Two of Carolina’s Hall of Fame coaches did it for the 22nd time Sunday.

Granted, Mack Brown and Roy Williams get most of the national attention because they coach the two biggest sports at UNC. But while both the football and basketball Tar Heels were not playing over the weekend, Anson Dorrance and Karen Shelton showed again they’re the best in their sports and why both are long-time national Hall of Famers.

Dorrance led his women’s soccer team to another ACC tournament championship with a two-overtime win over previously undefeated Virginia at the Wake Med Soccer Park in Cary. The soccer icon won the ACC regular season and tournament championships, each for the 22nd time, but not all in the same years, showing what dominance Anson’s program has had over his 40 seasons at the helm.

Five of Dorrance’s 22 NCAA titles came in his first eight years before enough schools in the ACC began playing women’s soccer to recognize a conference champion. The national runner-up last year, Carolina women’s soccer aims to regain the title they last won in 2012.

Shelton’s dominant field hockey juggernaut won its third straight and fourth out of the last five ACC tournament championships by beating Boston College on the Eagles’ home field.

Over her 39 years at Carolina, Shelton has now led UNC to seven NCAA Championships, 11 NCAA runner-up finishes, those 22 ACC titles and 37 winning seasons. Carolina heads into the NCAA tournament as defending champion with a current 42-match winning streak. Shelton’s career record here is 688-164-9, second in NCAA history for career wins.

Both programs are top seeds in their respective NCAA brackets, a distinction that allows the two women sports powerhouses to open post-season play in Chapel Hill on their coaches’ namesake home fields.

Field hockey will play at Noon Friday at Karen Shelton Stadium against either Stanford or Miami-Ohio. The winner advances to the second round Sunday at 1 o’clock against the Duke-Iowa State victor.

The women’s soccer tournament opens on Dorrance Field Saturday evening at 6 pm against Belmont. The winner will move on to the second and third rounds next weekend, presumably still in Chapel Hill if the heavily favored Tar Heels advance.

The weather is supposed to warm up by the weekend, and with no other UNC sports teams in playoff action, what a great time to catch these two Hall of Famers and their latest championship editions in person.

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