Field Hockey Tops Preseason ACC Poll

As regular-season field hockey play begins this weekend, the Atlantic Coast Conference coaches have named Tar Heels Erin Matson and Meredith Sholder to the preseason All-ACC team and picked North Carolina as the early favorite to win the league.

The Tar Heels have claimed the past four ACC titles and five of the past six, winning on their home turf at Karen Shelton Stadium in 2020. This year's conference tournament is set for Nov. 4-7 at J.S. Coyne Stadium in Syracuse, N.Y.

In voting by the league's seven head coaches, UNC received 48 total points. Boston College was picked for a second-place finish with 30 votes, while Virginia got the remaining first-place vote to hold the No. 3 spot with 25 points. Wake Forest (24 points) finished fourth in the voting, while Duke, Louisville and Syracuse tied for fifth place with 23 total points.

The forecast for a tight ACC race follows a 2020-21 season in which all seven ACC teams finished among the top 20 of the NFHCA national rankings. The ACC leads all conferences with 21 NCAA field hockey titles and has placed at least one team in the national championship game 29 of the past 32 seasons.

Matson is the two-time ACC Offensive Player of the Year and recently was voted the Tar Heel captain for 2021. Shoulder was a second-team All-ACC selection and a third-team All-America pick in 2020.

UNC opens the season on Friday in Iowa City, Iowa, meeting Michigan in a rematch of the 2020 NCAA Championship game, which the Tar Heels won 4-3 in overtime on May 9, 2021, in Chapel Hill. In the second game of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, an annual event that returns this season after being canceled last year, UNC faces the host Hawkeyes on Sunday.

2021 ACC Field Hockey Predicted Order of Finish
1. North Carolina (6) - 48
2. Boston College - 30
3. Virginia (1) - 25
4. Wake Forest - 24
t-5. Duke - 23
t-5. Louisville - 23
t-5. Syracuse - 23
(First-place votes)

2021 Preseason All-ACC Field Hockey Team
Margo Carlin, F, Jr., Boston College
Fusine Govaert, M, Gr., Boston College
Jonna Kennedy, GK, Sr., Boston College
Leah Crouse, M, Sr., Duke
Alli Bitting, M, Sr., Louisville
Charlie Van Oirschot, M, So., Louisville
Erin Matson, F, Sr., North Carolina
Meredith Sholder, M, Sr., North Carolina
Charlotte DeVries, F, Jr., Syracuse
Amber Ezechiels, B, Sr., Virginia
Meike Lanckohr, M, Jr., Wake Forest

Players Mentioned

Erin Matson

Meredith Sholder

Related Videos