Erin Matson (field hockey)

Last updated

Erin Matson
Current position
TitleHead Coach
Team North Carolina
Conference ACC
Record18–3
Biographical details
Born (2000-03-17) March 17, 2000 (age 24)
Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, United States
Alma mater North Carolina
Playing career
2018–2022North Carolina
Position(s)Midfielder
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
2023–presentNorth Carolina
Head coaching record
Overall18–3
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
As a Player:

As a Coach:

Awards
As a Player:
  • 5x ACC Offensive Player of the year (2018–2022)
  • 5x ACC Player of the Year (2018–2022)
  • 3x Honda Sports Award Winner
Medal record
Women's field hockey
Representing the Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States
Pan American Cup
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2017 Lancaster
Pan American Games
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2019 Lima Team

Erin Matson (born March 17, 2000) is an American former field hockey player and the current head coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels field hockey team. A standout player on that team from 2018 to 2022, she led the Tar Heels to win four NCAA Championships.

Contents

Matson is one of only two players to be selected in the U.S. Women's National Team at age 16; [1] the first was Katie Bam, selected in 2005.

Early life

Matson grew up in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, and started playing field hockey in 2006. [2] Her mother, Jill, played field hockey and softball at Yale, and her father, Brian, played baseball at Delaware. [3] Matson played as a midfielder and graduated from Unionville High School in 2018. [4] In high school, she committed to play collegiate field hockey at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, under head coach Karen Shelton. [5]

College career

In the fall of 2018, Matson made her debut in Chapel Hill, and over the course of her time there, became one of the most decorated athletes in North Carolina Tar Heels history, with career achievements rivaling those of Michael Jordan, Mia Hamm, and Tyler Hansbrough. While at North Carolina, she won the Honda Sports Award three times, being recognized as the nation's top collegiate field hockey player in 2019, 2020, and 2022. [6] [7] [8] She won four NCAA Championships as a player (2018, 2019, 2020, and 2022), and five ACC titles in her five seasons in Chapel Hill. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the NCAA granted all student-athletes an extra year of eligibility, which Matson used to return to Carolina for a fifth playing season in 2022. Matson was recognized as the ACC Player of the Year and ACC Offensive Player of the Year every season she played at Carolina.

Coaching career

Following Karen Shelton's retirement in December 2022, and just a month after her own graduation from UNC, Matson was named the Tar Heels' head coach on January 31, 2023. In a move that paralleled Shelton's own hiring 42 years prior (Shelton was 23 when she became head coach) Matson became the Tar Heels' head coach at the age of 22. [9] Matson inherited a defending national championship team made up of many of her former teammates. [3] On November 19, 2023, the Tar Heels won the NCAA field hockey national championship, their 5th title in 6 years, making Matson the second youngest NCAA Division I coach in history to win a national championship just two months older than Myron Roderick at the time of their respective NCAA team championships. [10]

Career highlights

Matson was part of the United States team at the 2016–17 Hockey World League Semifinals in Johannesburg, South Africa. In the final, Matson scored the winning goal in a penalty shootout against Germany. [11] Matson has represented the US in four other international competitions in her career, the first being the 2014 Youth Indoor Pan American Games. [4]

International goals

No.DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.11 August 2017 Lancaster, United States Flag of Chile.svg  Chile 2–23–4 2017 Women's Pan American Cup
2.17 November 2017 Auckland, New Zealand Flag of South Korea.svg  South Korea 1–01–1 2016–17 Women's FIH Hockey World League Final
3.29 July 2019 Lima, Peru Flag of Mexico.svg  Mexico 4–05–0 2019 Pan American Games
4.31 July 2019Flag of Chile.svg  Chile 1–24–2
5.2 August 2019Flag of Peru.svg  Peru 3–08–0
6.9 August 2019Flag of Chile.svg  Chile 2–15–1
7.4–1
8.5–1

Head coaching record

Statistics overview
SeasonTeamOverallConferenceStandingPostseason
North Carolina Tar Heels (Atlantic Coast Conference)(2023–present)
2023North Carolina 18–35–1T-1st NCAA Champions
North Carolina:18–35–1
Total:18–3

      National champion        Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion        Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion      Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

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References

  1. ↑ "U.S. Women's National Team Roster". Team USA. Archived from the original on April 6, 2016.
  2. ↑ "#SQUAD GOALS: Meet Erin Matson". Team USA. Archived from the original on October 29, 2016.
  3. 1 2 Forde, Pat (February 8, 2023). "A 22-Year-Old Head Coach? North Carolina Didn't Think Twice About It". Sports Illustrated . Retrieved February 9, 2023.
  4. 1 2 "Erin Matson". Team USA. Archived from the original on December 29, 2015.
  5. ↑ Simone, Kathleen Harte (September 20, 2015). "Erin Matson '18 Commits to #3 University of North Carolina". Archived from the original on October 12, 2017. Retrieved September 26, 2017.
  6. ↑ "UNC's Erin Matson named Honda Sport Award winner for field hockey". National Field Hockey Coaches Association. December 27, 2019. Retrieved April 15, 2020.[ permanent dead link ]
  7. ↑ "North Carolina's Erin Matson Named Honda Sport Award Winner for Field Hockey". CWSA. December 23, 2019. Retrieved April 15, 2020.
  8. ↑ Koh, Michael (January 25, 2023). "UNC Field Hockey's Erin Matson Wins Honda Sport Award for 3rd Time". chapelboro.com. WCHL. Retrieved February 1, 2023.
  9. ↑ GoHeels.com. "Erin Matson named field hockey head coach".
  10. ↑ Bieler, Des (November 20, 2023). "UNC field hockey phenom Erin Matson becomes NCAA title-winning coach at 23". The Washington Post . ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved November 21, 2023.
  11. ↑ Pugliese, Diana (July 23, 2017). "Erin Matson's shootout goal clinches win, Hockey World League Semifinals gold for Team USA".
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