Carolina field hockey is headed back into the NCAA tournament with a familiar label and a new wrinkle.
The Tar Heels earned the No. 8 national seed and will open postseason play Friday, Nov. 13 at 3:30 p.m. ET against Miami in Evanston, Ill.
If UNC gets through the first round, it would return Sunday, Nov. 15 at 2 p.m. ET for the second round.
Both games are slated for ESPN+ with live stats available.
This is Carolina’s 24th straight NCAA tournament appearance, and it comes with a trip to Evanston that stands out for a couple of reasons. It’s the program’s first visit there since 1987, and only the second time in the last nine seasons that the Heels have had to leave home for the opening weekend of the tournament.
UNC enters at 12-7 overall and 6-2 in the ACC, while Miami arrives at 15-4 and 8-1 in the MAC. The RedHawks are coached by Inako Puzo, and Carolina has never faced Miami in the NCAA tournament before. The two teams did meet once before this year’s bracket, and the Heels have controlled the series from the start.
Friday’s matchup will be the sixth all-time meeting between Carolina and Miami, with UNC holding a 5-0 edge. It’s also the first postseason clash between the programs and just the second time they’ve met at a neutral site. Their only neutral-site meeting came in 2014 in Louisville.
The most recent matchup came during Erin Matson’s senior season as a player, when Carolina hosted Miami in a home opener tune-up and rolled to a 7-2 win. Matson scored once and added two assists in that game, and eight different Tar Heels recorded at least one goal or assist.
There’s also a little hometown flavor in this one for Carolina forward Reese Anetsberger, who is back in the Chicago area. She graduated from Glenbrook North, about 11 miles from where the Heels will play this weekend. She also played for the same club team as Miami’s Malena Batisteza.
Carolina’s postseason path begins after a rare miss in the ACC Tournament. The Tar Heels were knocked out in the semifinals, ending a run of nine straight conference titles.
That streak had been part of a larger ACC run that now sits at 28 championships, more than all of the other programs combined. No current league member has more than four titles, with Wake Forest at that mark, while former ACC member Maryland won 10.
Even with the ACC streak broken, the NCAA stage remains a place Carolina knows well. The Heels have won 11 national championships, the most in the sport’s history, and have claimed five of the last eight. Their all-time NCAA tournament record is 85-31.
This year’s No. 8 seed is a first for the program and for the sport, with the NCAA Field Hockey Selection Committee seeding teams 1 through 8 for the first time instead of stopping at 1 through 4. Matson, of course, is no stranger to this event. She won four national titles as a player and then added another in her first season as head coach.
Carolina’s ACC Tournament run started with a statement. The Heels beat Stanford 6-0 in the quarterfinals, with Charly Bruder scoring after just 33 seconds and Ryleigh Heck adding two more before halftime. Sofia Ferri, Coco Courtright and Hope Haynes each chipped in after the break.
The semifinal against No. 16 Syracuse was a different story. Carolina controlled the game but didn’t finish enough chances, and that proved costly as the Heels fell short of another ACC crown.
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