UNC Meets Virginia Friday For ACC Field Hockey Crown

DURHAM, N.C. – For the eighth year in a row, North Carolina is one of the final two teams vying to take home the Atlantic Coast Conference Field Hockey Championship trophy.

Friday at 2 p.m., the Tar Heels will face off against Virginia for the crown. It's the second consecutive year UNC and UVA have played in the final. Carolina won 1-0 last season to claim its fifth title in a row. In fact, the last time the Tar Heels didn't win the title was in 2016, when they lost in the final to the Cavaliers.

Tickets are available at the gate at Duke's Williams Field at Jack Katz Stadium. Those who can't be there in person can watch live on ACC Network.

North Carolina comes into the game undefeated on the season at 16-0, with one of those wins over Virginia just two weeks ago, 3-1 in Chapel Hill on Oct. 21. Virginia is 13-6 overall, including a 1-0 win over Louisville in the quarterfinals on Tuesday and a 3-2 overtime victory against Wake Forest in the semifinals on Wednesday. As the top seed, UNC got a bye in the quarterfinals round and opened play with a 2-1 win over Syracuse on Wednesday in the first of the two semifinals.

Carolina is playing for the 25th title in program history.

Heels vs. Hoos
• UNC leads the overall series vs. Virginia 62-18 and has won the last 11 meetings.
• The teams last met on Oct. 21 in Chapel Hill, with UNC winning 3-1.
• This is the second year in a row UNC and UVA have met in the ACC title game. In 2021 in Syracuse, N.Y., third-seeded UNC and fifth-seeded UVA played through a scoreless first half before Tar Heel forward Erin Matson notched the game's lone goal on a penalty corner early in the third quarter, assisted by Paityn Wirth on the insert and Madison Orobono on the stick stop. The Tar Heels had just four shots on the day and only two penalty corners, while Virginia had five shots and two corners.
• Before the meeting in Chapel Hill this season, UNC and UVA had played four consecutive one-goal games, with two going into overtime. In each case, Erin Matson either scored the gamewinner or assisted on it. She was the scorer in the 2021 ACC Championship and two overtime wins in Charlottesville. In Carolina's 2-1 win in Chapel Hill in 2020, Matson assisted on the gamewinner by Meredith Sholder.
• Virginia's last win in the series came in the 2016 ACC Tournament, when the Cavaliers beat UNC 4-2 in the conference championship game, played in Winston-Salem, N.C.

UNC in the ACC Tournament
• UNC has won 24 ACC Championships, more than any other conference team. No other current conference school has won more than four (Wake Forest). Former member Maryland won 10 before moving to the Big Ten.
• The Tar Heels are 62-15 all-time in ACC Tournament play.
• UNC is the five-time defending champion in the event.
• The Tar Heels are the No. 1 seed in the tournament for the 19th time overall and the first since 2019.
• UNC is 34-2 overall when playing as the No. 1 seed.
• Carolina has won 16 of its 24 titles playing from the top spot, most recently in both 2018 and 2019.

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