NCAA Field Hockey

National Champions! Tar Heels Score Late to Upend Northwestern

National Champions! Tar Heels Score Late to Upend Northwestern


STORRS, Conn. (theACC.com) – North Carolina claimed the 2022 NCAA Division I Field Hockey Championship in dramatic fashion Sunday afternoon, scoring the winning goal with 1:19 left to edge defending NCAA champion Northwestern, 2-1, in the title game at the Sherman Family Athletic Complex.

Five-time ACC Offensive Player of the Year Erin Matson scored the game-winner, as teammate Paityn Wirth’s close-range attempt glanced off her stick and into the net. The goal was the 23rd of Matson’s career in NCAA tournament play, adding to what was already an all-time Division I record.

The NCAA field hockey championship is the fourth in five seasons for UNC, with Matson scoring the winning goal in each of the Tar Heels’ last two title-game wins (2000 and 2002).
UNC, which wrapped up a perfect season at 21-0, answered less than a minute after Northwestern (20-5) had scored to knot the match at 1-all. The Tar Heels had clung to a 1-0 lead since freshman Ryleigh Heck’s goal 17 minutes into the match.

UNC’s 10 all-time field hockey championships are the most in NCAA history, one more than the nine titles won by Old Dominion. All the Tar Heels’ national titles have come under the watch of veteran head coach Karen Shelton.
The ACC’s record number of all-time NCAA Division I Field Hockey Championships now stands at 22, including 15 of the last 21.

For more from UNC, please see here.

The complete 2022 NCAA Field Hockey Championship bracket can be found here.

Also of note:
• Sunday marked the 22nd time in the last 24 NCAA Field Hockey Championships – and the 30th time in the last 33 years – that the ACC placed at least one team in the title game.

• In the ACC’s 42 years as an NCAA Division I Field Hockey conference, league teams have accounted for more than half the total appearances in the national title game (43 of  84).
 
• UNC played in its 21st NCAA final. The Tar Heels are 77-29 all-time in NCAA Tournament play, ranking first in both tournament wins and total tournament games played.

• The ACC champion Tar Heels were the top-seeded team in this year’s NCAA tournament field.
 
• With Louisville, Syracuse, Virginia and Wake Forest joining UNC in the 2022 NCAA field, the ACC placed multiple teams in postseason play for the 28th consecutive season.

• All-time NCAA tournament appearances for ACC teams…

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