Tar Heels Set To Face BC for 2019 ACC Crown

NEWTON, Mass. – North Carolina will play for its third consecutive Atlantic Coast Conference field hockey title and the 22nd tournament championship in program history on Sunday when the top-ranked Tar Heels take on No. 9 Boston College on the Eagles' home turf. Game time at Newton Field Hockey Complex in Newton, Mass., is 11 a.m. and the game will be televised live by the ACC Network.

After receiving a first-round bye, UNC opened play Friday in the semifinals with a 3-1 win over No. 6 Louisville. BC, which is making its first-ever championship game appearance, beat Wake Forest 2-0 in the quarterfinals and Virginia 1-0 in overtime in the semis, becoming the first team to advance to the final with two shutout wins.

The Tar Heels (18-0) and Eagles (13-6) played their regular-season game just over two weeks ago, with UNC earning a come-from-behind win in Chapel Hill, 3-2 on Oct. 25. Carolina scored three times in the fourth quarter, with Yentl Leemans' gamewinner coming off a penalty corner with 2:32 remaining in regulation. This is the teams' third meeting in ACC postseason play. UNC has won the previous two, most recently in the 2015 semifinals.

The Tar Heels are the two-time defending ACC Champion (2017, 2018) and also won in 2015, giving them three of the past four titles.

Quick Hits
• UNC is playing for the program's third ACC title in a row, fourth in five years, and 22nd overall.
• The Tar Heels are 18-2 all-time against BC, including a 3-2 win on Oct. 25 in Chapel Hill.
• Both leading scorer Erin Matson and starting goalkeeper Amanda Hendry missed the season's first matchup with BC. Matson was in India with the U.S. National Team and Hendry was sidelined under concussion protocol.
• The top two seeds (No. 1 UNC and No. 2 BC) are meeting in the title game for the first time since 2010.
• UNC won the 2007 ACC Championship on BC's field, beating Wake Forest 4-3 in OT in the championship game. UNC also reached the final in Newton in 2013 but fell to Maryland.
• For the second year in a row, Tar Heels swept the ACC's player of the year honors, with senior Yentl Leemans named Defensive Player of the Year and sophomore Erin Matson named Offensive Player of the Year. It marked the fourth year in a row a UNC player has won the defensive honor and the second year in a row Matson has won the offensive award.
• Five Tar Heels were named All-ACC, with Leemans and Matson on the first team and senior forward Marissa Creatore, senior forward Catherine Hayden and junior goalkeeper Amanda Hendry on the second team.
• Matson rejoined the team on Monday after missing the last three games of the regular season while she was in India competing in an Olympic Qualifier with the U.S. National Team. The U.S. and India split the two-game series, but India earned the Olympic berth based on goal differential.
• The Tar Heels went 3-0 without Matson, but with no room to spare. Each win came by a one-goal margin.
• UNC has eight seniors this season: Marissa Creatore, Megan DuVernois, Feline Guenther, Alex Halpin, Catherine Hayden, Yentl Leemans, Ellen Payne and Ali Rushton. All were in the starting lineup for Senior Day (vs. Saint Joseph's), although Rushton, who is rehabbing an ACL tear, played for only a minute before subbing out. Seniors accounted for all of the team's goals and assists in the 3-2 win, with Guenther scoring her first two goals of the fall, including the gamewinner in double OT.
• With the win over Boston College on Oct. 25, the Tar Heels completed back-to-back undefeated ACC seasons for the first time since the league expanded to seven teams in 2013. As the ACC regular-season champion, UNC earned a first-round tournament bye.
• Both of UNC's primary goalkeepers, junior Amanda Hendry and senior Alex Halpin, have earned ACC Defensive Player of the Week honors this fall. Hendry is the regular starter and has won the honor twice, and Halpin earned it on Oct. 29 after starting in Hendry's place for the BC and ODU games.
• UNC has won 41 games in a row, 23 last season and 18 this year, to extend its ACC record for consecutive wins.
• The previous school record for consecutive wins was 29, including the undefeated 1995 season (24-0) and the first five games of 1996, when the Tar Heels lost their sixth game (vs. ODU) but went on to win another NCAA title. The NCAA record for consecutive wins is 66 (1990-93).
• The Tar Heels have not trailed this season in a game in which they've scored first. UNC has trailed in five games – Michigan, Iowa, Princeton, Albany and Boston College – and in each of those the opponent scored first.
• Sophomore Erin Matson was named national and ACC offensive player of the week in back-to-back weeks to open the season. She's the first player ever to win both ACC and national honors in consecutive weeks. She also won both honors in the first week of October. She has won the ACC honor five times this fall and has won the national honor three times.
• Yentl Leemans assisted on five of UNC's six goals during the opening weekend in Michigan. Although she's been an assist leader throughout her two years at UNC (and currently is tied for the team lead with 13), she hadn't scored a goal until the game at UVa on Sept. 27. She also scored a goal in the game at Albany then had the gamewinner against Boston College.
• Matson had hat tricks in back-to-back games in August, one wearing red, white and blue, and one wearing Carolina blue. On Aug. 9, she led the U.S. to a 5-1 win over Chile in the Pan Am Games bronze medal match in Peru. On Aug. 30, she led UNC to a 4-2 win in the Tar Heels' season opener at No. 7 Michigan.
• The 2019 season is UNC's second in Karen Shelton Stadium. It was dedicated on Oct. 6, 2018 and is the first Carolina athletic playing facility to be named in honor of a woman.

UNC in the ACC Tournament
• UNC is playing for its 22nd title, more than any other conference team. No other current conference school has won more than four championships (Wake Forest). Former member Maryland won 10 before moving to the Big Ten.
• The Tar Heels are 54-15 all-time in ACC Tournament play.
• UNC is 21-4 in championship games.
• UNC has won its last six ACC Tournament games and 11 of the past 12.
• UNC is 2-0 against BC in ACC Tournament play, with the previous matchups coming in 2005 (UNC 2-1 in 1st round in College Park, Md.) and 2015 (UNC 3-2 in semifinal in Charlottesville, Va.)
• UNC is the two-time defending conference champion. The last time the Tar Heels won three titles in a row was during a five-title stretch from 1993 to 1997.
• The last ACC team to win three in a row was Maryland (2008-10).
• UNC is 5-1 in ACC Tournament games played at BC.
2013: UNC went 2-1, falling to Maryland 2-0 in the title game.
2007: UNC went 2-0 to win the title, beating Wake Forest in OT in the championship
2019: UNC is 1-0 after Friday's 3-1 win over Louisville

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Marissa Creatore

Megan DuVernois

Feline Guenther

Alex Halpin

Catherine Hayden

Amanda Hendry

Yentl Leemans

Erin Matson

Ellen Payne

Ali Rushton

Scoreboard Slider

University of North Carolina Athletics