University of North Carolina Athletics
2025 Field Hockey Roster
Jersey Number 12
Ryleigh Heck
- Position:
- F
- Height:
- 5-6
- Class:
- Senior
- Hometown:
- Ocean City, N.J.
- High School:
- Eastern
• Finished her career with 65 goals, the seventh most in program history.
2025: Started all 23 games at forward for the Tar Heels... Logged career highs in points (51) and goals (19) while adding 13 assists... Won her third straight NFHCA South Region Player of the Year... Named to the NFHCA All-America first team, the 75th first team award in program history... Earned first team All-South Region honors for the fourth straight season... Voted on to the NCAA All-Tournament team... Selected for the All-ACC Tournament team... Became the sixth player in program history to be named All-ACC first team four times... Scored five goals in the win over Stanford (9/21), tied for the most ever in a game by a Tar Heel. Only 14 players in the sport’s history have scored more in a single contest... The performance against the Cardinal and a two-goal game against Cal (9/19) earned her ACC Offensive Player of the Week... Bagged a hat trick in the team’s 6-1 win over Richmond (10/24)... Listed on the Preseason All-ACC team... Helped the team to the ACC’s top and the nation’s third best scoring average (3.74 goals per game)... Chosen as one of the team’s captains, taking on a bigger leadership role in her senior season.
2024: Became the 13th different Tar Heel to win ACC Offensive Player of the Year ... Earned a spot on the NCAA All-Tournament team for the third year in a row ... Finalist for the Honda Award for the second straight season ... Won her second straight NFHCA South Region Player of the Year honor ... Named a NFHCA First Team All-American, her third straight All-American honor and second first-team selection ... NFHCA All-South Region first team ... Selected for the 2024 All-ACC first team ... Named to the 2024 ACC All-Tournament Team ... Started all 21 games for the Tar Heels, racking up 45 points ... Recorded 15 goals and a career high 15 assists to have the second most points on the team that scored the most goals and points per game in the country ... Led the ACC in assists ... Tabbed as both the NFHCA and ACC Offensive Player of the Week after four goals and five assists in two games over one weekend against Syracuse (9/20) and Liberty (9/22) ... Her eight points from open play (three goals and two assists) against Liberty is the most in a game for a Tar Heel since 2015 ... Listed on the Preseason All-ACC team ... Secured a spot on the All-ACC Academic Team ... Chosen as the Anderson Mark of Excellence Most Valuable Player.
2023: Capped an outstanding sophomore season with the Honda Sport Award for Field Hockey ... Led UNC in scoring with 34 points on 13 goals and eight assists ... Named NFHCA Division I National Player of the Year. She’s the third Tar Heel on the fifth occasions to win that honor ... NFHCA South Region Player of the Year ... First-team All-America after earning second-team honors as a freshman … Named to the All-ACC first team for the second year in a row … ACC Tournament MVP as the Tar Heels won the 2023 title, their seventh in a row and 26th overall … Named to the NCAA All-Tournament team for the second year in a row. In the title game against Northwestern, she scored the deciding goal in the sudden death penalty shootout ... Five game-winning goals ... Had the deciding scores in both the ACC and NCAA Championship games
2022: As a freshman, started all 21 games for the Tar Heels ... Voted ACC Freshman of the Year ... Named second-team All-America, first-team All-Region and first-team All-ACC ... Selected for the All-ACC Tournament and All-NCAA Tournament teams as Carolina claimed both titles ... ACC Offensive Player of the Week on Oct. 18 and NFHCA National Offensive Player of the Week on Oct. 19 and Nov. 10 ... Had her first career hat trick and added another assist for seven points in the Oct. 14 win over Syracuse ... Two games later she registered another hat trick in the Oct. 23 win over Saint Joseph's ... Had two-goal games at Stanford and home against Virginia ... Scored the opening goal in the NCAA Championship game against Northwestern. Her goal put Carolina up 1-0 17 minutes into the game and the Tar Heels went on to win 2-1
Before UNC: At Eastern High School, earned All-America honors her freshman, sophomore and senior years ... USA Today National Player of the Year in 2022 ... Max Field Hockey National Player of the Year in 2021 ... Four-time all-state selection ... New Jersey Player of the Year in her junior and senior years ... 2021 USA Today New Jersey Female Athlete of the Year ... Helped her team to three state titles ... Also played lacrosse, reaching the state finals and earning all-conference and second-team All-South Jersey honors
National/International: Selected for the 2022-23 and 2023-24 U.S. National Teams ... Won gold as part of the U.S. U21 team at the 2023 Junior Pan American Championships in Barbados in April ...Competed for the U.S. at the 2023 Junior World Cup in Chile in December ... Named the Young Player of the Tournament at the 2022 Senior Nexus Championship ... Member of the U.S. U21 team and the Senior Indoor Team ... Also played for the U.S. U19 and U17 teams ... Junior Pan Am Games gold medalist
More on Heck: Daughter of Roy and Kerry Heck ... Her mother played field hockey and lacrosse at James Madison and her father played basketball at Stockton University ... Her three older siblings also are collegiate athletes: Brother Jordan played basketball at Stockton, brother Andrew played football at Ursinus and sister Kara played field hockey at Boston College ... Favorite sport other than field hockey is basketball ... Loves to cook ... Athletes she admires most are Tom Brady and Kobe Bryant ... Dream job is to own her own real estate agency
2025: Started all 23 games at forward for the Tar Heels... Logged career highs in points (51) and goals (19) while adding 13 assists... Won her third straight NFHCA South Region Player of the Year... Named to the NFHCA All-America first team, the 75th first team award in program history... Earned first team All-South Region honors for the fourth straight season... Voted on to the NCAA All-Tournament team... Selected for the All-ACC Tournament team... Became the sixth player in program history to be named All-ACC first team four times... Scored five goals in the win over Stanford (9/21), tied for the most ever in a game by a Tar Heel. Only 14 players in the sport’s history have scored more in a single contest... The performance against the Cardinal and a two-goal game against Cal (9/19) earned her ACC Offensive Player of the Week... Bagged a hat trick in the team’s 6-1 win over Richmond (10/24)... Listed on the Preseason All-ACC team... Helped the team to the ACC’s top and the nation’s third best scoring average (3.74 goals per game)... Chosen as one of the team’s captains, taking on a bigger leadership role in her senior season.
2024: Became the 13th different Tar Heel to win ACC Offensive Player of the Year ... Earned a spot on the NCAA All-Tournament team for the third year in a row ... Finalist for the Honda Award for the second straight season ... Won her second straight NFHCA South Region Player of the Year honor ... Named a NFHCA First Team All-American, her third straight All-American honor and second first-team selection ... NFHCA All-South Region first team ... Selected for the 2024 All-ACC first team ... Named to the 2024 ACC All-Tournament Team ... Started all 21 games for the Tar Heels, racking up 45 points ... Recorded 15 goals and a career high 15 assists to have the second most points on the team that scored the most goals and points per game in the country ... Led the ACC in assists ... Tabbed as both the NFHCA and ACC Offensive Player of the Week after four goals and five assists in two games over one weekend against Syracuse (9/20) and Liberty (9/22) ... Her eight points from open play (three goals and two assists) against Liberty is the most in a game for a Tar Heel since 2015 ... Listed on the Preseason All-ACC team ... Secured a spot on the All-ACC Academic Team ... Chosen as the Anderson Mark of Excellence Most Valuable Player.
2023: Capped an outstanding sophomore season with the Honda Sport Award for Field Hockey ... Led UNC in scoring with 34 points on 13 goals and eight assists ... Named NFHCA Division I National Player of the Year. She’s the third Tar Heel on the fifth occasions to win that honor ... NFHCA South Region Player of the Year ... First-team All-America after earning second-team honors as a freshman … Named to the All-ACC first team for the second year in a row … ACC Tournament MVP as the Tar Heels won the 2023 title, their seventh in a row and 26th overall … Named to the NCAA All-Tournament team for the second year in a row. In the title game against Northwestern, she scored the deciding goal in the sudden death penalty shootout ... Five game-winning goals ... Had the deciding scores in both the ACC and NCAA Championship games
2022: As a freshman, started all 21 games for the Tar Heels ... Voted ACC Freshman of the Year ... Named second-team All-America, first-team All-Region and first-team All-ACC ... Selected for the All-ACC Tournament and All-NCAA Tournament teams as Carolina claimed both titles ... ACC Offensive Player of the Week on Oct. 18 and NFHCA National Offensive Player of the Week on Oct. 19 and Nov. 10 ... Had her first career hat trick and added another assist for seven points in the Oct. 14 win over Syracuse ... Two games later she registered another hat trick in the Oct. 23 win over Saint Joseph's ... Had two-goal games at Stanford and home against Virginia ... Scored the opening goal in the NCAA Championship game against Northwestern. Her goal put Carolina up 1-0 17 minutes into the game and the Tar Heels went on to win 2-1
Before UNC: At Eastern High School, earned All-America honors her freshman, sophomore and senior years ... USA Today National Player of the Year in 2022 ... Max Field Hockey National Player of the Year in 2021 ... Four-time all-state selection ... New Jersey Player of the Year in her junior and senior years ... 2021 USA Today New Jersey Female Athlete of the Year ... Helped her team to three state titles ... Also played lacrosse, reaching the state finals and earning all-conference and second-team All-South Jersey honors
National/International: Selected for the 2022-23 and 2023-24 U.S. National Teams ... Won gold as part of the U.S. U21 team at the 2023 Junior Pan American Championships in Barbados in April ...Competed for the U.S. at the 2023 Junior World Cup in Chile in December ... Named the Young Player of the Tournament at the 2022 Senior Nexus Championship ... Member of the U.S. U21 team and the Senior Indoor Team ... Also played for the U.S. U19 and U17 teams ... Junior Pan Am Games gold medalist
More on Heck: Daughter of Roy and Kerry Heck ... Her mother played field hockey and lacrosse at James Madison and her father played basketball at Stockton University ... Her three older siblings also are collegiate athletes: Brother Jordan played basketball at Stockton, brother Andrew played football at Ursinus and sister Kara played field hockey at Boston College ... Favorite sport other than field hockey is basketball ... Loves to cook ... Athletes she admires most are Tom Brady and Kobe Bryant ... Dream job is to own her own real estate agency
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