Top-Ranked Tar Heels Return To Familiar Territory Friday

Friday, September 21

Durham, N.C.

6:00 PM

North Carolina

Duke

Senior Eva van't Hoog and the Tar Heels play at Duke on Friday.

Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati

September 20, 2018 | Field Hockey

Game Notes (pdf)

By: UNC Athletic Communications

The top-ranked North Carolina field hockey team travels a familiar path to Durham Friday for an Atlantic Coast Conference matchup with No. 4 Duke. Game time at Williams Field at Jack Katz Stadium is 6 p.m. and there is no charge for admission.

UNC heads into the meeting 7-0 (1-0 ACC) and the Blue Devils are 6-2 (1-0).

This time last year, Duke's home field was also home to the Tar Heels: UNC played all of its home games in 2017 at the Blue Devils' facility and also practiced there while the program's new stadium was under construction. This will be the team's first trip over since spring training wrapped up last April.

The Tar Heels have been idle for 10 days, since a 6-0 win over Appalachian State on Sept. 11. Two home games scheduled for last weekend were postponed by weather from Hurricane Florence. One has been rescheduled for next week: UNC will host Virginia on Sept. 26 at noon. The other, against James Madison, has not yet been rescheduled.

At 7-0, Carolina is off to its best start since 2013, when the Tar Heels opened 8-0 before falling to Duke on Sept. 27, 3-2 in penalty strokes.

The Blue Devils won last year's matchup, on Oct. 20 in Durham. The 3-2 Duke win was technically UNC's home game and was also Senior Night for Carolina's lone senior, Gab Major, now a Tar Heel student assistant coach.

UNC's last win over Duke in Durham was during the 2014 season, when the Tar Heels won 1-0 on Oct. 17.

Friday's game is the first of two regular-season UNC-Duke matchups this year. The teams will also play a non-conference game Oct. 21 in Chapel Hill.