Field Hockey Set For Two Game Weekend In New York

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Carolina Field Hockey heads north for a weekend in the Empire State as they are set to face No. 9 Syracuse and Cornell in the final regular season road trip of the season.

The matchup with the Orange is yet another clash with a top-20 opponent, UNC's eighth on the season as the team runs through the third most difficult strength of schedule in the country.

It will be just the second all-time meeting with the Big Red on Sunday and the program's 33rd against Ivy League competition.

SCHEDULE
Game 1: at #2 Syracuse | Friday Oct. 17 at 3 PM
Watch: ACCNX | J.S. Coyne Stadium

Game 2: at Cornell | Sunday, Oct. 19 at 12 PM
Watch: GoBigRed.com | Marsha Dodson Field

SCOUTING REPORT
vs. the Orange
➤ Friday's game will be the 28th all-time meeting between the two programs.
➤ The yearly home-and-home for the two teams has been running since 2011 before Cuse officially joined the ACC in 2013. Prior to '11 the duo had faced off just twice in their history.
➤ Last time they met: The Heels beat the Orange twice in the 2024 season, most recently in the ACC Championship 3-1. Tournament MVP Charly Bruder scored twice in the second quarter to give UNC firm control and they never looked back.
➤ Syracuse has never beaten Carolina in Chapel Hill, falling on all eight occasions.

vs. the Big Red
➤ Sunday's game will be just the second all-time meeting between the two programs.
➤ Carolina has a surprisingly limited history against the Ivy League. UNC has only played a combined 33 games against the eight-team conference with an overall record of 30-3. Princeton alone accounts for 20 of those contests. The Heels have yet to play Brown or Columbia and just met Harvard for the first time in the 2023 NCAA tournament.
➤ Last time they met: The one and only time UNC faced Cornell was in Ithaca in 2012. Current Carolina assistant coach Caitlin Van Sickle was a star senior in the back line and helped the Heels to a 6-1 win.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
1 - UNC is currently ranked No. 1 in the country in the Division I RPI.
3.15 - The Heels are averaging 3.15 saves per game, just the 67th most in the country while being 6th in goals against. A testament to the Carolina defensive line.
5 - Carolina has 5 wins over top-15 opponents this year, the most in the country.
50 - Erin Matson earned her 50th win as a head coach against Louisville, giving her an overall record of 145-11 as a player and coach at UNC.

RANKED RUMBLE
➤ The Tar Heels entered last weekend with a pair of big time ranked matchups ahead and exited with two wins and not a single goal given up as they took down No. 2 Virginia 1-0 and No. 19 Louisville 3-0.
➤ On the road at UVA, Carolina handed the Cavaliers their first loss of the season after Charly Bruder broke the deadlock with just over six minutes left to play. UNC has now won 14 of the last 15 in the series.
➤ It was also the first time since the final week of the 2023 regular season that UNC played a game as the lower ranked team. They beat Duke that day and came away victorious again on Friday.
➤ Sunday saw the Heels add another shutout with a dominant win over the Cardinals. Carolina put up 23 shots in the contest while now allowing one against them until the fourth quarter.

POTTEBAUM POCKETS POTW
➤ Junior back Grace Pottebaum claimed the Tar Heels' fourth ACC POTW honor of the season on Tuesday after leading Carolina's back line to a shutout weekend against a pair of ranked opponents.
➤ It's the second weekly honor of her career, picking one up opening weekend last season.
➤ On the road against the No. 2 Cavaliers, Pottebaum's defense had no room for error in a game that remained scoreless until the final six minutes. It was the fewest shots on goal (2) that UVA has put up all season and the first time the team had been shutout since the ACC tournament last year.
➤ Back home against Louisville on Sunday, the Heels' suffocating defense did not surrender a shot until the fourth quarter and neither of the two allowed were on goal. Both shots came from the only two penalty corners of the game for the Cardinals, Pottebaum herself blocked both attempts.
➤ She has started each of the last 38 games the Tar Heels have played dating back to November of 2023 and has helped her team to 17 shutouts in that span.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Charly Bruder

Grace Pottebaum

Scoreboard Slider

University of North Carolina Athletics