Though her year didn’t end in a fourth consecutive national championship win, UNC field hockey star Erin Matson still had plenty to be proud of during the 2021 fall season. Despite missing three games due to an injury, Matson still led Carolina in both goals and assists, and led the team to an ACC championship win in November.

Now, Matson can add yet another accolade to her trophy case, as Bolster Field Hockey named Matson its National Player of the Year on Monday.

Matson’s 27 goals and 64 points were both best in the nation this season, and her 10 assists ranked No. 12. She is the only player in the country to rank in the top 20 in both goals and assists this season.

Matson became both UNC’s and the ACC’s all-time leader in goals this fall, breaking the school mark of 84 and then the conference mark of 102 just a month later. She is only the third player in ACC history and 13th all-time to score 100 or more goals. Matson currently sits at 109 goals, which is eighth all-time in NCAA history.

For her accomplishments, Matson won the ACC’s Offensive Player of the Week award four times during the season, and took home the Offensive Player of the Year honors in November. She scored six of Carolina’s eight goals during the team’s ACC championship run. When discounting the three games she missed due to injury, Matson scored 14 goals in Carolina’s final seven games of the season.

This is the third year in a row Matson has been recognized as the national player of the year. She won both the National Field Hockey Coaches Association award and the Honda Sport Award the last two years.

In addition, Matson was named a first-team All-American by the NFHCA Tuesday. She is just the second player in the history of the UNC field hockey program to be named a first-team All-American four times, after Kelsey Kolojejchick did so from 2009 to 2013.

“Becoming the second player in our program to earn first-team All-America honors four times is such a fitting illustration of Erin’s career here at UNC,” head coach Karen Shelton told Carolina Athletics. “She’s been outstanding from day one and that has never varied. She gets a lot of credit for her scoring, but she also does so many other things for our team, from making a great pass to set up a teammate to encouraging from the sidelines if she’s not in the game. I’m so proud of her continued development and leadership.”

Despite being a senior academically, Matson is still eligible to return to Chapel Hill next season, due to the extra year of eligibility granted to student-athletes by the NCAA during the pandemic.

 

Featured image via UNC Athletic Communications

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