Heck Scores Twice as North Carolina Thrash Stanford 6-0, and Louisville Edge Syracuse 3-2 to Reach the ACC Semifinals

North Carolina didn’t mess about. Thirty-four seconds into their ACC quarterfinal against Stanford, the top seeds were ahead, and by the end they’d run out 6-0 winners at Karen Shelton Stadium in Chapel Hill. Five different Tar Heels scored, and the defending champions are through to Wednesday’s semifinals chasing a 10th straight ACC title.

It started exactly how coach Erin Matson wants her team to play. Sophomore Reese Anetsberger threaded a ball from the left corner to senior Charly Bruder, who turned and smashed it home after just 34 seconds. Matson called it simple hockey: pass, receive, shoot, bury it. It set the tone for everything that followed.

Ryleigh Heck did the damage in the first half. The fifth-year forward, back in the side after a court ruling restored her eligibility earlier in the season, scored in the 18th minute off a Hope Haynes pass from the right corner, then pounced on a rebound from a penalty corner in the 25th minute. That was her fourth brace of the season, and Carolina led 3-0 at halftime. Heck said afterwards that rebounds are something the group harp on in training, and this one dropped right on her forehand.

Stanford pushed back in the second quarter and had their better looks then, but they couldn’t find a way through. The second half started like the first: 44 seconds in, freshman Sofie Ferri lofted a close-range shot over Stanford keeper Anya Jackson from a penalty corner. Coco Courtright made it 5-0 in the 42nd minute with a tough finish from near the end line, her seventh goal of the season, and Haynes completed the scoring with a penalty stroke in the 56th minute. It was Haynes’s first goal at Karen Shelton Stadium, and she celebrated with a fist pump.

The numbers backed up the scoreline. Carolina outshot Stanford 18-8, and the shutout was their eighth of the season. Tessa Shahbo, the ACC Defensive Player of the Week, made two saves in 45 minutes before Merritt Skubisz took over and made one more. UNC are now 12-6, and Matson said the mindset hasn’t wavered all season even though the route here looked different, with six regular-season defeats, their most since 2021.

The second quarterfinal was a completely different game. Louisville beat Syracuse 3-2 in a back-and-forth contest that swung three times in the second half. Aubreigh Uba put the Cardinals ahead from a penalty stroke in the 16th minute, and Rylie Wollerton doubled the lead in the 32nd minute off a Trijntje Herfkens assist. Syracuse hit back through Danique Schuurman in the 42nd minute, but Tyler Everslage restored Louisville’s two-goal cushion in the 48th minute. Pati Strunk pulled one back for the Orange in the 52nd minute, yet Louisville held on despite being outshot 14-7.

That sets up Wednesday’s first semifinal at 1 p.m. ET (11 p.m. PKT): No. 1 seed North Carolina against No. 5 seed Louisville. Carolina won the regular-season meeting 3-0 on the road on 2 October, but Louisville have now survived a knockout game and have nothing to lose. The Tar Heels are chasing their 29th ACC title overall; every other programme in the league combined has 15.

Two quarterfinals were still to be played when this piece was prepared: No. 2 Wake Forest against No. 7 Virginia at 3:30 p.m. ET (1:30 a.m. PKT), and No. 3 Duke against No. 6 Boston College at 6 p.m. ET (4 a.m. PKT). Their winners meet in Wednesday’s second semifinal, and the championship game is Friday at 3 p.m. ET. All games are at Karen Shelton Stadium and on ACC Network, with free admission.