“It’s clear that now she’s one of the best in the country.”

UNC Field Hockey’s Ryleigh Heck is coming off her sophomore season, where the Tar Heels won their eleventh national title in program history, their fifth in the past six years. The Heels’ effort was paced by sophomore forward Ryleigh Heck, who hails from Ocean City, N.J.

Freshman Charly Bruder continued about Heck, “She has so many skills, she’s such a good player and she acts like she’s always fighting for something.”

Heck’s journey began back home when she was just three years-old, as her mom, Kerry Heck, placed Ryleigh into field hockey leagues with girls two years older than her.

“I was really tiny when I was little, so you could tell I did not belong,” shared Ryleigh, “but I overtime just learned how to play with older girls and I got better.”

And guess who she played with.

You’re right, her sister who is two-years older than Ryleigh. Kara Heck completed her senior season on the Boston College Field Hockey team this year, which Ryleigh is probably fortunate they play at different schools now.

“(When playing together) She is not the nicest to me, so it was like one mistake I was getting something in this ear,” said Ryleigh, “in like a good way to support each other, obviously every sister fights.”

So don’t worry, it was constructive. They don’t hate each other.

On top of playing with her older sister, Ryleigh’s mom coached her throughout her pre-college career.

Ryleigh stated, “She’s been my coach since I was three, so she taught me all the fundamentals.”

Kara Heck was a colligate athlete as well, playing field hockey for James Madison University.

The women of the Heck family aren’t the only college athletes either, Ryleigh’s father played basketball, and her two older brothers played football and basketball. Growing up, the Heck household was certainly a competitive one.

“So, when I was like seven or eight, I would go in the pads with my brothers and play tackle football in my yard,” said Ryleigh, “And I would obviously get destroyed.”

“I never won, no matter what.”

“But I would still go out there, pads on and everything, get knocked down, like, get back up kind of thing.”

This competitive drive has certainly translated into Ryleigh’s game on the hockey field.

While playing for the 2023 ACC Championship title against rival, Duke, Heck pulled off a shot which left fans with their jaws on the floor.

At the twelve-minute mark of the third quarter, Heck found herself inside the shooting circle, about eight yards from the front of the net. From here, she ripped a shot which was deflected by a defender right back to Heck.

Feeding off her drive to fight for a goal, she settled the rebound at her stick, and quickly lofted the ball into the air. The ball never moved outside of a few inches from her stick, though, as she dribbled the ball through the air past her defender.

After three touches in the air, Heck lofted the ball over the Blue Devil’s goalkeeper, hit the crossbar, and the ball crossed the plane of the goal for the score.

“I love to air dribble, it’s just a fun, silly thing to do, and I get yelled at for doing it in games because it can be a little risky,” Heck stated, “But in my head I was like, ‘I’m just going to do something different.’”

Heck’s goal not only propelled UNC to a 2-0 victory over Duke for the ACC title, but it was also honored on SportsCenter’s Top 10 plays of the night, placing as the best play of the night.

“I literally thought I was going to get yelled at because I was going to miss it, but it went over the goalie, hit the post, and went in and I was like ‘oh, OK sure.’”

As Heck was being recruited out of high school, scouts and coaches knew that she could make top-10 caliber plays while putting up star numbers.

UNC Head Coach Erin Matson was well aware of Heck before she showed up to UNC.

“A lot of us from Pennsylvania come from the same club, so I guess I knew her before I even knew her. And I heard her name, and it was, you know, the up-and-coming player.” Shared Coach Matson, who was a player for UNC at the time of Heck’s recruitment.

She was definitely viewed as one of the next “up-and-coming players.”

During her senior season at Eastern Regional High School, Heck 125 goals while recording 20 assists and leading her school to a 25-2 record and the NJSIAA Tournament of Champions title.

125 goals.

IN 27 GAMES.

That is 4.63 goals per game.

If you really want to know how absurd that is, Heck’s 125 scores set the national high school field hockey single season record for most goals. Heck’s play her senior season earned the honors of the National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) First Team All-America and the USA Today National Player of the Year.

Coach Matson, who played one year with Ryleigh at UNC during the 2022 season, gelled with Ryleigh right away.

“Her freshman year she came in right away, and I think we just clicked on the field and off the field, but I think she’s someone who’s so naturally gifted with the sport,” shared Coach Matson.

As a freshman, Heck started all 21 games for the Tar Heels, scoring 18 goals while being voted as the ACC Freshman of the Year and First Team All-ACC. Then, this past season, Heck paced UNC in goals with 13, leading her to be named the NFHCA Division I National Player of the Year. She is just the third Tar Heel to earn the recognition.

After winning the ACC Championship, the Heels were able to reach the NCAA National Championship game, where they were forced to play through overtime and shootouts to decide a winner against Northwestern. Even after a round of five shootout shots per team, the game still had not been decided. On the sixth Northwestern shot, graduate goalkeeper Maddie Kahn made a save.

Then, it was Ryleigh’s turn to shoot.

Typically, every player has a specific skill move they use when taking a shootout shot, and Ryleigh had been debating whether to change hers.

Heck said, “The goalie I was going against is also on the (Team USA) u-21 team with me, and I always do shootouts against her, and I do a spin, and she knew I was doing a spin.”

Coach Matson told Heck, “Just stick true to what works for you and commit to it, if it fails, it fails, but you’ve committed to it.”

“Go win us a national championship.”

Heck committed.

She dribbled to ball to the left of the goal, positioned the Northwestern keeper on her hip, spun over her left foot, and rolled the ball directly into the back of the net.

This is Ryleigh Heck on the field. A playmaker. A game-winner. A goal-scorer.

When asked how she would defend Heck as an opposing coach, the first thing out of Coach Matson’s mouth was a little chuckle followed by, “Good luck.”

Then there was a long pause for coach to think.

“She’s … I don’t even know how you defend her.”

She then proceeded to share many different tactics to stop her, each of which were followed by how Ryleigh could easily get past the defense.

One thing Matson has learned during her transition into coaching, is that some players are finishers, and some aren’t.

“They did every single amount of effort to get on that far post and did the pass and communicated greatly but they just missed the goal and just can’t finish, and that’s OK, their strengths are elsewhere,” Coach Matson stated, “but Ryleigh knows how to do all that work, knows how to set herself up for success and then knows how to put the ball in the back of the net.”

Even though Heck is phenomenally gifted, Coach Matson still sees an area where she has improved and still has room to grow.

When Heck joined the team, Matson was a super-senior barking orders, positioning players, and serving as a strong leader and presence for the squad, a role which she sees Ryleigh taking over.

“I think the spring has also been really transformative for her,” the UNC coach said, “spring here is where we can really dive in and do everybody’s individual development. And with her, we’ve really dove headfirst into (a leadership role).”

Matson also credits the competition of club teams for not developing leadership qualities, sharing that girls just show up to do their business and leave, so many players must learn those leadership skills when they reach the college level.

With the development of Heck’s leadership skills during spring practice coupled with her impeccable prowess on the field, the UNC Field Hockey program seems to be in great hands as they will seek out their twelfth national championship next season.

Might even see some more national field hockey records broken by Ryleigh Heck. Who knows?