While most Carolina fans are (unstandably) still focused on basketball, spring sports have been underway for about a month, and both lacrosse teams are off to excellent starts.
The top-ranked UNC women, who went 22-0 and won the national championship last year, moved to 7-0 with a 19-3 lashing of #21 Pitt on Saturday. The Panthers didn’t score until the third quarter, at which point Carolina had built a 15-0 lead. It was the Tar Heels’ third win over a current top 25 team this season; they beat #15
Syracuse 13-9 on Feb. 13 and #11 Clemson 12-9 on Wednesday.
Sophomore attacker Chloe Humphrey has 36 goals and 15 assists through Carolina’s first seven games, putting her on pace to surpass her record-breaking freshman totals (90 goals, 118 points). Sophomore goalie Betty Nelson, who earned All-America honors as a freshman, currently ranks in the top 10 nationally with a 6.87 goals against average, though her .338 save percentage is a step down from last season’s .496 mark.
The sixth-ranked UNC men also played on Saturday, improving to 6-1 with a 19-7 win over Brown. It was a nice bounce-back win for the Tar Heels after suffering their first loss of the season at then-#10 Princeton last Sunday. Brown scored the first three goals of the game, but Carolina responded with eight in a row to build an 8-4 halftime lead before outscoring the Bears 8-1 in the third quarter. UNC has a pair of ranked wins this season: 17-9 over then-#14 Johns Hopkins on Feb. 20 and 11-9 over then-#19 Penn on Feb. 27.
Junior attackmen Dominic Pietramala and Owen Duffy, both returning All-Americans, have been pacing Carolina’s offense. Pietramala scored his 100th career goal against Brown and has a team-high 22 this season, while Duffy leads the Tar Heels in assists (20) and points (33). Junior Brady Wambach, also a returning All-American, has a .695 faceoff win percentage so far, placing him in the top five nationally. In net, freshman Josh Marcus carries an 8.98 goals against average (top 20 nationally) and a .471 save percentage.
Both teams are back in action this week. The UNC women travel to Cal at 7:00 PM Thursday, where they’ll try to set a new program record with a 30th straight win. The game will be broadcast on ACCNX. The UNC men face #13 Penn State in The Crown Lacrosse Classic in Charlotte at 6:30 PM Saturday with a broadcast by Corrigan Sports Network.
