Tar Heels Host Wolverines Sunday for NCAA Title Battle

Sunday, May 9

Chapel Hill

7 PM

North Carolina

Michigan (NCAA Championship)

Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati

May 9, 2021 | Field Hockey

Game Notes Tournament Central Watch on ESPNU

By: UNC Athletic Communications

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The longest field hockey season in program history comes down to this:

Top-seeded North Carolina (18-1) will host No. 2 Michigan (15-2) Sunday evening at Karen Shelton Stadium, and the winner gets the NCAA trophy, technically for the 2020 championship. The game starts at 7 p.m. and will air live on ESPNU.

While there is no general public admission, there are limited student tickets available. UNC students can show a One Card at the gate, which opens at 6 p.m.

A Tar Heel team has not won an NCAA title on campus since the women's soccer team did so in 1993.

With field hockey generally a fall sport, UNC started competing back in September. The Atlantic Coast Conference was the only league in action, and the Tar Heels played a conferece-only schedule that culminated in the 2020 ACC Tournament, which Carolina won on its home turf at Shelton Stadium for the 23^rd crown in program history.

The Tar Heels started playing games again in March, as most of the other NCAA DI teams also began playing for a spring season. Carolina saw only ACC competition until the start of the NCAA Tournament. Michigan is UNC's second Big Ten opponent of the weekend, following Friday's 3-0 semifinals win over Iowa. After not competing in the fall, the Big Ten played its conference tournament in the spring, with Michigan winning the title.

Notable
• UNC is playing Sunday for the ninth NCAA title in program history. That would be equal to the most by any program – Old Dominion has also won nine, with the most recent coming in 2000, when ODU beat UNC in the title game. North Carolina and Maryland are currently tied for second with eight each.
• The Tar Heels are the two-time defending champion. A win on Sunday would give them the second three-peat in school history. UNC won the 1995, 1996 and 1997 titles.
• The Tar Heels are making a record 37th appearance in the NCAA Tournament field.
• Sunday's championship game is UNC's 101st game in NCAA Tournament play, also a record.
• The Tar Heels have 72 NCAA Tournament wins, more than any other school. Maryland is second with 64 and Old Dominion is third with 50, with neither in the field this year.
• North Carolina is 72-28 all-time in NCAA Tournament play.
• UNC is 20-5 all-time in semifinals games. In 19 previous trips to the championship game, UNC is 8-11.
• The Tar Heels have won 10 NCAA Tournament games in a row, equaling the longest such streak in program history. UNC won 10 in a row with three consecutive titles in 1995-97 as well as a first-round win in 1998.
• Coach Karen Shelton ranks second among all coaches in NCAA titles won with eight. Beth Anders led Old Dominion to nine.

UNC vs. Michigan
• They'll play Sunday in the final game of the 2020-21 season, but UNC and Michigan are much more accustomed to meeting in season openers. They traditionally face off in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge as the first game of every season.
• Michigan was UNC's first opponent at Karen Shelton Stadium. On Aug. 25, 2018, the teams faced off in Game 1 of that year's ACC-Big Ten Challenge to open the Tar Heels' new facility. UNC won that game 5-1.
• Carolina and Michigan last met in the 2019 season opener in Ann Arbor, Mich., as part of the ACC-Big Ten Challenge. Michigan led 1-0 early, but Erin Matson scored a hat trick and Marissa Creatore added one more to power the Tar Heels to a 4-2 win.
• The teams are meeting for the sixth time in NCAA play. They met in a first-round game in Ann Arbor in 2001, with Michigan winning 5-2 en route to its first NCAA Championship. Michigan also won in 2003 in a first-round game at Michigan State. UNC has won the other three matchups, all played in Chapel Hill. Most recently the teams met in a second-round game in 2018, with Carolina winning 5-2.