No. 1 North Carolina field hockey and 23-year-old first-year coach Erin Matson won the 2023 NCAA title Sunday, the 11th in program history, defeating No. 2 Northwestern in an overtime shootout after a 1-1 tie in regulation.
Matson, hired in January — weeks after finishing her UNC playing career — is believed to be the youngest Division I coach in the NCAA. She is the most decorated player in the program’s history — a four-time national champion and the leading scorer in ACC history and NCAA Tournament play. Matson led a group featuring some of her former teammates to an 18-3 record this season.
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Her first national title as a coach and fifth overall comes just one year after scoring the deciding goal in the Tar Heels’ 2022 national championship win (also over Northwestern), capping off a perfect season. Matson, a longtime U.S. national team member, became just the second player to win the Honda Sport Award for Field Hockey three times after her predecessor as UNC’s coach, Karen Shelton.
GO DEEPER
Last year, she led her team to a national title. Now, at 23, she’s the head coach
Matson replaced Shelton after a 42-year tenure that saw the Tar Heels win a record 10 NCAA titles and 25 ACC championships. Shelton called Matson “The Michael Jordan of field hockey” in an interview with The Athletic at the start of this season.
North Carolina’s Charly Bruder smashed home a goal in the third quarter to put the Tar Heels up 1-0 on Sunday. Northwestern’s Peyton Halsey evened the score at the end of the third on a penalty stroke and the match remained tied 1-1 through regulation and two overtime periods. UNC sealed the win in the shootout.
The Tar Heels have won seven consecutive ACC titles and five of the last six national championships.
🏆 🏆 🏆 🏆
🏆 ELEVENTH 🏆 HEAVEN 🏆
🏆 🏆 🏆 🏆#GoHeels | #GDTBATH pic.twitter.com/eABl47336y
— UNC Field Hockey (@UNCFieldHockey) November 19, 2023
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(Photo: Jamie Schwaberow / NCAA Photos via Getty Images)
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