If you pay any attention to collegiate field hockey, you know Erin Matson.
Dubbed the “Michael Jordan” of field hockey, Matson led the University of North Carolina to four national championships as a player with three Player of the Year selections, and just two months after graduating, was named head coach of that same team. She then led the Tar Heels to another national championship in her first year as head coach in 2023, the youngest Div. I coach (in any sport) to ever do it at only 23 years old. Matson was named the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Coach of the Year this season.
“From the beginning, we were transparent about it. We over-communicated. I believe in the power of communication. They knew my standards and expectations. They knew how I was as a player and as a captain as a teammate. And I’m not any different now,” Matson said in an interview with PBS news. “So it really was a team effort [last] season and that’s the only way it worked.”
Coming into the 2024 season ranked second, the Tar Heels are now the top-seeded team in the postseason tournament, undefeated over 20 games so far. With only four teams left and the semifinals just around the corner on Friday Nov. 22, UNC looks to repeat their historic success and bring home a 12th (and third consecutive) national championship for the Tar Heels field hockey dynasty. North Carolina has the most field hockey national championships in the NCAA.
The team’s offense is led by junior forward Ryleigh Heck, the ACC Offensive Player of the Year, sophomore forward Charly Bruder, the NCAA’s leader in goals per game with 1.30 and second in points per game, and junior midfielder Sietske Bruning, captain and playmaker in the midfield. Their back line is led by ACC Second Team senior back Kelly Smith and senior goalkeeper Abigail Taylor, featuring only nine goals against them for the entire season, and boasting 12 shutouts as the only undefeated team in the tournament.
Another powerhouse gunning for the title this year, ranked No. 2, is Northwestern University. Led by the winningest head coach in program history, Tracey Fuchs, Northwestern is 19-1 this season. They were ranked the number one team before the season started this fall, but fell in the BIG 10 championship game to the University of Michigan 1-0, and thus lost the hotly debated first seed to the Tar Heels in the tournament. After failing to beat UNC in the national championship game for the past two years, the Wildcats are hungrier than ever.
“This is—we call it season three. We have the regular season and then [BIG 10] tournament and this is it,” Fuchs said in a clip on Northwestern’s Instagram. “It’s do or die now.”
The ‘Cats have the top-ranked goalkeeper in the NCAA with graduate student Annabel Skubisz, BIG 10 Goalkeeper of the Year, anchoring the back end for the fifth year in a row, boasting a .853 save percentage. Additionally, BIG 10 First Team sophomore midfielder/back Ilse Tromp contributes both to goals scoring and defending.
On the forward line, BIG 10 Offensive Player of the Year sophomore forward Ashley Sessa leads the league in points per game (and transferred from UNC for this season). Sessa and senior forward Maddie Zimmer, BIG 10 Player of the Year, played for the 2024 U.S. Olympic Women’s Field Hockey Team in Paris. In their quarterfinals overtime win versus the University of Virginia, Zimmer assisted BIG 10 First Team senior forward Lauren Wadas’ game-winning goal.
The third team competing in the semifinals is another expected one—No. 4 Saint Joseph’s University. St. Joe’s is a significantly smaller school than the other Final Four, with over 7,000 students versus around four times as many students for all other three schools. They have seven wins over ranked opponents, including two in the first round of the tournament.
The Hawks are a relatively new tournament contender, with only seven NCAA berths in 2017, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23 and 24. 2024 is their best year yet, reaching the semi-finals. Previously, the Hawks have not made it further than the second round, which they did only once in seven berths. With a 19-3 record, St. Joe’s leads the Atlantic 10 in scoring average and is third overall in the NCAA. Graduate forward Lily Santi leads the A10 in points and second in goals, and is ranked 16th in points per game in the NCAA. Santi also won A10 Offensive Player of the Year. Graduate forward Manu Ghigliotti, second in assists in the A10, graduate back Julia Duffhuis and senior midfielder Sol Borensztein all also made First Team A10 and with Santi, run the field for the Hawks. In goal, senior keeper Marith Bijkerk ranks third in the NCAA goalie win-loss percentage.
Finally, the University of Massachusetts leapt onto the stage from the 14th rank—beating No. 3 University of Connecticut and Harvard in the first and second rounds of tournament play to land themselves in the program’s first final four since 1992.
UMass played St. Joe’s twice during the regular season, as they’re both from the Atlantic 10 Conference—with the Minutewomen winning the first matchup 2-1 and the Hawks winning the second 2-1—so they will most definitely be able to keep up with the top-ranked teams they will face. UMass also reversed outcomes against ranked teams with their first and second round wins, having lost to UConn and Harvard earlier in the season.
Massachusetts dominated the A10 accolades with freshman forward Elani Sherwood picking up Rookie of the Year, senior back Paula Lorenzini winning Defensive Player of the Year, junior goalkeeper Myrte van Herwijnen claiming Goalkeeper of the Year and head coach Barb Weinburg picking up Coach of the Year. Van Herwijnen is ranked ninth in NCAA goalie win-loss percentage. Graduate midfield/back Claire Danahy also dominates on the field, grabbing the 11th spot in assists per game in the NCAA. If they win on Friday, UMass will head to the national championship game for the first time since 1981, when they lost to UConn 4-1.
UNC and St. Joe’s will face off at 12 p.m. ET on Nov. 22, with Northwestern and UMass taking the field immediately after at 3 p.m. ET to determine who will play for the national championship. The title game will take place Sunday, Nov. 24, at 1:30 p.m. ET at W&L Turf Field in Lexington, VA.
