Tar Heels Play Northwestern Sunday for NCAA FH Championship

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – North Carolina plays for its fifth NCAA Field Hockey Championship in the past six years and the 11^th in program history Sunday on its home turf, hosting the second-ranked Northwestern Wildcats at Karen Shelton Stadium.

Game time is 1:30 p.m. Advance tickets are sold out, but a limited number of standing-room only tickets may be available at the main entrance to Shelton Stadium beginning at 12:30 p.m.

Standing-room only student tickets will be available beginning at 12:30 to UNC students presenting a OneCard.

The game will air live on ESPNU.

The top-ranked Tar Heels (17-3) advanced to Sunday's final with a 2-0 win over No. 5 Virginia on Friday. No. 2 Northwestern (21-1) beat No. 3 Duke 2-1 in the second semifinal.

UNC and Northwestern are meeting in the NCAA Tournament for the third year in a row and in the championship game for the second. Last season, the Tar Heels beat the Wildcats 2-1 in Storrs, Conn., to complete an undefeated season and claim the program's 10^th title, the most by any school in Division I history.

Following the season, head coach Karen Shelton retired after 42 years. The MVP of the 2022 championship team, Erin Matson, was hired as Carolina's new coach in January.

Heels vs. Cats
• After going 28 years without a meeting, UNC and Northwestern are facing off in the NCAA Tournament for the third year in a row. In 2021, the Wildcats eliminated the Tar Heels 2-0 in Iowa City in a first round game. In 2022, UNC won 2-1 in the title game in Storrs, Conn.
• Prior to the 2021 NCAA match-up, the two hadn't played since 1993. That year, Northwestern traveled to Chapel Hill (9/19/93) and the teams played through regulation and two scoreless overtimes before ending in a 0-0 tie. (Games now go to penalty shootouts to decide a winner.)
• The overall series is tied 5-5-1.
• Sunday's game is UNC's third of the season against a Big Ten team. The Tar Heels took on Michigan and Iowa in the opening weekend of the season in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge.
• The UNC-Northwestern matchup marks the first time schools have played in the finals in consecutive years since Carolina and Maryland faced off in 2009, 2010 and 2011.

UNC in the NCAA Tourney
• The Tar Heels are making a record 40th appearance in the NCAA Tournament field. Sunday's game will be UNC's 110th in NCAA Tournament play, also a record.
• The Tar Heels have 80 NCAA Tournament wins, more than any other school. Maryland is second with 69 and Old Dominion is third with 50.
• The Tar Heels are making their 27th final four trip. They had appeared in the NCAA semifinals 12 years in a row before being knocked out in the first round in 2021 by eventual-champion Northwestern.
• North Carolina is 80-29 all-time in NCAA Tournament play.
• The Tar Heels are in the title game for the 22nd time. They're 10-11 all-time in championship game appearances and have won their last four. The last time Carolina made the title game and finished as the runner-up was in 2016 to Delaware in Norfolk, Va.
• UNC is 7-9 all-time in NCAA Tournament overtime games.
• Former Tar Heel coach Karen Shelton holds the record for NCAA titles won by a single coach with 10.

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