Heels Open Conference Play With Homestand

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Carolina field hockey, champions of the ACC eight years running and 27 times in program history, enter conference play this weekend with games against Cal and Stanford. UNC is 13-1 in regular season ACC matchups under Erin Matson and went a perfect 8-0 last year.

SCHEDULE
Game 1: Cal - Friday, September 19 - 6 PM ET
Game 2: Stanford - Sunday, September 21 - 1 PM ET
All games to be streamed live on ACCNX.

SCOUTING REPORT
vs. the Golden Bears
➤ Friday's game will be the 10th all-time meeting between the two programs.
➤ Carolina remains unbeaten against Cal, holding a scoring margin of 42-2 and averaging 4.67 goals per game
➤ Last time they met: These teams actually met twice last season, most recently in the ACC tournament first round where UNC rolled to a 5-0 win. Bruder bagged a brace, Hak made it three, and then Hope Haynes scored her only goal of the season to cap it.
➤ In Cal's lone ACC win last year, they beat Louisville to secure coach Shellie Onstead her 300th career win as a head coach to cap off her 30th season.

vs. the Cardinal
➤ Sunday's game will be the 17th all-time meeting between the two programs.
➤ Stanford won the first contest, but it's been all Carolina since. UNC has won 15 straight.
➤ Last time they met: The Tar Heels flew to the Golden Coast last season to hand deliver a 3-0 shutout loss to the Cardinal on their home turf. Charly Bruder scored once and assisted on the other two goals registered on the day.
➤ The Heels have held a shutout against the Cardinal in each of their last five meetings.
➤ In the 6-0 win back in 2022, the first goal of the game was scored by Ryleigh Heck and assisted by a senior year Erin Matson.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
14 - Transfer Dani Mendez has made an immediate impact, logging a team-high 14 points in her first three weekends in Carolina blue.
4 - Carolina has 4 wins over top-15 opponents already this year, the most in the country.
12 - UNC has won 12 more ACC Championships than all of the other schools combined, 10 of which belong to Maryland who is no longer in the conference.
51 - With five goals thus far on the season, Ryleigh Heck has 51 in her career. She now sits just five shy of cracking the program's top-10.

ROLLED THROUGH THE HOME OPENER
➤ The Tar Heels took two emphatic victories away from home opening weekend, defeating App State 5-0 on Friday night before a 3-1 win over No. 9 Liberty on Sunday afternoon.
➤ Ryleigh Heck scored just 40 seconds into the game to set the tone against the Mountaineers, eventually getting five goals from four different players.
➤ It is the 23rd year in a row that UNC has won its first home game of the season, dating back to 2002.
➤ Against the Flames, Carolina scored within the first minute once again via a Reese Anetsberger putback.
➤ Heck and Charly Bruder each got their names on the scoresheet to seal the victory for the Tar Heels.
➤ Surprisingly, it was the first time since the inaugural season at Karen Shelton Stadium in 2018 that Carolina has beaten Liberty at home and the first time head coach Erin Matson was able to do so.

SKUBISZ SECURES ACC POTW
➤ True freshman goalkeeper Merritt Skubisz has received early accolades in her young career, being named the ACC Defensive Player of the Week for her efforts against App State and No. 9 Liberty.
➤ The Houston, Texas native refused to surrender a goal in either game across 60:00 minutes of play.
➤ In, Friday night's faceoff with the Mountaineers, she was the second half keeper and maintained the team's shutout. In her third career start against the highly-touted Flames, Skubisz held her own and then some to keep Liberty off the board in the first half.
➤ Skubisz is the first freshman under head coach Erin Matson to win the award.

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Players Mentioned

Reese Anetsberger

Charly Bruder

Hope Haynes

Ryleigh Heck

Dani Mendez

Merritt Skubisz