University of North Carolina Athletics
Women's Lacrosse Hosts Third Annual ACC Championship
June 21, 1999 | Women's Lacrosse
April 24, 1999
THE BASIC FACTS: The sixth-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels will be looking to bounce back into the win column this weekend when the University of North Carolina plays host to the third annual Atlantic Coast Conference Women's Lacrosse Championship at Francis E. Henry Stadium. This is the first time that the ACC Women's Lacrosse Tournament has been held in Chapel Hill.
Henry Stadium, located at the site of the old Navy Field AstroTurf facility at UNC, will officially be dedicated in ceremonies on Saturday morning prior to the start of play in the tournament.
Play will begin on Saturday with top-seeded Maryland facing the fourth-seeded Tar Heels at 1 p.m. in the first semifinal game of the tournament. The second semifinal game will be played at approximately 3 p.m. on Saturday with second-seeded Duke facing off against third-seeded Virginia.
The championship game of the tournament will be played on Sunday, April 25 at Henry Stadium with the opening draw control scheduled for 1:15 p.m. The game on Sunday will be televised on a regional basis by Home Team Sports, Fox Sports South and the Sunshine Network.
The Tar Heels enter tournament play with an overall record of 7-5 this season, 1-2 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Carolina fell to seventh-ranked Penn State on Wednesday by a 7-6 score in a match played at Goucher College in Baltimore in its most recent game. The Tar Heels face the unenviable task of having to bounce back from that defeat to play the nation's #1 team on Saturday but the team seems to be very excited about the challenge. Carolina has played as challenging a schedule as anyone in the nation this year. The Tar Heels' best wins have come against Top 10 teams Loyola, Virginia and Georgetown. Three of Carolina's five losses have come by a one-goal margin.
Tournament Schedule
Saturday, April 24, 1999#1 Maryland vs. #4 North Carolina, 1 p.m.
#2 Duke vs. #3 Virginia, 3 p.m.
Sunday, April 25, 1999
Championship Game Involving Semifinal Winners, 1 p.m.
All Games at Francis E. Henry Stadium
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, N.C.
CAROLINA IN THE ACC TOURNAMENT: The Tar Heels enter play on Saturday with an all-time Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament record of 1-2.
The first ACC Tournament was held in 1997 at Charlottesville, Va. The second-seeded Tar Heels fell to third-seeded Virginia in the tournament semifinals 9-6. The top-ranked Maryland Terrapins went on to win the first ever conference title in women's lacrosse by defeating the host Cavaliers in the finals.
Last year's ACC Tournament was also held in Charlottesville, Va. The Tar Heels were the #1 seed after going 3-0 against ACC teams in the regular season. Carolina defeated fourth-seeded Maryland 12-10 in the semifinals. That particular match was also the last time that Maryland lost a game to anyone as the Terps went on to win the 1998 NCAA title and has been unbeaten all of this season. In the tournament finals the next day, second-seeded Virginia delighted its home crowd by defeating the Tar Heels 9-7.
SERIES RECORDS AGAINST ACC OPPONENTS: Against its ACC Tournament semifinal opponent on Saturday, the Maryland Terrapins, the Tar Heels have an all-time record of 2-4. The Terps won the first two games in the series, followed by two North Carolina wins. The Terps have come back in the past two series meetings to beat North Carolina both times, including a 13-7 victory earlier this season on March 7 in College Park, Md.
The Tar Heels have an all-time record of 4-3 against the Virginia Cavaliers. In the most recent meeting between the two teams, UNC defeated Virginia 6-3 on March 27 of this year in Chapel Hill.
Carolina leads the all-time series with the Duke Blue Devils 3-1. Earlier this season Duke defeated Carolina in Durham by an 8-7 score on March 31.
CAROLINA SIXTH IN THE IWLCA WOMEN'S POLL: The North Carolina Tar Heels are ranked sixth this week in the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Association poll. The Tar Heels stand as one of four Atlantic Coast Conference teams in the Top 6 of the poll. Undefeated Maryland, which has a 21-game winning streak, leads the poll while Virginia, 1998 NCAA runnerup to the Terps, is ranked second. The Duke Blue Devils are fifth in the current poll and Carolina is sixth. Carolina has played nine of its 12 games so far against teams ranked currently in the IWLCA Top 20. The Tar Heels are 4-5 in those games.
Tracking Carolina week-by-week in the IWLCA poll:
Date Ranking Preseason Second March 8 Fourth March 15 Fourth March 22 Fifth March 29 Third April 5 Seventh April 12 Sixth April 19 SixthTAR HEELS ARE FOURTH IN LACROSSE POWER RATINGS: This week's Lacrosse Power Ratings have the Tar Heels as the nation's fourth-ranked team with 26.32 points. Again, all four ACC teams are ranked among the Top 6 teams in the nation in the power rankings.
Maryland leads the power rankings by a wide margin with 33.55 points. Virginia is second with 27.46 points, Carolinba fourth with 26.32 points and Duke sixth with 24.99 rating points.
CAROLINA IN THE ACC TEAM STATISTICS: As has been the case most of the season the Tar Heels boast one of the nation's and the ACC's best defenses while struggling to put up big numbers offensively on the other end of the field.
UNC currently ranks second in team scoring defense in the latest ACC stats, allowing only 6.2 goals per game (74 goals allowed in 12 games). However, the Tar Heels are fourth in team scoring average. The Heels have scored 122 goals in 12 games, an average of 10.2 goals per contest.
Maryland leads both categories, scoring 16.0 goals per game and allowing only 5.8 goals per contest.
CASTINE'S RANKINS IN THE ACC: North Carolina senior goalkeeper Debbie Castine of Montville, N.J. is having yet another outstanding season in the cage for Coach Jenny Slingluff Levy's club.
In the current ACC statistics, Castine is ranked second in both save percentage and goals against average. Castine has made 90 saves and allowed only 67 goals, a save percentage of .573. In 641 minutes and 50 seconds, she has allowed only 67 goals, a goals against average of 6.26 per contest.
MOHLER, OFF AMONGST ACC LEADERS IN ASSISTS: Two North Carolina players are currently tied for sixth place amongst Atlantic Coast Conference assist leaders.
Both junior attacker Kristin Off (West Chester, Pa.) and junior midfielder Meghann Mohler (Baltimore, Md.) are currently tied for sixth in the ACC in assists with 1.08 assists per game. The two players lead the Tar Heels with 13 assists in 12 games.
CAROLINA RETURNS HOME TO CHAPEL HILL: When the Tar Heels play host to the Maryland Terrapins this Saturday in Chapel Hill it will mark only the fifth home game of the season for North Carolina in 13 games. Carolina has spent the better part of the season traveling up and down the Eastern seaboard to play its game.
UNC currently has a home record of 3-1 with wins over Temple and Virginia and a split in overtime games--beating Georgetown and losing to James Madison.
Carolina is currentlu 3-3 in road games and 1-1 in neutral site games.
THE HEELS' DEMANDING SCHEDULE: Ten of North Carolina's first 12 games this season have been played against teams which were ranked in the IWLCA Top 20 at the time of the contest.
UNC has posted a 5-5 record in those 10 games. The Heels are 4-5 against teams currently in the IWLCA Top 20. The Tar Heels also have two wins against unranked opponents.
Games left on the Tar Heel schedule are against #1-ranked Maryland and #10-ranked Dartmouth. Both games will be played in Chapel Hill.
THE AMAZING TAR HEEL DEFENSE: The strength of this Tar Heel team has been on the defensive end of the field. While the Tar Heels have by their own admission been inconsistent offensively, the defense has been rock steady all season.
In 12 games, UNC has allowed an average of only 6.07 goals per game. Starting goalkeeper Debbie Castine has a 6.26 goals against average and reserve Melissa Coyne is allowing only 4.66 per contest.
UNC has outscored its opponents 122-74 and outshot its opponents 357-232. Carolina has given up more than eight goals in a game only once this season. That came in a 13-7 loss to top-ranked Maryland on March 7 in College Park, Md.
The Tar Heels will match up against the Terps once again in Saturday's ACC semifinals with the Heels hoping to slow the Terrapins' amazing offensive express for one of the very few times this season.
TWO OF THE NATION'S BEST DEFENSIVE TEAMS: Saturday's ACC Tournament semifinal battle between top-ranked Maryland and sixth-ranked North Carolina presents fans with a classic battle between two of the nation's top three defensive teams.
According to statistics released by the NCAA at the beginning of this week, Maryland was the nation's top-rated scoring defense, allowing only 5.92 goals per game. UNC was not far behind. The Tar Heels are ranked in third place in the national team defensive ratings with a 6.09 goals against average.
THREE TAR HEELS NAMED TO ALL-ACC TEAM: The 1999 All-Atlantic Coast Conference Women's Lacrosse Team was announced on April 24 and of course Maryland dominated the team with six all-conference selections. UNC has three players named to the All-ACC Team, including one repeater from the 1998 squad.
Junior Gray MacNair, a midfielder from Chevy Chase, Md. was named to the All-ACC Team for the second straight year.
Senior Brooke Crawford, the undisputed leader of Carolina's vaunted defensive unit was also honored as an all-conference choice. She hails from Malvern, Pa.
Carolina's third All-ACC selection was junior midfielder Meghann Mohler. A Baltimore, Md. native, Mohler leads the Tar Heels this year in both goals scored with 18 and points with 29.
CASTINE NAMED ACC PLAYER OF THE WEEK TWICE: Senior goalkeeper Debbie Castine of Montville, N.J. has twice been named the Atlantic Coast Conference's Player of the Week this season.
She was initially tapped on March 15, 1999, sharing the player of the week honors with Maryland's Jen Adams. Castine excelled that week as she recorded 15 saves and allowed a mere six goals in UNC's 13-6 victory at Loyola.
Castine was also named the ACC co-player of the week on March 31, 1999. That week she spearheaded a 6-3 upset win over Virginia by making 13 saves and allowing only three goals in the win over the Cavaliers.
