University of North Carolina Athletics
Friday, August 25
Chapel Hill
8:30 PM
North Carolina
vs
Michigan
UNC opens the 2023 season on Friday night against Michigan.
Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati
Field Hockey Opens 2023 Season Friday Night
August 25, 2023 | Field Hockey
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – North Carolina will open the 2023 field hockey season on Friday night, hosting Michigan under the lights at Karen Shelton Stadium. The Tar Heels and Wolverines will face off at 8:30 p.m. in the second game of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, following a 6 p.m. matchup between Wake Forest and Iowa.
Both games will air live on the ACC Network.
There is no charge for admission to Shelton Stadium and the first 250 fans will receive a rally towel recognizing Carolina's record 10 National titles.
UNC is the defending NCAA Champion after having completed the 2022 season at 21-0. The Tar Heels start the season ranked No. 1 in the NFHCA national coaches' poll. Michigan is No. 4.
For the first time since 1981, UNC is opening the season with a new head coach. Carolina alum Erin Matson, the 2022 National Player of the Year, stepped into big shoes when she was named to the program's top job on Jan. 31, 2023. She replaced Karen Shelton, the winningest coach in the sport's history, who retired in December after 42 years at the Carolina helm. Matson will make her coaching debut on Friday.
Heels vs. Wolverines
• UNC and Michigan are meeting for the 33rd time in program history. This is the 25th season in a row that the two have played each other. The last time they didn't meet was in 1998.
• This year marks the 20th time in the past 22 seasons that Carolina has opened its slate against Michigan. (The exceptions were 2013, when UNC and UM faced off in the second week of the season, and the extended 2020-21 Covid season, when UNC played only ACC teams until the NCAA Tournament.)
• With teams restricted due to Covid protocols in 2020-21, Carolina and Michigan weren't on each other's regular-season schedules for the first time since 1998, but met in the NCAA Championship in Chapel Hill.
• That game, on May 9, 2021, marked the teams' most recent meeting at Karen Shelton Stadium. UNC won 4-3 in overtime, with the winning goal by Erin Matson. Since then the teams have split two neutral-site match-ups, with Michigan winning in Iowa City in 2021 and UNC winning in Winston-Salem, N.C., last season.
• Michigan was UNC's first-ever opponent at Karen Shelton Stadium. The Tar Heels hosted the 2018 ACC/Big Ten Challenge, playing in their new facility for the first time. UNC won that game 5-1 and went on to complete the 2018 season 23-0, including a 12-0 record at home. Carolina is 49-2 overall at KSS.
Both games will air live on the ACC Network.
There is no charge for admission to Shelton Stadium and the first 250 fans will receive a rally towel recognizing Carolina's record 10 National titles.
UNC is the defending NCAA Champion after having completed the 2022 season at 21-0. The Tar Heels start the season ranked No. 1 in the NFHCA national coaches' poll. Michigan is No. 4.
For the first time since 1981, UNC is opening the season with a new head coach. Carolina alum Erin Matson, the 2022 National Player of the Year, stepped into big shoes when she was named to the program's top job on Jan. 31, 2023. She replaced Karen Shelton, the winningest coach in the sport's history, who retired in December after 42 years at the Carolina helm. Matson will make her coaching debut on Friday.
Heels vs. Wolverines
• UNC and Michigan are meeting for the 33rd time in program history. This is the 25th season in a row that the two have played each other. The last time they didn't meet was in 1998.
• This year marks the 20th time in the past 22 seasons that Carolina has opened its slate against Michigan. (The exceptions were 2013, when UNC and UM faced off in the second week of the season, and the extended 2020-21 Covid season, when UNC played only ACC teams until the NCAA Tournament.)
• With teams restricted due to Covid protocols in 2020-21, Carolina and Michigan weren't on each other's regular-season schedules for the first time since 1998, but met in the NCAA Championship in Chapel Hill.
• That game, on May 9, 2021, marked the teams' most recent meeting at Karen Shelton Stadium. UNC won 4-3 in overtime, with the winning goal by Erin Matson. Since then the teams have split two neutral-site match-ups, with Michigan winning in Iowa City in 2021 and UNC winning in Winston-Salem, N.C., last season.
• Michigan was UNC's first-ever opponent at Karen Shelton Stadium. The Tar Heels hosted the 2018 ACC/Big Ten Challenge, playing in their new facility for the first time. UNC won that game 5-1 and went on to complete the 2018 season 23-0, including a 12-0 record at home. Carolina is 49-2 overall at KSS.
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