UNC heads north to rekindle rivalry

For the No. 1 North Carolina field hockey team, Fall Break doesn’t represent a time to relax and recover from midterms.

Instead, this Saturday the team will travel to College Park, Md., to face its arch-rival, No. 6 Maryland.

“(Last weekend) we had the confines of friendly Henry stadium and our fans behind us,” coach Karen Shelton said. “So the next step in our development as a team is to have to go to a hostile environment and still play.”

The winner of the rivalry game will not only walk away with bragging rights but also with the ACC regular season title.

UNC is all too familiar with the Terrapins. The Tar Heels have faced Maryland in the last three national championships and have lost 3-2 in overtime the last two years.

The two programs top the lists of nearly all major categories of achievement.

While at North Carolina, Shelton has been honored as the National Coach of the Year five times, while Maryland coach Missy Meharg has garnered the award an unprecedented nine times.

Shelton has coached the Tar Heels to six national championships and a record 17 ACC championships.

UNC has competed for four NCAA titles in the last five years, with three of these meetings coming against Maryland.

Meharg has led her teams to seven national championships, including five in the last seven years. The Terrapins have also captured nine ACC tournament championships.

Previous meetings between the two schools featured battles between top players like UNC’s National Field Hockey Coaches Association Player of the Year Katelyn Falgowski and Maryland’s Honda Award for national player of the year Megan Frazer.

In this year’s game, top players like Maryland’s All-American forward Jill Witmer and reigning ACC Player of the Week senior defender Caitlin Van Sickle will go head-to-head.

This will be the 58th meeting between the two programs, and UNC holds the advantage 33-24.

But this season’s meeting won’t be about settling old scores.

“This is a different team, and they’re a little bit different,” Shelton said. “We’re talking about this year, and not what happened last year. We’re worried about what happens next.”

The Tar Heels are riding momentum from their 3-2 overtime victory against ACC opponent Virginia last week.

UNC is undefeated in ACC play.

The Cavaliers gave Maryland its lone ACC loss three weeks ago.

But now, Maryland is riding a three-game win streak.

If previous records show any signs of what’s to come on Saturday, the game will be competitive regardless of records and rankings.

“It’s huge. For the last three years, we’ve been head-to-head in the national championship game,” UNC sophomore forward Loren Shealy said. “Anytime we play Maryland, it’s always a huge game — really exciting, a lot of emotions.”

“Those are the kind of games you play for and you wait for as a player.”

Contact the desk editor at sports@dailytarheel.com.