Matson Repeats Sweep of ACC and National Honors

Another week, another sweep for Tar Heel sophomore Erin Matson.

In just the second week of the NCAA field hockey season, Matson has been named the Atlantic Coast Conference Offensive Player of the Week and the NFHCA National Offensive Player of the Week, each for the second time. The forward from Chadds Ford, Pa., had two goals and five assists last week as the top-ranked Tar Heels won twice to improve to 4-0.

Next up for the Tar Heels is a home game on Sunday against William & Mary. Game time at Karen Shelton Stadium is 3 p.m. and the action will air live on the ACC Network.

Against Princeton last Friday, Matson had a hand in all four goals the Tar Heels scored in a come-from-behind, 4-3 win. She assisted on a second-quarter goal by freshman Karlijn Goes, which was UNC's only score until the final 5:01 of the game. Matson scored at that point to pull UNC to 3-2. She then has a shot on goal that was illegally kept out of the cage by a defender, and UNC was awarded a penalty stroke, which senior Megan DuVernois made to tie the score at 3-3. In the final minute, Matson took a pass on the left side of the circle, got around one defender, and then sent a perfect cross to the front of the cage, where senior Marissa Creatore deflected in the game-winner with 24 seconds on the clock.

On Sunday in a 6-0 win over Penn, Matson scored the opening goal, which would prove to be the game-winner, in the 19th minute. She then assisted on UNC's next three goals, all in a five-minute span.

On the year, Matson has five goals and five assists for an ACC-best 15 points. She was honored on Sept. 3 and 4 for her play during UNC's opening weekend at the ACC-Big Ten Challenge.

Duke senior goalkeeper Sammi Steele earned ACC Defensive Player of the Week honors for the second week in a row and then shared the national honor with UConn keeper Cheyenne Sprecher.

Players Mentioned

Marissa Creatore

Megan DuVernois

Karlijn Goes

Erin Matson

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