The host Terrapins beat the Tar Heels 3-2 in double overtime in the national title game. Carolina has reached the championship game in three of the last four seasons, winning titles in 2007 and 2009.
