The Michael Jordan of hockey? Meet the serial winner being compared to the greats

Available for over a year

After four national titles as a player and now another championship as head coach, Erin Matson is already being described as hockey’s ‘Michael Jordan’. The 23-year-old ended her first year as North Carolina Tar Heels field hockey head coach – the team she also had success with as a player – by winning the national championship in a dramatic penalty shootout against Northwestern. Matson took over the role of head coach at the start of 2023, a month after graduating from the same university, and she tells Sportshour’s Caroline Barker how the feeling of winning as a coach compares to being a player and what it’s like being compared to one of America’s sporting greats. Image: Head Coach Erin Matson of the North Carolina Tar Heels can't look after defeating the Northwestern Wildcats for the national title during the Division I Women's Field Hockey Championship held at Karen Shelton Stadium on November 19, 2023 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. (Photo by Jamie Schwaberow/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)