A sophomore who averaged less than a quarter of a goal per game last season just won her third ACC Offensive Player of the Week award.
For the third time this season, and the second time in two weeks, North Carolina Tar Heels Forward Bella Devey is the Atlantic Coastal Conference Offensive Player of the Week.
Devey leads the conference in goals with 14 goals in just 12 games played and leads the nation in goals per game at 1.167 goals per game. She’s third in the nation in total points. Five of her
14 goals have been game-winners, which also leads the ACC.
Perhaps most remarkably, she’s scored 2 goals in back-to-back-to-back games. Two of those games have come against top-ranked ACC opponents in No. 16 Virginia and No. 12 Notre Dame.
Her breakout year has arrived at an awesome moment for a North Carolina Tar Heel team that was predicted to finish fifth in the ACC, but now sits at the top of the conference.
All this coming from a sophomore who only scored 5 goals and 14 total points in her freshman year. A little over halfway through the 2026 season, she has already almost tripled her goal total from last year.
All this begs the question:
How Does a Player Go From 5 Goals in a Freshman Season to 14 And Counting?
Devey has certainly made the leap from a promising, talented freshman who gets lost in the mix to the star of the Tar Heels, star of the ACC, heck, star of the NCAA. She has rightfully earned her spot on the MAC Hermann Trophy midseason watch list.
She’ll try to keep her star shining (as well as her streak of three straight two-goal games alive) as the Tar Heels kick off a three-game road trip at #22 Florida State on Friday night. Florida State is allowing the fifth-fewest goals in the ACC this season (.89), so it may prove the toughest test for Devey as the leader of the offensive unit.
For now, Devey has the Tar Heels (4-0) in conference play, and she is showing the world she’s not a freshman anymore.
Goalies, watch out. Bella Devey is coming to a pitch near you.
