University of North Carolina Athletics
Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati
Lucas: Shelton Writes Perfect Finale
December 7, 2022 | Field Hockey, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
Karen Shelton's final act was a fitting way for one of the best coaches in Carolina history to go out.
By Adam Lucas
Sports almost never end perfectly.
They're just not built that way. A ball bounces the wrong way, an opposing player gets hot, a referee misses a call, the clock runs out.
So the way Karen Shelton's coaching career at Carolina ended is as unusual as it is perfect. The legend—when you coach in a stadium that bears your name, you're a legend, even if you publicly shun any praise—announced her retirement on Wednesday after a decorated tenure that made her one of the most successful and instrumental coaches in Tar Heel history.
Shelton's Tar Heels won the program's tenth national championship (all ten under Shelton, of course) last month in Storrs with an undefeated squad that may have been one of the best Carolina teams of all-time in any sport. That was a tribute to the way she built her program, yes. But the championship game itself was also a textbook example of the way she prepared her teams.
The Tar Heels held a 1-0 lead for the majority of the game and appeared destined to cruise to a shutout victory. But a quality Northwestern squad scored with 1:58 remaining, tying the game and silencing a crowd that heavily favored Carolina.
On the field, though, the atmosphere was much different. This was a situation Shelton required her teams to practice regularly. "Every time we score or they score, Coach always says that's a lock-in moment," said senior Romea Riccardo. "She puts up two minutes and says we have to lock in for those two minutes after a goal."
It didn't take the full two minutes. Thirty-nine seconds later, Erin Matson scored the game-winner off an assist from Paityn Wirth, and the Tar Heels were champions again. It was the perfect on-field testament to the preparation and detail that Shelton put into every single one of her 42—42!—Carolina teams.
It was also entirely fitting that the final tally would be scored by Matson, who in so many ways is the perfect embodiment of everything Shelton has tried to create with her program. She is the best player, of course, and certainly one of the most competitive. That's appropriate for Shelton, an incredibly kind person who will also do everything in her power to defeat you. While preparing for one of this season's opponents, she reminded her team of a previous meeting with that same foe, when there had been some tension regarding a breach of sportsmanship.
That game in question had occurred in 2007. Freshman standouts Ashley Sessa and Ryleigh Heck were three years old. Shelton still recalled it in detail.
In addition to her competitiveness and success, Matson also did what Shelton was always passionate about doing, which was taking field hockey outside of the boundaries of the stadium and making it part of the fabric of the athletic department and the University as a whole. Thousands of new fans came to Carolina field hockey this fall, getting to experience in person the greatness that had been somewhat of an athletic department inside secret for the past several decades.
It felt right. Here was the sport's unanimously acknowledged best coach, coaching the sport's unanimously acknowledged best team, featuring the sport's unanimously acknowledged best player, and finally getting to enjoy it a little bit, recording yet another big win and then breaking into a wide smile as her grandchildren dashed across the turf to give her a postgame hug.
It surprises some people that Karen Shelton did not attend Carolina. It feels impossible that there was ever Carolina without her, but she attended West Chester State, graduating in 1979. There is no doubt that she has been a Tar Heel ever since becoming head coach at the age of 23 (Sometimes, it is not the age that matters, but the maturity).
What did she do this week, while planning to gather her team and inform them of her retirement? She made the trip to Cary to support the women's soccer team in Monday night's NCAA championship game, meaning that between only she and Anson Dorrance, Carolina on that evening had active coaches in attendance representing a staggering 31 NCAA titles; nationwide, only sixteen entire athletic departments have more combined NCAA championships in their history than those two Tar Heels.
In addition to being perfectly scripted on the field, the most recent Shelton championship also set up the perfect off-field tribute to the head coach. Dozens of Carolina field hockey alums from around the country had traveled to Storrs from as far away as California to support the Tar Heels in the 2022 championship game. After the newly minted national champions had cut the nets and posed for photos with the trophy, everyone gathered behind one end zone of Nancy Stevens Field. There were hundreds of people there—players and parents of players and alums and children of alums.
This is the culture Shelton has built. The field hockey program holds a career symposium in which alumni return to educate the current players about post-college job opportunities. The program's alumni weekend is one of the best attended—and rowdiest—event of its kind in the athletic department. There is a connection that goes far beyond just a playing career; no matter where Carolina played, it was commonplace for Shelton to walk off the field after another win and be greeted by yet another former player who lived nearby and was ecstatic to get to see the Tar Heels in person. The thread that held them all together was the head coach.
As you can imagine, the postgame scene in Storrs, with everyone trying to stay warm on a bone-chilling day while also celebrating an incredible season, was a boisterous one. But there was complete silence when Shelton addressed the group, thanking everyone involved for being part of the program and making it a memorable day.
She closed it the way she always does, by holding one finger above her head. "Heels on three," she barked. "One, two, three."
And everyone she had brought together, from the youngest freshman to the oldest alum to the grandparents of players to Shelton's grandkids, raised one finger above their heads and responded as they always have:
"Heels!"
Sports almost never end perfectly.
They're just not built that way. A ball bounces the wrong way, an opposing player gets hot, a referee misses a call, the clock runs out.
So the way Karen Shelton's coaching career at Carolina ended is as unusual as it is perfect. The legend—when you coach in a stadium that bears your name, you're a legend, even if you publicly shun any praise—announced her retirement on Wednesday after a decorated tenure that made her one of the most successful and instrumental coaches in Tar Heel history.
Shelton's Tar Heels won the program's tenth national championship (all ten under Shelton, of course) last month in Storrs with an undefeated squad that may have been one of the best Carolina teams of all-time in any sport. That was a tribute to the way she built her program, yes. But the championship game itself was also a textbook example of the way she prepared her teams.
The Tar Heels held a 1-0 lead for the majority of the game and appeared destined to cruise to a shutout victory. But a quality Northwestern squad scored with 1:58 remaining, tying the game and silencing a crowd that heavily favored Carolina.
On the field, though, the atmosphere was much different. This was a situation Shelton required her teams to practice regularly. "Every time we score or they score, Coach always says that's a lock-in moment," said senior Romea Riccardo. "She puts up two minutes and says we have to lock in for those two minutes after a goal."
It didn't take the full two minutes. Thirty-nine seconds later, Erin Matson scored the game-winner off an assist from Paityn Wirth, and the Tar Heels were champions again. It was the perfect on-field testament to the preparation and detail that Shelton put into every single one of her 42—42!—Carolina teams.
It was also entirely fitting that the final tally would be scored by Matson, who in so many ways is the perfect embodiment of everything Shelton has tried to create with her program. She is the best player, of course, and certainly one of the most competitive. That's appropriate for Shelton, an incredibly kind person who will also do everything in her power to defeat you. While preparing for one of this season's opponents, she reminded her team of a previous meeting with that same foe, when there had been some tension regarding a breach of sportsmanship.
That game in question had occurred in 2007. Freshman standouts Ashley Sessa and Ryleigh Heck were three years old. Shelton still recalled it in detail.
In addition to her competitiveness and success, Matson also did what Shelton was always passionate about doing, which was taking field hockey outside of the boundaries of the stadium and making it part of the fabric of the athletic department and the University as a whole. Thousands of new fans came to Carolina field hockey this fall, getting to experience in person the greatness that had been somewhat of an athletic department inside secret for the past several decades.
It felt right. Here was the sport's unanimously acknowledged best coach, coaching the sport's unanimously acknowledged best team, featuring the sport's unanimously acknowledged best player, and finally getting to enjoy it a little bit, recording yet another big win and then breaking into a wide smile as her grandchildren dashed across the turf to give her a postgame hug.
It surprises some people that Karen Shelton did not attend Carolina. It feels impossible that there was ever Carolina without her, but she attended West Chester State, graduating in 1979. There is no doubt that she has been a Tar Heel ever since becoming head coach at the age of 23 (Sometimes, it is not the age that matters, but the maturity).
What did she do this week, while planning to gather her team and inform them of her retirement? She made the trip to Cary to support the women's soccer team in Monday night's NCAA championship game, meaning that between only she and Anson Dorrance, Carolina on that evening had active coaches in attendance representing a staggering 31 NCAA titles; nationwide, only sixteen entire athletic departments have more combined NCAA championships in their history than those two Tar Heels.
In addition to being perfectly scripted on the field, the most recent Shelton championship also set up the perfect off-field tribute to the head coach. Dozens of Carolina field hockey alums from around the country had traveled to Storrs from as far away as California to support the Tar Heels in the 2022 championship game. After the newly minted national champions had cut the nets and posed for photos with the trophy, everyone gathered behind one end zone of Nancy Stevens Field. There were hundreds of people there—players and parents of players and alums and children of alums.
This is the culture Shelton has built. The field hockey program holds a career symposium in which alumni return to educate the current players about post-college job opportunities. The program's alumni weekend is one of the best attended—and rowdiest—event of its kind in the athletic department. There is a connection that goes far beyond just a playing career; no matter where Carolina played, it was commonplace for Shelton to walk off the field after another win and be greeted by yet another former player who lived nearby and was ecstatic to get to see the Tar Heels in person. The thread that held them all together was the head coach.
As you can imagine, the postgame scene in Storrs, with everyone trying to stay warm on a bone-chilling day while also celebrating an incredible season, was a boisterous one. But there was complete silence when Shelton addressed the group, thanking everyone involved for being part of the program and making it a memorable day.
She closed it the way she always does, by holding one finger above her head. "Heels on three," she barked. "One, two, three."
And everyone she had brought together, from the youngest freshman to the oldest alum to the grandparents of players to Shelton's grandkids, raised one finger above their heads and responded as they always have:
"Heels!"
Players Mentioned
Midfielder/Forward
/ Field Hockey
Forward
/ Field Hockey
Back
/ Field Hockey
Forward/Midfielder
/ Field Hockey
Forward
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