By Courtney Brennan ‘24
STAFF WRITER
Alumna Erin Matson has been named head coach of the University of North Carolina’s field hockey team. Being the most decorated player in UNC program history, Matson will continue her legendary career directing from the sidelines. She follows Karen Shelton, the most accomplished coach in NCAA field hockey history, who was at the Tar Heels helm for 42 years before announcing her retirement in December.
During her time at the high school, Matson scored 38 goals and had 27 assists in 23 games during the 2014-15 season alone. She played as a freshman and sophomore and earned All-American and All-Region honors as a sophomore. Matson was also named Ches-Mont League player of the year as a sophomore.
Matson has played for the US National Team since she was 17 and has played all across the globe. In the 2022 Pan American Cup in Chile, she was the top scorer overall. Her team secured gold at the 2017 World League Semifinals. She also won silver with her team in the 2016 Junior Pan American Games. Additionally, Matson has three bronze medals to her name.
When she was a Tar Heels player, Matson played on four NCAA Championship teams and five ACC Championship teams. She was the all-time scoring leader in ACC and NCAA tournament history. Additionally, she was only the second player to be awarded the Honda Sport Award for Field Hockey three times. When she was a freshman, she started all 23 games, and led the team with 20 goals and 19 assists, and she was voted ACC Rookie of the Year. As a senior, she scored 28 goals and had 10 assists and became the first student-athlete to earn ACC Player of the Year honors five times.
Matson graduated from UNC this past December with a degree in advertising and public relations and a minor in coaching education, and will hopefully lead the Tar Heels to even more success and another NCAA Championship soon.
Unionville Post 