UNC Women’s Lacrosse Continues Title Defense, Clinches Final Four Berth With Win Over Stanford

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — It’s hard to beat a team three times in one season. That may be the cliché, but Thursday night on Dorrance Field, it was business as usual for the UNC women’s lacrosse team.

Behind three goals and an assist each from sophomore attackers Chloe Humphrey and Addison Pattillo, the second-seeded Tar Heels dispatched Stanford 14-11, punching their ticket to a second consecutive Final Four.

It’s the kind of success that has come to be expected from Jenny Levy’s squad, whose win Thursday marked its 18th in 19 tries this season and 40th over the last two campaigns.

“Our captains, our leadership is incredible, and all across the board, everyone just loves this game so much, and we just love working together and making each other better, especially, and that starts in practice,” Pattillo said. “We raise the level of play every day for each other, and we make it game-like, so we’re ready on game day.”

Coming off last year’s 22-0 campaign that culminated in the program’s fourth national championship, the Tar Heels have hardly missed a beat in 2026, with their only loss coming in an overtime thriller against tournament top-seed Northwestern that snapped UNC’s 31-game winning streak spanning the last two seasons.

In a welcome change from the previous two meetings against the Cardinal, the Tar Heels jumped out to an early 3-0 first-quarter lead Thursday night. In the first matchup between the two programs in Chapel Hill on April 10, Stanford held a 2-1 lead after the opening 15 minutes before UNC pulled away for an 18-9 victory that clinched the ACC regular-season title — the program’s 12th all-time. 

In Carolina’s ACC Tournament championship win over Stanford on April 26, the Cardinal again grabbed an early 2-0 advantage before UNC rallied for a 12-8 victory and its ninth conference tournament title.

“I think it’s always good to start fast,” Levy said. “Actually, we didn’t really think about the last two games, as far as what that was, we looked more at some of the technical stuff that we wanted to do better. But it’s really great to start, but it’s a long game, and so even if you start behind or start in front, you just have to stay the course.”

With UNC leading 5-2 in the second quarter, back-to-back Stanford goals cut the Carolina lead to one with 9:28 remaining before halftime, but three unanswered Tar Heel goals pushed Carolina’s advantage back to four entering the locker room at 8-4.

“We just kept our composure,” Pattillo said. “Credit to our draw girls, Kaleigh Harden and Eliza Osburn, they crushed it as always. And we just really dug deep and we found a way, and that’s that fight that we have in us, and it was awesome.”

The second half turned into a back-and-forth battle as the two teams traded goals, but Stanford never got closer than three as UNC closed things out under the lights at Dorrance Field.

Levy, the only head coach in program history since its founding in 1994, is now headed to her fourth Final Four this decade and 15th overall — the third-most all-time by a head coach — and has won 48 NCAA Tournament games across 27 appearances, the second-most tournament wins all-time.

“Culture and standards and excellence is about people, and bringing the right people into Chapel Hill to wear our uniform — hard working, passionate, great teammates,” Levy said. “People that love the sport and love to come to practice every day. And so it doesn’t guarantee you wins, but it guarantees you an opportunity to be successful.”

Two more wins separate Carolina from back-to-back national championships and becoming the first program to repeat since Maryland accomplished the feat in 2015.

The Tar Heels will face No. 3 seed Maryland (18-3, 6-2 Big Ten) in next Friday’s national semifinal at Martin Stadium in Chicago. Fourth-seeded Johns Hopkins and top-seeded Northwestern will meet in the other semifinal for a spot in the national championship game on May 24.

“We felt how it felt last year, and we want that so bad,” Harden said. “And everyone on our team has bought into that winning mentality, and I’m just so proud of everyone on this team for buying into that and wanting it so bad.”