UNC Women's Lacrosse's Quest For History Continues Thursday Night

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — May is the time of year that Chapel Hill begins to empty out. Classes are over, students head home for the summer, and campus starts to quiet down. But over on Dorrance Field, it’s anything but quiet for the UNC women’s lacrosse team. 

Fresh off last season’s 22-0 campaign that culminated in the program’s fourth national championship, the Tar Heels once again have the national title in their crosshairs.

There was no proverbial hangover for Carolina this season, either, as Jenny Levy’s squad finished the regular season 13-1 overall and 10-0 in ACC play, sweeping both the ACC regular-season and tournament titles while entering the NCAA Tournament with 11 ranked wins.

Despite all of that, however, North Carolina was denied the tournament’s No. 1 overall seed. Those honors instead went to Northwestern — the same team that handed Carolina its lone loss of the season, a 17-16 overtime defeat in a rematch of last year’s national championship game — while the Tar Heels earned the No. 2 seed.

“In past years we’ve been the No. 1 seed, so to be No. 2, there’s definitely an edge among our team just to prove why we’re No. 1,” sophomore attacker Chloe Humphrey said Wednesday. “I think that’s just added motivation, which is great for us.”

Coming off a freshman season that saw Humphrey rewrite the UNC record books — including setting the program’s single-season goals record with 90 — while also winning the Tewaaraton Award as the nation’s top player, the Connecticut native is once again leading the way for Carolina. Humphrey has already eclipsed her own record this season with 99 goals and has been named a finalist to repeat as the sport’s top player.

Following Sunday’s 17-6 dismantling of Clemson in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, Stanford now comes to Chapel Hill as the final obstacle standing between Carolina and a second consecutive Final Four appearance.

Thursday’s matchup will mark the third meeting of the season between the Tar Heels and Cardinal. UNC previously defeated Stanford 18-9 in Chapel Hill on April 10 to clinch the ACC regular-season title, then followed it up 16 days later with a 12-8 victory for the ACC Tournament crown. 

“Stanford’s a great team,” Levy said. “It’s always hard to play a great team three times but it’s a challenge for us because we’re measuring ourselves against the best game we can play. I’m sure they’ll come out with some different things up their sleeves, defenses, some other like, little things to try to counter what we’ve done in the past.”

“I think for us, it’s really important just to fall back on our principles and how we want to play the game and be really sharp, and it should be a really good game.”

Come Thursday night, the previous two meetings carry almost no significance to the Tar Heels, whose focus remains fixed on making history.

None of Carolina’s four national championships have come in back-to-back fashion, and with three more wins, the Tar Heels would become the first team since Maryland in 2015 to repeat as national champions.

“If anything, I view it as motivation,” Humphrey said. “I believe winning a national championship is hard, but winning two back to back is even harder, and my teammates are people who are motivated and up for that challenge, rather than scared of it, so I think that we really thrive with that pressure.”

Thursday’s national quarterfinal match is set for 7:30 p.m. and will be televised on ESPNU.