Tar Heel Trio Earns All-America Honors

Three Tar Heels have earned first-team All-America honors for the 2018 season, as announced Tuesday by the National Field Hockey Coaches Association. Seniors Ashley Hoffman and Eva van't Hoog earned the recognition for the second year in a row, and freshman Ern Matson was selected for the first time.

This year's honors bring the total number of Tar Heels earning first-team All-America selection to 39, on 65 occasions.

Hoffman and van't Hoog were honored for the second year in a row. They are the 18^th and 19^th players in program history to earn first-team honors more than once.

Matson becomes just the second freshman in school history to earn first-team honors. The other was Kelsey Kolojejchick, who earned a spot on the first team in 2009, which was the last time prior to this season that Carolina won the NCAA championship.

The Longstreth/NFHCA Division I All-America teams include 48 players, 16 each on the first, second and third teams. UNC had more players on the first team than any other school.

Hoffman, a back from Mohnton, Pa., earned NCAA Championship MVP honors as the Tar Heels won the title. A starter in all 96 games during her career, she was named ACC Championship MVP and ACC Defensive Player of the Year in her junior and senior years. She was recently named South Region Player of the Year for the second year in a row.

Matson, a forward from Chadds Ford, Pa., was named ACC Freshman of the Year and ACC Offensive Player of the Year in her first season of collegiate play. She led UNC with 20 goals and 19 assists for a team-best 59 points, which ranks fourth on the program's all-time single-season points list.

Van't Hoog, a midfielder from Den Haag, the Netherlands, was a four-year starter for the Tar Heels and earned first-team All-America honors in 2017. As a senior she scored six goals and added seven assists. She was named to the South Region first team for the second year in a row after being named to the second team in her freshman and sophomore years.

The 2018 Tar Heels finished undefeated at 23-0, claiming the program's seventh national championship and its 21^st conference championship.

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University of North Carolina Athletics

Players Mentioned

Ashley Hoffman

Eva van't Hoog

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