Field Hockey Ready For Home Opener

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Carolina field hockey makes its long awaited return to Karen Shelton Stadium this weekend with a pair of home games against App State and Liberty.

It will be the first two of seven regular season home contests for the FHockey Heels this year, two more than the team had in 2024. UNC has won in its home opener in 22 straight seasons dating back to 2002.

SCHEDULE
Game 1: App State - Friday, September 12 - 6 PM ET
Game 2: #9 Liberty - Sunday, September 14 - 12 PM ET
All games to be streamed live on ACCNX.

SCOUTING REPORT
vs. the Mountaineers
➤ Friday's game will be the 13th all-time meeting between the two programs.
➤ Carolina remains unbeaten against the Moutaineers, holding a scoring margin of 86-6 and averaging 7 goals per game
➤ Last time they met: The Heels rolled to a 5-0 win over App State this time last year, getting goals from Molly Catchpole and Ryleigh Heck along with a hat trick from Charly Bruder while maintaining the shutout. Pleun Lammers chipped in three assists on the day.
➤ App State only managed to get one shot on goal which the Tar Heels sucessfully stopped compared to the 16 that Carolina sent at them.

vs. the Flames
➤ Sunday's game will be the 12th all-time meeting between the two programs.
➤ Last time they met: UNC brought home a 7-0 victory in last season's meeting thanks an eight-point day from Ryleigh Heck as she produced a hat trick along with two assists. Charly Bruder scored twice while Sietske Brüning and Sanne Hak added one each.
➤ The eight points for Heck was the most from open play by a Tar Heel since 2015.
➤ The last two matchups at KSS have gone Liberty's way. Carolina last beat the Flames at home in Erin Matson's sophomore season in 2019 thanks to a goal and an assist from the now head coach.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
11 - Transfer Dani Mendez has made an immediate impact, logging a team-high 11 points in her first two weekends in Carolina blue.
3 - Carolina has 3 wins over top-15 opponents already this year, the most in the country.
298 - UNC returns to Karen Shelton Stadium after 298 days away, since last year's elite eight 3-0 win over Duke.
49 - With three goals thus far on the season,, Ryleigh Heck has 49 in her career. She now sits just seven shy of cracking the program's top-10.

JAUNT UP TO JERSEY
➤ The Tar Heels wrapped up its annual Conference Crossover clash with the Ivy Leaguers of Penn and Princeton over the weekend, coming away with a pair of victories to improve to 18-0 all-time in the challenge.
➤ Friday afternoon against the Quakers saw a goal barrage from UNC, who won 6-2 thanks to scores from five different Heels. Carolina logged the first four goals of the game and never looked back.
➤ Sunday's square off with the No. 10 ranked Tigers was a much tighter contest. Princeton scored first, but it was the true freshmen to the rescue for Erin Matson's squad.
➤ Forward Eliza Perrin notched her first career goal just before the end of the first half to level the game before defender Isabel Boere added two of her own off of penalty corner plays to win the game for the Tar Heels.

MENDEZ NAMED ACC & NFHCA POTW
➤ Virginia transfer midfielder Dani Mendez has wasted no time making a big impact here at Carolina.
➤ Leading the team with 11 points through four games, she has racked up three goals and five assist to help UNC to a 4-0 start to 2025.
➤ After another impressive weekend against Penn and Princeton where she scored a goal and added two assists, Mendez earned both ACC and NFHCA Offensive Player of the Week honors.

CHARLY B AND THE B STANDS FOR BACK
➤ The Tar Heels got a big boost over the weekend in Princeton as star forward Charly Bruder returned to the lineup after missing the team's first two games.
➤ The nation's leading scorer in 2024 with 27 goals (the fourth most in a single-season at UNC), Bruder battled through an injury sustained in the offseason to get back on the field.
➤ Her 2024 was a year stocked full of well deserved accolades as she earned NFHCA First Team All-America, All-South Region, All-ACC First Team, and ACC Tournament MVP honors.
➤ In her first game of the new campaign, she got right back to her old self by scoring a pair of penalty corner goals in her signature overpowering style.

THE FORTRESS SHELTON
➤ Karen Shelton Stadium officially opened August 25, 2018 and has been host to countless Carolina Field Hockey core memories since then.
➤ Named after the Heels' hall of fame coach of 42 seasons, it is the only UNC athletic playing facility named in honor of a woman and was just the second time in school history that an individual coached in a facility named for him or her.
➤ KSS has played host to numerous postseason contests, including the 2018 ACC Championship as well as the 2020 & 2023 NCAA Championship & Final Four (the Tar Heels won all three tournaments).
➤ The team is 65-4 in the seven seasons of play in the place they affectionately refer to as "Heaven."

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Isabel Boere

Charly Bruder

Molly Catchpole

Sanne Hak

Ryleigh Heck

Pleun Lammers

Dani Mendez

Eliza Perrin