Carolina’s first ACC test of the season comes with a familiar backdrop: Virginia, a ranked opponent, and another chance for the Heels to show why they’ve owned this conference for so long.
North Carolina will host the Cavaliers on Sunday at Karen Shelton Stadium in the opener of ACC play, with the game set for 12:00 PM ET on ACC Network. It’s the final stop in the opening stretch of the schedule before Erin Matson’s team heads into nearly a month away from home. For the Heels, it also marks the second of four linear TV games on the 2027 slate, and UNC has more of those national broadcast appearances than anyone else in the league.
The matchup brings together No. 11 North Carolina at 3-3 and No.
9 Virginia at 4-2. Matson’s team is 62-9 under her leadership and 3-1 against the Cavaliers, while Virginia coach Ole Keusgen is 38-12 at the school and 1-3 against UNC.
The series itself has been heavily tilted toward the Tar Heels. Carolina owns a 69-18 edge all-time, including a current five-game winning streak.
At home, UNC has been especially dominant, going 30-5 in Chapel Hill. The teams first met on Oct. 22, 1976, and have played every year since then, often more than once.
A few numbers underline just how steady Carolina has been in this setting. The Heels have won 76 games at Karen Shelton Stadium and carry a .938 winning percentage there across 81 games.
In linear TV games under Matson, UNC is 17-1. And one more detail that jumps out: 13 players from the two rosters graduated from the same high schools.
Carolina comes into the conference opener after a split weekend that had plenty of drama. The Heels dropped a 5-4 overtime decision to No.
20 Old Dominion on Friday night in Chapel Hill after leading by three goals twice, only to see ODU rally and force extra time in the fourth quarter. Ella Barbacci had her first career multi-goal game, and Merritt Skubisz delivered a career-best 15 saves, the most by a UNC goalkeeper in at least the last 20 years.
That loss ended Carolina’s home winning streak, its first defeat in Chapel Hill since Oct. 10 in Matson’s first season, when Liberty won 2-1 in overtime.
UNC then bounced back on the road Sunday in its first true road game of the season, beating Richmond 2-1. Barbacci kept rolling there too, finishing with a goal and an assist. The Harvey’s Lake, Pa., native has three goals this season after entering the year with just one across her previous three seasons combined.
Virginia arrives after opening ACC play with a 0-1 conference mark, and Sunday gives both teams an early read on where they stand in the league race. For Carolina, it’s also another chance to keep a remarkable run going in the ACC, where the Heels have won nine straight championships and have gone 20-2 in regular season conference games under Matson, including a 7-1 mark last year.
The last meeting between these teams was a statement from North Carolina. The Heels rolled to a 4-1 win to secure their ninth straight ACC title and 28th overall, with tournament MVP and former Virginia transfer Dani Mendez scoring twice. Charly Bruder and Reese Anetsberger added goals as Carolina once again made its case as the conference’s standard-bearer.
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Belichick Turns UNCs Clemson Collapse Into A Bigger Tar Heels Concern
Bill Belichick came away from North Carolinas loss to Clemson sounding less interested in the final score than in the late-game details that slipped through the Tar Heels fingers. Afterward, he pointed to missed chances on both sides of the ball in the closing minutes, gave Clemson credit for making the decisive plays, and framed the defeat as the kind of game his team has to learn from quickly if it wants to keep moving forward.
Belichick also walked through several of the turning points that shaped the finish, including a key fourth-and-one pass attempt and the penalties that helped stall UNCs effort. Those are the kinds of moments that tend to linger after a close loss, and for a Tar Heels team trying to tighten things up, the bigger concern may be how many of them came in the same stretch of the game. [Read more 🡒]
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Belichick has publicly denied reports that Hudson has been involved in managing the football program, making clear that she has no official role with the university. Even so, her continued visibility has kept her tied to one of the more unusual off-field storylines surrounding the Tar Heels, with the conversation around UNC stretching beyond wins and losses and into who is actually part of the programs orbit. [Read more 🡒]
Michael Malone's First UNC Team Faces Doubts Fans Won't Ignore
Michael Malone has spent the spring and summer trying to put his stamp on North Carolina, reshaping the roster since taking over in April with a mix of transfer additions and recruiting work. The early outlook is respectable but not exactly settling for a fan base that expects more, with ESPN slotting the Tar Heels fifth in the ACC and projecting a wide range of outcomes that starts with 28 wins and a Sweet 16 run.
There is enough talent to make the conversation interesting, with transfers Terrence Brown and Neoklis Avdalas joining returnee Jarin Stevenson and freshman Maximo Adams as players expected to help offensively. Still, the projection leaves plenty of room for skepticism, and for UNC the bigger question is whether Malone can turn a newly built roster into something that looks like a true contender before the season starts answering it for him. [Read more 🡒]