Field Hockey Travels To Take On Liberty

LYNCHBURG, Va. – After a nine-day break, the UNC field hockey team returns to action on Sunday with a road game at No. 14 Liberty. Game time at Liberty Field Hockey Field is 1 p.m.

The game will air live on ESPN+. For live stats, click here.

The top-ranked Tar Heels come into the matchup 8-0, with five consecutive shutouts. Liberty is 7-3 following a 5-0 Big East win, the Flames' seventh shutout of the season, over Quinnipiac on Friday.

Quick Hits
• UNC moved up a spot to No. 1 in this week's NFHCA poll.
• The trip to Lynchburg marks Carolina's fourth road game in its past five outings. The Tar Heels will play two more on the road – at Boston College and UConn – before their next home game on Oct. 14.
• The Tar Heels have shut out their last five opponents by a combined score of 22-0: Penn 4-0, California 7-0, Stanford 6-0, Louisville 3-0, Wake Forest 2-0. It's UNC's longest string of shutouts since the 2011 season.
• Through eight games, the Tar Heels are outshooting opponents 146-44 and outscoring them 34-6.
• UNC has outshot all eight opponents and out-cornered six.
• Four of Carolina's five first-quarter goals this season have come from freshmen (three by Ryleigh Heck, all in the first two-and-a-half minutes of play, and one by Ashley Sessa) .
• The Tar Heels have outscored opponents 18-4 before halftime this season. Iowa and Princeton, each with two goals at the break, are the only teams to score on UNC before halftime this season.
• Senior forward Erin Matson is the reigning ACC Offensive Player of the Week.
• Twelve different players have scored at least one goal for UNC this season.
• With two goals against at Wake Forest, Erin Matsonson moved into a tie for fifth place on the NCAA's all-time career goals list with 118.

Tar Heels vs. Flames
• UNC and Liberty are facing off for the ninth time in a series that dates back to 2014. UNC leads the series 7-1.
• Liberty won the most recent meeting, 4-0 in Chapel Hill on Oct. 10, 2021. That game marked UNC's first defeat at Karen Shelton Stadium, where the Tar Heels have played since the start of the 2018 season. Carolina is currently 44-2 on its home turf.
• The last meeting in Lynchburg was on Oct. 7, 2018, with UNC winning 7-1. Two current players – Erin Matson and Meredith Sholder – played in that game, but the Liberty turf will be new to the remainder of the Tar Heels.

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Players Mentioned

Ryleigh Heck

Erin Matson

Ashley Sessa

Meredith Sholder