Field Hockey Opens 2025 Season In ACC/Big Ten Challenge

IOWA CITY, Iowa - Carolina Field Hockey returns to the turf for its 52nd season, looking to reach the summit of the sport once again.

SCHEDULE
Game 1: #7 Michigan - Friday, August 29 - 1 PM ET
Game 2: #15 Iowa - Sunday, August 31 - 2 PM ET
All games aired on B1G+

SCOUTING REPORT
vs. Wolverines
➤ Friday's game is the 36th all-time meeting between UNC and Michigan. Carolina leads the series 29-6 and has won 12 of the last 15.
➤ Last time they met: August 30, 2024, in Ann Arbor, Michigan - UNC defeated Michigan 4-1 after having a scoreless first quarter. Each goal was scored by a different player, coming from Lisa Slinkert, Charly Bruder, Sietske Brüning, and Sanne Hak.
➤ The last two times Michigan came out on top of this matchup were both in Iowa City ('17, '21)
➤ UNC redshirt-freshman Coco Courtright is a native of Ann Arbor and was a high school classmate of Michigan forward Cami Wiseman at Skyline.

vs. Hawkeyes
➤ Sunday's game is the 39th all-time meeting between UNC and Iowa. Carolina leads the series 33-5 and has won 13 of the last 15.
➤ Last time they met: September 1, 2024, in Ann Arbor, Michigan – UNC held Iowa scoreless until the fourth quarter. The Heels defeated the Hawkeyes 2-1 with UNC out shooting Iowa 24 to 4.
➤ Carolina saw defeat in their last trip to Iowa City, dropping a 3-1 contest in 2021.
➤ That weekend was the last time the program has lost back-to-back games.
➤ Transfer midfielder Dani Mendez's mother Aileen played field hockey at Iowa, winning a national title in 1986.

BACK, BACK AGAIN
➤ The Tar Heels come in to 2025 with a team full of new faces anchored by a core of veterans.
➤ 13 letterwinners from the 2024 ACC Championship team are gone, replaced by 11 newcomers in the form of eight true freshmen and three transfers.
➤ ACC Offensive Player of the Year and 2023 Honda Award winner Ryleigh Heck enters her senior season on the precipice of the all-time program top-10 lists for goals (10 shy), assists (15 shy), and points (17 shy).
➤ Heck and fellow senior Sietske Brüning will captain the Tar Heels in 2025.

GUIDED BY THE GOAT
➤ Head coach Erin Matson heads in to her third season at the helm of the program she spent five years leading on the field. As a player, she won four national championships, three Honda Awards, and five ACC titles.
➤ She is the only player in any sport to earn ACC Player of the Year recognition five times and is the all-time scoring leader in ACC history and NCAA tournament play.
➤ The reigning ACC Coach of the Year became the youngest head coach in the ACC in any sport to win a national title when she captured the title in her inaugural season in 2023.

TRIO EARN PRESEASON HONORS
➤ Three Tar Heels earned inclusion on the 2025 Preseason All-ACC team while the team was voted top of the conference in the annual coaches poll.
➤ Charly Bruder, Sietske Brüning, and Ryleigh Heck were named to the 15-player squad. It is the third year in a row making the list for Brüning and Heck while Bruder makes her first appearance after leading the nation in goals last year.
➤ Matson's crew received six first-place votes to put the active eight-time reigning ACC Champions atop the poll.
➤ Duke followed with two first-place nods of their own with Virginia just one point behind them in third.

SCHEDULE BREAKDOWN
➤ The Tar Heels have 17 matchups on their regular season slate before the ACC Championship kicks off the postseason on November 4 in Louisville, Ky.
➤ This year's NCAA Tournament will once again take place close to home, with the championship round set to be played in Durham, N.C.
➤ UNC has nine of the preseason top-20 on its 2025 slate, including five of the top-10.
➤ Seven regular season home events culminate in a Halloween night matchup against rivals Duke.
➤ The season starts in the Midwest with the ACC-Big Ten Challenge in Iowa City. Carolina has opened against the Wolverines and Hawkeyes every year since 2002 with only two exceptions, tallying a combined 35-7 record.

FULL FIELD FIREPOWER
➤ Carolina buttered its bread in 2024 on both sides of the ball, leading the country in both goals per game (3.86) and goals against average (0.55), averaging a 3.31 goals difference between the two.
➤ The Heels and the Wildcats of Northwestern were the only two squads to be in the top eight of both categories.
➤ Forward Charly Bruder paced the nation in goals (27) and goals per game (1.29).
➤ Her goals total put her in a tie for the fourth most in a single season in program history, level with her head coach's junior and senior seasons.
➤ On the defensive, graduated goalkeeper Abigail Taylor along with a host of backs including Kelly Smith (graduated), Ciana Riccardo (graduated), and Grace Pottebaum finished with the best goals against average in the NCAA at 0.52.
➤ Transfer Katie Wimmer and true freshman Merritt Skubisz will compete to defend the nets this season.

HECK OF A TRIP
➤ This summer, senior Ryleigh Heck earned her another call up to the senior USWNT as they traveled to compete in the 2025 Pan American Cup.
➤ The Ocean City, N.J., native made the most of her opportunity, logging three goals, an assist, and a converted penalty in a shootout in four games in the tournament in Uruguay.
➤ She tied for the second most goals scored by any USWNT player.
➤ Her efforts helped propel the United Eagles to a silver medal, but more importantly automatic qualification for the 2026 FIH Hockey World Cup.
➤ Heck even scored the game winning goal in the semifinal to secure qualification, finding the back of the net over the goalkeeper's shoulder off a penalty corner.
➤ Carolina alumni Katie Dixon, Meredith Sholder, and Cassie Sumfest.

MANU ON THE INTERNATIONAL STAGE
➤ Assistant coach Manuel Garcia Nieto also hit the worldwide circuit, acting as an assistant for the USA Field Hockey U21 team that competed in the Junior Pan-Am Games.
➤ Nieto's squad ran all the way to the final with upsets of Uruguay and Chile along the way.
➤ They eventually took home silver, falling 3-0 to a higher ranked Argentina in the title game.

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Players Mentioned

Charly Bruder

Coco Courtright

Katie Dixon

Sanne Hak

Ryleigh Heck

Dani Mendez

Grace Pottebaum

Ciana Riccardo

Merritt Skubisz

Lisa Slinkert

Kelly Smith

Abigail Taylor

Katie Wimmer