Top-Seeded Tar Heels Open ACC FH Tournament Play Wednesday

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Top-seeded North Carolina opens play in the 2023 Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament on Wednesday, jumping in on semifinals day after enjoying a first-day bye on Tuesday. The Tar Heels take on fourth-seeded Virginia, the tournament host, which staged a comeback to beat fifth-seeded Syracuse 3-2 on Tuesday.

UNC and UVa face off at 1 p.m. in the first of the semifinals. Second-seeded Duke and third-seeded Louisville will meet at 3:30, after all of the favorites advanced to the semis.

All games will air live on ACC Network. Wednesday's winners will meet Friday at 7 p.m. for the conference crown.

The Tar Heels are 12-3 overall and are returning to the scene of their most recent loss: on Oct. 20, they fell to the Cavaliers 3-2 here in their only ACC defeat of the season and the only loss in regulation.

ACCT Notables
• UNC is playing as the top seed for the second year in row and the 20th time in school history.
• The Tar Heels are looking for their seventh consecutive title and the 26th in program history. 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 63-15 all-time in ACC Tournament play.

Heels vs. Hoos
• UNC leads the overall series vs. Virginia 63-19 and had won 12 matchups in a row prior to the Cavaliers' win last month.
• Virginia won 3-2 in the teams' regular-season meeting. UNC was up 2-0 at halftime with both goals by Ryleigh Heck before Virginia scored three consecutive third-quarter goas and held on for the win. Carolina held an 8-0 edge in shots in the first half and an 11-4 advantage for the game.
• The teams also met in last year's tournament, facing of in the 2022 title game in Durham. On Nov. 4, 2022, Carolina won 3-2 to claim its sixth-consecutive conference crown and 25th overall.
• UNC and UVa also met in the previous title game, in 2021. In Syracuse, N.Y., third-seeded UNC and fifth-seeded Virginia battled 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.
• Six of the last seven meetings have been decided by a goal with two of those going into overtime.
• The last team other than UNC to win the ACC Championship was Virginia, which topped the Tar Heels 4-2 in the 2016 championship game in Winston-Salem, N.C.

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Players Mentioned

Ryleigh Heck

Madison Orobono

Paityn Wirth