The name Karen Shelton will be forever engraved in North Carolina athletics.
North Carolina announced Monday that the Carolina Field Hockey Stadium will be renamed in honor of the longtime field hockey head coach Karen Shelton.
"This stadium is such a wonderful tribute to all of the players and coaches who have come through our program and helped to make it great," Shelton told GoHeels. "I'm so proud that this outstanding facility is the new home for Carolina field hockey."
Throughout Shelton’s career in Chapel Hill, she has led the Tar Heels to six national championships, 11 NCAA runner-up finishes and 20 ACC titles. In 10 of the last 11 seasons, the UNC field hockey team has made the NCAA Final Four.
In addition, Shelton has accumulated a number of honors since becoming the head coach in 1981. She was named the National Coach of the Year five times and honored as the ACC Coach of the Year nine times. In 2008, she was inducted into the National Field Hockey Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
"Naming this stadium after Coach Karen Shelton – who has been an amazing coach and mentor for almost four decades – expresses our gratitude for her dedication to women's athletics," Chancellor Carol Folt told GoHeels. "This is the first UNC playing field named in honor of a woman and the only UNC facility named for a female coach."
On Oct. 18, 2015, Shelton won her 600th career game as North Carolina's head coach. Through 37 seasons, Shelton has led her team to 646 wins and is ranked second in NCAA field hockey history in total victories.
The newly-named Karen Shelton Stadium is the first UNC athletic facility to be dedicated to a female and the only facility on campus named after a current coach. After the stadium is dedicated in Shelton’s honor, it will become the eighth building on UNC's campus to be named after an individual woman.
In North Carolina's next game against Virginia, Shelton will join elite company. Only one UNC coach has previously coached in a facility named after him or her — Dean Smith.
