FH Travels To Take On Saint Joseph's Sunday

MERION STATION, Pa. – After three consecutive games in the state of North Carolina, the UNC field hockey team hits the road this weekend, traveling to Pennsylvania to meet No. 13 Saint Joseph's on Sunday afternoon. Game time at Ellen Ryan Field is 1 p.m. and the action will air on ESPN+.

The game is the third of the fall in the Philadelphia area for UNC, which played two games at Penn at the start of September.

Tar Heels vs. Hawks
• UNC leads the overall series 4-1, with all five previous meetings coming in the past six seasons.
• The two have played two common opponents this season, Michigan and Penn.
– UNC beat Michigan 3-2 in the season opener at home on Aug. 25, SJU fell 2-0 at Michigan on Sept. 10
– UNC won 4-0 at Penn on Sept. 1 in ACC/Ivy Conference Crossover play. SJU won 4-3 in double overtime at Penn last Sunday.
• The teams met twice last season, with both matchups in Chapel Hill. On Oct. 23, 2022, the Tar Heels won 6-0 on Senior Day. Freshman Ryleigh Heck scored three times and senior Erin Matson had a goal and three assists. On Nov. 13, 2022, in an NCAA Tournament second round game, UNC won 5-2 on its way to the national championship. The Tar Heels led 4-0 at halftime, with Matson already notching a hat trick, before the Hawks scored twice in the second half. The game was Matson's last in Chapel Hill as a player.
• The only Saint Joseph's win in the series came in 2021, the last time the teams met on the Hawks' home turf, Ellen Ryan Field in Merion Station, Pa. No. 17 Saint Joseph's scored on a penalty corner with just under four minutes to play and held on to pull off the 3-2 upset over then-No. 4 UNC, which fell to 2-3 with the loss. The Hawks got off only three shots and scored on all of them. UNC totaled seven shots, with Matson scoring both goals. The Tar Heels pulled keeper Abigail Taylor with 3:53 to play after falling behind but couldn't get the equalizer.
• The teams' first-ever meeting was in the 2017 NCAA Tournament, when the Tar Heels won 4-0 in a first round game in Charlottesville, Va.

After Sunday's trip, the Tar Heels look ahead to back-to-back home games. They'll host Boston College on Friday for an Atlantic Coast Conference matchup and then step out of conference again to face Liberty next Sunday (Oct. 8).

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Players Mentioned

Ryleigh Heck

Abigail Taylor