ANN ARBOR, Mich. — After the harsh sound of the final buzzer of the NCAA semifinal match faded, head coach Erin Matson took her seat at the post-game press conference. She wiped away the tears flowing down her cheeks.
She started to find the words for her opening statement but paused. Her voice trailed off.
She took a deep breath. Then she tried again.
“I'll just leave it at, I’m the one in the position consoling everyone and making sure everyone’s OK and in good spirits,” Matson said. “The first thing I hear is Ciana Riccardo walking off the field saying, ‘You can’t win them all.’”
It’s the truth, of course. But the expectation for an 11-time national title winning field hockey program is to always "win them all."
The Tar Heels have taken home the NCAA championship trophy five times out of the last six years. They’ve won it more than any other school. They clinched the trophy with a 23-year-old head coach in her first year — only a year removed from her last season as a player for the team. They’ve appeared in the final match seven out of the last nine years. And as the No. 1 seed and only remaining undefeated team in this year’s tournament, they looked poised to defend their title for the third year in a row.
Then came Saint Joseph’s. On Friday afternoon at Michigan’s Phyllis Ocker Field and one win away from advancing to the championship game, UNC came up short against No. 4 seed SJU, 2-1, in the Final Four, marking North Carolina’s first loss of the season. The lone score came from sophomore forward Charly Bruder in the 45th minute. Too little, too late.
“I think it’s a testament to the standards that this program has that losing in a semifinal match feels like it’s the end of the world, when most programs would dream to be in this position,” Matson said.
