Senior Spotlight: Morgan Goetz

In the final days of the 2018 season, as the top-ranked Tar Heels prepare to play in the NCAA semifinals on Friday and hopefully move on to the championship game on Sunday, GoHeels.com will spotlight the seniors ending their UNC careers this weekend. Read on for more on Morgan Goetz, a biomedical engineering major from Cary, N.C.

Milledge Armes
UNC Athletic Communications

            Morgan Goetz has been a leader for the Tar Heels on and off the field. When asked about her key to being a successful student-athlete, she said, "Separating school and sport. When postseason picks up, it is really difficult to turn off field hockey brain and turn off preparing for the next game and dive into school because all you want do is focus on winning a really big title."

            Despite those challenges, Goetz has excelled in the classroom. She has received numerous accolades for her hard work such NFHCA National Academic Squad and ACC Academic Honor Roll every year during her career at Carolina, and most recently an invitation to be inducted into Phi Beta Kappa . However, Goetz would say that they were not her biggest achievements.

            When asked about her proudest academic accolade, she referenced being named to the 2017 All-ACC Academic Team, which takes into account both athletic and academic achievements. "That was my first sports recognized academic award because all the other ones have been from my GPA," she said. "That award really looked at what you add to the team and what you add to school."

            Goetz has been a part of a talented roster during her Carolina career and contributor to a winning program. From this team's success, her most memorable moment was winning the 2017 ACC Championship. "We came in as a fifth seed and played Virginia in the second round, who was the first seed, and we beat them 4-0," she said. "It was an incredible moment. We then played Louisville at home to beat them for the ACC Championship. It took a lot of grit and guts."

            Being a student athlete and excelling at a high level is not easy. Goetz describes how her coaches and professors have supported her to be able to thrive in both environments. "My coaches are awesome," she said. "They are always supporting us in school. They know that we are students and that is a huge part of our life. A tangible example is last semester I had to take a class that ended later than what our practice time usually would be, and some others had conflicts too. Coach worked it out where she moved back practice so we could take that class. She is always really looking out for us with school. Professors have been great, especially my biomedical engineering professors. They understand that I am an athlete and definitely help me out, especially in postseason. They still hold me to a high standard of being a student, but they are understanding."

            On top of being a student at Carolina and a contributor to the field hockey team, Goetz also assists with the team's Vs. Cancer partnership, which she took on her sophomore year. She has gained a passion for fighting this cause by witnessing her older sister's fight with cancer. "I know cancer impacts so many people," she said. "Whether through loved ones or actually patients, pediatric cancer is so demoralizing. Kids should never be sick and should never be having to fight for their life. I think anyway that we can contribute to making a cure more accessible and possible for these kids. My sister had cancer when she was 13 years old, so I understand how much it impacts a family and how much it impacts a kids at that age. It is a really important cause for me."
            Goetz, winner of the team's Marjorie Moses Schwab Unsung Hero Award in 2017, has made an indelible impact at UNC, on and off the field.

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