Carolina Softball Announces 2022 Schedule

CHAPEL HILL – Head softball coach Donna J. Papa has announced Carolina's full 2022 schedule.

"We have an exciting and challenging schedule for the 2022 season," Papa said. "I love it for our team. We will be challenged to compete every week of our season, which is what our team wants. That's why you play a solid schedule. Our goal is to put ourselves in a position to go deep in the ACC and get back into the NCAA tournament."

UNC is scheduled to play 22 games at Anderson Softball Stadium, highlighted by four ACC home series.

The full-season slate features 13 teams who played in the 2021 NCAA Tournament (George Washington, Missouri, Georgia, Michigan, Villanova, Oregon, UNCG, Liberty, Virginia Tech, Clemson, Campbell, Florida State, Notre Dame) and eight teams who finished in the top 25 (Florida State, Georgia, Missouri, Virginia Tech, Oregon, Clemson, Michigan, Liberty).

The Tar Heels open the season on the road at South Carolina at the Carolina Classic from Feb. 11-13, where they will play four games against George Washington, Lipscomb, Virginia and South Carolina.

The next weekend Carolina heads to the Leesburg, Fla., for The Spring Games tournament. While in the Sunshine State from Feb.18-20, Carolina will play five matches against FAU, Missouri, Monmouth, Stetson and Ohio State.

Carolina's final road tournament will be Feb. 25-27 at the Georgia Classic. In Athens, the team will face the host Bulldogs twice, Bryant twice and Georgia Southern once.

The Tar Heels sole home tournament, the Carolina Classic, will be the next weekend, March 4-6, featuring matchups against Penn State, Oregon, UConn and UNCG.

Carolina's nonconference midweek slate includes matchups at Elon (Feb 16), vs. NC A&T (Feb. 23), vs. Michigan (March 1), vs. Villanova (March 2), at ECU (Match 9), vs. UNCW (March 15), at Liberty (March 16), at Longwood (March 23), vs. App State (March 30), at Charlotte (April 6), at Campbell (April 13) and vs. NCCU (April 20).

UNC opens ACC play on March 11-13 at home vs. Boston College. The other seven conference series on the schedule includes: at Virginia Tech (March 18-20), vs. NC State (March 25-27), vs. Clemson (April 1-3), at Louisville (April 8-10), vs. Florida State (April 15-17), at Notre Dame (April 22-24) and at Syracuse (May 6-8).

The ACC Tournament will take place May 11-14 in Pittsburgh, Pa.

"The ACC has become a top conference in the country with a number of nationally-ranked teams and high RPI teams," Papa said. "We have gone back to our three-game series over three days which is a welcome change from last season. This season we are playing four teams that finished near the top of our conference in FSU and Clemson at home, and two teams on the road at Virginia Tech and Notre Dame. Every weekend is a dog fight in our conference."

Our midweek games have several opponents who appeared in the NCAA tournament as well as were conference champions (Villanova – Big East), Michigan (Big 10), Liberty (ASUN) and Campbell (Big South).

"This schedule will continue to build our team and raise our bar as we work our way through it. We are eager to get back in January to fine tune our team and get ready for a softball season that is more like what we experienced in 2019 in terms of numbers of games."

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