The fall sports semester draws to a close

It has been a long season for some of the most successful of the Tar Heel sports teams, and ACC championships are in the offing. It is certain that some of these teams will soon be playing in NCAA championships. If you don't know how the NCAA Director's Cup points are awarded, do a web search on NCAA Directors Cup. You'll find that points are awarded for a university's participation in NCAA championships. In case you didn't know, UNC-Chapel Hill finished second last year meaning that, based on points accumulated by its athletic teams (men and women's teams), Carolina had the second most successful athletic program among Division One universities in the United States. Based on their national rankings, the Field Hockey team and both soccer teams should be invited to NCAA championships and could host early rounds in those tournaments. If that happens, it is critical that all of us attend those games to help our Tar Heel teams advance in their respective championships.

Field Hockey closed out a 16-1 season that contained 12 shutouts on Saturday by beating Old Dominion on its home field by a score of 2-0. You'll remember that the Heels scored 74 goals and gave up only 8 during a fantastic fall season. Talk about domination! Their regular season is over now, and the ACC Field Hockey tournament will start on Wednesday. Because of its record (finished second to regular season champion Maryland), Carolina will not play until Friday when it plays the winner of the Duke/Virginia game that will be played on Thursday. The Carolina match is scheduled to begin at 6:30 which follows the Maryland (seeded #1) match with the winner of the Boston College/Wake Forest match also played on Thursday. You should expect the Heels to beat their opponent on Friday to advance to the ACC Tournament Championship match on Sunday at Noon. That game will be broadcast on RSN-TV. If everything goes the way one would expect, the nationally-ranked #1 Terps and the #2 Tar Heels should play in that match. If you have any reason to be in Charlottesville on either Friday or Sunday, be sure to attend the game played that day and cheer for the Heels!

The women's soccer season is also over, but the ACC Tournament starts at WakeMed Park in Cary on Wednesday. The Heels finished the season with a 14-3-1 record by beating Clemson 3-1 on Thursday and Maryland 1-0 on Sunday. Coincidentally, their last opponent will be their next first opponent in the Tournament. Carolina plays Maryland in the last match of the first day at 7:30. After they beat Maryland on Wednesday, they get the day off on Thursday and will play on Friday at 7:30 against the winner of the Boston College/Virginia match which is the 5pm game on Wednesday. The Tar Heels are seeded 3rd in the Tournament with Boston College 2nd and Florida State 1st. By the way, if you can't be at the games in person, the Championship game on Sunday will start at 2pm and will also be televised. That means, depending on your satellite or cable vendor, you could watch our Field Hockey team win the ACC championship at noon and then watch the Tar Heel women win the ACC Women

's Soccer Tournament at 2pm from the comfort of your TV room. GO HEELS!

The men's soccer regular season continues briefly. The Heels beat Stetson 7-0 last Wednesday and will play Elon on Tuesday and Clemson on Friday. Both of those matches are away from Fetzer Field. The ACC Men's Soccer Tournament will begin on Tuesday, Nov. 10, at WakeMed Park in Cary. Bracketing for the Tournament will be done following this weekend's final regular season matches. At this point in their season, the men have a record of 14-2-2 which has been a great season and promises at great ACC Tournament and a long run in the NCAA Tournament that will follow shortly. GO HEELS!

The regular season is also over for the men and women's cross country teams. In fact, the ACC championship is also in the record books. The men finished the ACC championship in 5th place while the women were 6th.

The volleyball season continues. As was posted in this blog last week, the Tar Heels started a 5-game home stand on Friday with a match against Georgia Tech. Unfortunately, the Yellow Jackets handed our Tar Heels a 3-1 loss. On Saturday, Carolina hosted Clemson and lost that match 3-2. You still have 3 chances to see our Heels play - against NC State on Tuesday (11/3), against Virginia on Friday (11/6), and against Virginia Tech on Sunday (11/8). For the record, the Heels are 70-2 against NC State (sounds like our domination over Clemson in basketball in Chapel Hill doesn't it?). I am sure that you know that the men's basketball team has an exhibition game following the volleyball game so go early and catch both games!!! This team needs and deserves our support! See you there?

Our Swimming and Diving teams have started their season as has been reported here. After a great win by the men over Georgia last week (unfortunately our women lost), the Heels hosted the Yellow Jackets of Georgia Tech on Saturday. The Tar Heel men won their meet 165-128, and the women also won 166-119. The season continues throughout the winter, finishing with the ACC Championship in February.

All of those teams have done and continue to do extremely well, and the winter sports are just about to start. In case you have forgotten, Carolina's Women's basketball team is just about to start its season. You can see that team on Thurday in the Dean Dome when it plays the first of two exhibition games against Francis Marion. The second exhibition opponent is Carson- Newman, and that game is on Tuesday of next week. Both games start at 7pm and both games are FREE. In case you have not heard, the ACC sports writers voted last week and named the Tar Heels the prohibitive favorites to be the #1 team in the conference this season. The AP preseason poll is also out and ranks our Tar Heels #5 in the country at the start of the season!!! This is going to be a very special season for women's basketball at Carolina. If you've never seen our women play, you'll love their style of play, the quality of their play, and the speed at which they play. Their first regular season game in on Friday, Nov 13, in the Dean Dome. The move to the newly-renovated Carmichael Auditorium is expected to occur in early January! You do not want to miss any of their games! GO HEELS!