CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - For the second year in a row, UNC’s Erin Matson is the winner of the Honda Sport Award for Field Hockey.
A junior forward from Chadds Ford, Pa., Matson is the fifth Tar Heel on the seventh occasion to be honored with the Honda Award as the nation’s top field hockey player. The recognition comes following a season in which UNC finished 19-1 and won its third consecutive NCAA title and the eighth in program history.
Matson the second UNC player to win the Honda Award twice and she gives the Tar Heels a three-year streak of recipients. Previous Carolina winners, with years corresponding to the season for which they were honored, are Leslie Lyness (1989), Cindy Werley (1996 and 1997), Rachel Dawson (2007), Ashley Hoffman (2018) and Matson (2019).
In addition to athletic success, the award is based on leadership, academic excellence and eagerness to participate in community service
The honor was announced on Wednesday by Chris Voelz, Executive Director of the Collegiate Women Sports Awards (CWSA), which presents the Honda Sport Award annually in 12 NCAA-sanctioned sports.
“I am extremely honored and humbled to receive the Honda Sport Award for Field Hockey again this year,” Matson said. “It means the world to me to be selected especially after a year when everyone had to overcome so many unique challenges. I couldn’t be more thankful for my coaches and UNC field hockey sisters. We play for Carolina, our beautiful university, our incredible athletics program and coaching staff, the sport of field hockey, and each other. We grew together, laughed together, and were able to win another national championship for UNC. With the Honda Award being more than an athletic award, it also makes me so proud to be able to represent Carolina and my family in winning again.”
Matson was chosen by a vote of administrators from over 1,000 NCAA member schools. Other finalists were Sophie Hamilton (UConn), Megan Schneider (Louisville) and Corrine Zanolli (Stanford).
During the extended 2020-21 season, Matson led UNC to the 23rd Atlantic Coast Conference Championship in program history and a third-consecutive NCAA Championship. In the process, she was named NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player for the second year in a row and ACC Offensive Player of the Year for the third time. She led the led the nation in goals per game (1.45) and ranked second in points per game (3.35).
The Tar Heels are 65-1 through Matson’s first three years in Chapel Hill, with national and conference crowns each year.
“I congratulate Erin on once again earning this award and I want to be clear in saying that she has in no way rested on her laurels in the past year,” said head coach Karen Shelton, who remains the only field hockey player ever to win the Honda Award three times. “She continues to be one of the hardest workers on our team and she’s always working to get better. She’s very talented, but she also has such competitive fire and a drive to improve. And she’s a great teammate – she scores a lot but she’s also our best passer, making those around her better, and she’s one of our most trusted voices in the locker room. Erin is now the second player in our program’s history to win this award twice, and we’re so proud of her and thrilled she’s a Tar Heel.”
The winner of the sport award becomes a finalist for the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year and the prestigious 2021 Honda Cup, which will be presented on a telecast on CBS Sports Network on June 28th at 9 pm. Since commencing its partnership in 1986, Honda has provided more than $3.4 million in institutional grants to the universities of the award winners and nominees to support women’s athletics programs.
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