Fox Chapel grad Abby Pitcairn helps North Carolina win 3rd straight NCAA field hockey title

When Abby Pitcairn was a senior at Fox Chapel, she never envisioned the type of success she’d have when she set off to continue her field hockey career at North Carolina.

But here she is, three years later, with three NCAA championships under her belt.

“Coming into North Carolina, I knew I was coming into an elite and amazing field hockey program,” Pitcairn said. “I mean at the time, we had two girls that were on the national team and then a bunch of us were on the younger teams, so I knew it was going to be super competitive. But, if you would’ve told me freshman year we were going to win three national championships in a row, I’m just, I’m still not over it, I still can’t believe we won.”

On May 9, Pitcairn, who started in 11 of North Carolina’s 20 games this season, and the Tar Heels took down Michigan, 4-3, in overtime in the NCAA championship to win their third straight national title.

Pitcairn said it was a surreal feeling.

“Me and a few of my teammates were just talking the other day and we were like, ‘We just won it three times, like we just won it again,” Pitcairn said. “We put in so much work and literally gave it everything we had in practice. So, it was just amazing to see it pay off. It honestly doesn’t seem real though. It’s crazy.”

This one was a little extra special for Pitcairn because she played a larger role this season. After starting just one game as a freshman, Pitcairn started five of 23 games last season and saw her role increase even more this year.

She tallied two assists in their season-opening win over Wake Forest and then tallied three more as the season went on.

“It’s definitely exciting and I’ve gotten better during my time here at Carolina, but that’s what I love about it,” Pitcairn said. “They don’t just make us play field hockey; they work on developing us and forcing us to grow as a player, so it’s super exciting. But I think that’s why this championship meant a little bit more to me because I was able to make a bigger impact and stuff, but it’s just been really fun.”

With the coronavirus pandemic still in full force at the beginning of the field hockey season in September, Pitcairn and her teammates had to jump through even more hoops to make this season’s title happen.

After winning the ACC championship Nov. 8, the Tar Heels had to wait five more months before playing again. They started off the second part of their season with a 2-0 win over Louisville, which they also beat in the ACC championship game. Then, they won six straight games, including four straight overtime wins to finish off the regular season.

Pitcairn tallied her most important helper of the season in the national championship when she assisted on North Carolina’s first goal of the game which started a run of three straight goals to take a 3-1 lead.

“Our team is really big into momentum and positive energy and as soon as I saw the ball hit the backboard and we scored, you could just tell that our whole team felt more confident and so much more ready to go and locked in,” Pitcairn said. “Not to mention the crowd going crazy because the stadium was packed for the first time ever. It was absolutely insane.”

The Wolverines scored two goals to tie the game and force overtime but forward Erin Matson scored her second of the game in overtime to deliver the Tar Heels their third national title in three years.

Pitcairn also will be back for more, planning to return to UNC next fall.