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Carolina women are at it again.
A year or so ago, with the football and basketball teams struggling under Mack Brown and Hubert Davis, Bubba Cunningham was asked how he felt about the head-coaching hires he had made.
“Erin Matson and Damon Nahas were pretty good hires,” he said, answering snarky with snarky.
Matson, whom Bubba had hired right after her incomparable playing career was over, led the Carolina field hockey team to the 2023 national championship, coaching many ex-teammates.
Nahas had stepped in after Anson Dorrance’s surprise retirement just before the 2024 season kicked off. Nahas did what Dorrance, the women’s soccer coach with the most all-time wins over 44 seasons, hadn’t done since 2012. He led the Heels to the NCAA championship beating Big 4 rival Wake Forest in Cary.
Matson’s second season was another spectacular success, as the Tar Heels won their first 20 matches before falling to St. Joseph’s, 2-1, in the national semifinals. While the now 25-year-old head coach acknowledged another great season, she admits the loss made her emotional at the time.
Both world class programs go back to work before the end of August and Bill Belichick’s ballyhooed debut as the $30 million football coach against TCU on Labor Day night.
Behind 2024 National Player of the Year Kate Faasse, Nahas’s second team starts the season at Tennessee Thursday night at 7 on the SEC Network, which is on the ESPN platform.
Carolina is a heavy favorite, a perch Dorrance’s teams enjoyed for decades, but playing any sports at any Southeastern Conference school is no walk in the park even though the all-time series record is 12-0-1 in UNC’s favor.
Faasse is a senior forward and one of five upperclassmen on the 27-woman squad, which has traditionally recruited nationwide for depth behind chief scout and program GM Chris Ducar.
Nahas had the tag of “interim coach” all the way through the season before Cunningham ripped the interim off before the Final Four. The way serial loyalty works at Carolina, Nahas’ biggest hurdle after assisting Dorrance since 2015 was that he played his collegiate soccer at N.C. State.
Faasse had 20 goals and 4 assists last season for 44 points, more than twice as many as any teammate. One of last year’s assist leaders with 7, Tessa Dellarose, returns but much of the roster will be a work in progress for Nahas.
We’ll talk more about Matson’s third team, which opens with the ACC-Big Ten challenge over Labor Day Weekend in Iowa City with games against Michigan Friday night and Iowa Sunday afternoon. Matson’s Tar Heels have two tough tests to start the season and get that bad taste out of their mouths.
Yes, they are “only” national semifinalists, but they are also defending ACC champions who beat Duke twice, the second time in the NCAA regional to advance to the Final Four.
Featured image via UNC Athletic Communications
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
