Carolina teams owned Sunday night on ESPN.
Obviously, football and basketball represent the biggest brand representation in college sports, and the Tar Heels right now have dominated the news with football a contender for the national championship and Hall of Famer Roy Williams’ retirement.
This weekend, UNC Olympic sports teams increased that brand recognition exponentially due to a glut of tournament games and pairing shows bunched together by COVID scheduling shifts.
The day started with UNC women’s soccer returning to its 30th College Cup with a 1-0 win, its seventh straight shutout, over Texas A&M and a bid to break a national championship drought since 2012. After losing in the Final Four the last two years, the Tar Heels of Anson Dorrance are determined to win it all, buoyed by junior All-American Brianna Pinto unselfishly deciding to postpone turning pro to play in one last NCAA tournament that continues this weekend.
The night began with field hockey’s dramatic overtime win over Michigan at Karen Shelton Stadium on ESPNU, with three-year superstar Erin Matson ending the sudden-death 4-3 game by whipping a reverse, backhanded goal past the Wolverines into the back of the net.
Matson wears No. 1 since it is often the smallest jersey available, but the 5-4 dynamo is a giant on the field, leading Shelton’s team to three straight and record nine NCAA titles and could return to school in the fall for her senior season to propel UNC to the first four-peat in the sport’s history.
Right after the raucous celebration on the field with brand manager and Athletics Director Bubba Cunningham in the middle of the picture-snapping, ESPNU switched to the pairing shows for both the men’s and women’s lacrosse tournaments.
And guess what, Joe Breschi’s men and, as expected, Jenny Levy’s top-ranked women are the No. 1 seeds in both brackets. The men are going for their second NCAA title under Breschi and the women are after a ninth Final Four and Levy’s third national championship.
Four of the first five seeds in the women’s tourney are from the ACC and Duke is in both fields, but that is secondary branding to the Carolina name, logo and colors dominating the Olympic sports scene.
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