Tar Heels To Host Gators Friday At Noon

Matchup: North Carolina (0-0) vs. Florida (1-0)
UNC Ranks: No. 1/1/1 (IWLCA/Inside Lacrosse/USLacrosse)
Florida Ranks: No. 8/7/6 (IWLCA/Inside Lacrosse/USLacrosse)
High Point Ranks: unranked

Date: Friday February 19, 2021 vs. Florida
Site: Chapel Hill, N.C. (Dorrance Field)
Time: Noon
Watch: ACC Network Extra

Date: Sunday February 21, 2021 vs. High Point
Site: Chapel Hill, N.C. (Dorrance Field)
Time: 4 p.m.
Watch: ACC Network

• Top-ranked North Carolina will continue its six-game homestand to begin the 2021 regular season when it hosts Florida and High Point at Dorrance Field on Friday and Sunday, respectively.
• The ACC Network Extra will stream Friday's game live. ACCNX is a streaming-only viewing option available via the ESPN app that broadcasts sporting events not available on ESPN's linear television networks. ACCNX is included if your cable, satellite or streaming service provider carries ACC Network. Fans will need to use their account with their cable, satellite or streaming provider to log in at the WatchESPN website or download the ESPN app for their mobile or streaming device.
• On Sunday, UNC will host High Point at 4 p.m. on Sunday on the ACC Network.
• Carolina opened its season with a 14-7 win over No. 6 Stony Brook last weekend at Dorrance Field.
• The Tar Heels are ranked No. 1 in the nation by the IWLCA, Inside Lacrosse and USLacrosse. The Gators are ranked as high as No. 6 by US Lacrosse.

Series vs. the Gators
• Carolina leads the all-time series with Florida, 7-3. These two teams were scheduled to meet in Chapel Hill in March 2020, but the game was canceled due to Covid-19.
• UNC is 5-2 against the Gators in Chapel Hill, winning the first five meetings in Chapel Hill and losing the last two matchups in 2016 and 2018.
• The Tar Heels are 2-1 against the Gators in Gainesville (wins in 2015 and 2017 and a loss in 2013).

Series vs. the Panthers
• Carolina leads the all-time series with High Point, 8-0, including a 24-3 win at High Point in 2020.

Moreno Named ACC & National Defensive Player of the Week
• Senior goalie Taylor Moreno picked up a couple of awards on Feb. 16.
• The ACC honored Moreno as its initial Defensive Player of the Week for the 2021 season, and the IWLCA named her its National Defensive Player of the Week.
• Moreno (1-0) went the distance in the cage for Carolina, making 10 saves and allowing seven goals in the top-ranked Tar Heels' 14-7 win over No. 6 Stony Brook on Feb. 14. After the Seawolves came out of halftime with three consecutive goals to cut UNC's lead to 9-7 early in the second half, Moreno held them scoreless for the final 23:28 of the game.

Six Preseason All-Americas
• Six Tar Heels earned 2021 Preseason All-America accolades from Inside Lacrosse for 2021.
• Four UNC players grabbed first-team honors, most of any school in the nation. That quartet includes graduate student attacker Katie Hoeg, senior attacker Jamie Ortega, graduate student midfielder Kerrigan Miller and senior defender Emma Trenchard.
• Senior goalie Taylor Moreno was on the third team, and senior attacker Scottie Rose Growney earned honorable mention.
• The honors give Carolina returning All-Americas at every position on the field—attack (Hoeg, Ortega, Growney), midfield (Miller), defense (Trenchard) and goalie (Moreno).

Tar Heels Top All the National Polls
• Carolina is ranked No. 1 in all the national polls, including the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA), Inside Lacrosse and Nike/USLacrosse.
• UNC returned all 12 starters from its 2020 squad that went 7-0 and was ranked #1 nationally before the season was canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

2021 ACC Preseason Favorite
• The Atlantic Coast Conference released its preseason coaches poll on Feb. 9, and the conference's coaches picked North Carolina as the 2021 ACC women's lacrosse preseason favorite.
• Winners of the last four ACC Tournaments, the Tar Heels received 63 points in voting from the ACC coaches, and Notre Dame was second with 54. Syracuse was third in the poll, followed by No. 4 Virginia, No. 5 Boston College, No. 6 Duke, No. 7 Virginia Tech and No. 8 Louisville.
• UNC also tied Notre Dame for the most selections to the Preseason All-ACC Team with five. Attackers Katie Hoeg and Jamie Ortega, midfielder Kerrigan Miller, defender Emma Trenchard and goalie Taylor Moreno all earned the honor.

Hoeg & Ortega Are The Top-Scoring Duo In Tar Heel History
• Senior attackers Katie Hoeg and Jamie Ortega have combined to score more points than any pair of teammates in UNC women's lacrosse history.
• Hoeg has 268 career points, most in UNC history. Ortega has 248 points, ranking fourth.
• Hoeg's 167 assists and 2.42 career assists per game are the best in UNC history by a wide margin. Her 73 assists in 2019 are the UNC single-season record.
• Ortega has 186 career goals, tied for third in school history. The UNC record is 198 by Abbey Friend (2011-14) Ortega's 3.72 goals per game are the best in school history. She recorded a UNC-record 112 points as a sophomore in 2019. Ortega also holds the Carolina record for goals in a season, finishing with 81 in 2019.
• The duo shared 2020 National Player of the Year honors from Inside Lacrosse. In just seven games last year, Hoeg and Ortega combined for 97 points. Hoeg had 52 points on 22 goals and 30 assists, while Ortega had 45 points on 32 goals and 13 assists (prior to the cancellation of the season due to Covid-19).
• Ortega and Hoeg combined for 216 of Carolina's 490 points in 2019, becoming the first pair of 100-point scorers in program history.

All-Americas Miller & Borque Join As Grad Transfers
• A pair of Inside Lacrosse Media All-Americans during the coronavirus-shortened 2020 season, Katie Bourque and Kerrigan Miller, have joined the Tar Heel lacrosse program as graduate transfers.
• Borque and Miller spent the past four years at Dartmouth and Southern California, respectively. Both players are eligible to play in 2021 and have one season of eligibility remaining after the NCAA granted spring student-athletes an extra year due to the 2020 season being cut short. Unfortunately, Borque suffered a knee injury in the Fall of 2020.
• Miller was a four-time All-America midfielder at USC and member of the U.S. national team, coached there by UNC's Jenny Levy. She also is a childhood friend of UNC's Katie Hoeg from their days growing up in Long Island. Miller earned second-team All-America honors from ILWomen after leading the Trojans to a 6-0 record and a No. 7 ranking in the final IWLCA poll. The all-around midfielder finished second on her team in ground balls (16) and caused turnovers (8) and tied for second in draw controls (13). She also tallied 11 points (10 goals and one assist).
• The No. 1 recruit in the Class of 2016 according to ILWomen, Miller received Mountain Pacific Sport Federation Rookie of the Year honors in 2017. She then followed that up by being named the Pac-12 Midfielder of the Year in 2018 and 2019. In 66 games at USC, she hit the century mark in five key statistical categories: goals (104), points (143), ground balls (158), caused turnovers (120) and draw controls (157).
• Bourque garnered third-team All-America honors from ILWomen in 2020 while leading Dartmouth to a 5-0 record and a No. 9 ranking in the final IWLCA national poll. One of the nation's top scorers, she paced the Big Green in goals (21) and points (27). She finished the year ranked seventh nationally in goals per game (4.2) and tied for 12th in points per game (5.4).

Emily Parros Returns to Carolina
• UNC graduate Emily Parros returned to the Tar Heel women's lacrosse program as an assistant coach in the Fall of 2020. Parros, an NCAA champion in 2013, spent the previous four years as an assistant coach at East Carolina while continuing to play professionally and for the U.S. National Team.
• Known as Emily Garrity during her UNC career, Parros started in the midfield for the Tar Heel from 2010-13, earning All-America, All-Atlantic Coast Conference and ACC All-Tournament honors. She was a two-time captain and was named to the Tewaaraton Award Watch List as a senior. An exercise and sport science major, she twice earned All-ACC Academic Team honors.
• In addition to her coaching career, Parros continues to play for the U.S. National Team and in the United Women's Lacrosse League (UWLX) as a member of the Philadelphia Force.

Marie McCool Back With Tar Heels
• Marie McCool, one of the most decorated players in program history, returned to UNC as a volunteer assistat coach in the Fall of 2020.
• McCool, a member of UNC's 2016 national championship team, was the 2018 National Midfielder of the Year and the first player to win ACC Midfielder of the Year honors twice. The Moorestown, N.J., native was a three-time All-America and All-ACC selection. She became just the third Tar Heel women's lacrosse player to earn first-team All-America honors three times and the first to be a national player of the year finalist twice.
• McCool finished her career second in UNC history in draw controls (295), third in points (246), fourth in goals (183) and eighth in assists (63). She led UNC to a 72-13 record, 25-3 ACC record, three ACC Tournament championships, three final fours, two title-game appearances and an NCAA title.
• McCool was the 2017 ACC Scholar-Athlete of the Year for women's lacrosse and was the youngest player on the U.S. National Team that won gold in the 2017 World Cup.

Sparkling Home Stadium
• Carolina plays in one of the nation's finest women's lacrosse facilities.
• UNC opened its new, on-campus UNC Lacrosse & Soccer Stadium on March 2, 2019. In the inaugural women's lacrosse game played there, the third-ranked Tar Heels downed fifth-ranked Northwestern, 21-11.
• UNC went 6-1 in its new stadium in 2019 and 3-0 in the shortened 2020 season.
• Construction began on the facility in May 2017. It is built on the site of the old Fetzer Field, which housed six sports on campus from 1935 through 2017 and where the women's lacrosse team posted a 139-27 record.
• In September 2019, the stadium was dedicated as Dorrance Field in honor of longtime Carolina women's soccer coach Anson Dorrance.

Taylor McDaniels Wins Grant For Future Teachers
• Taylor McDaniels, a December 2020 UNC graduate and three-year letterwinner for Carolina (2018-20) won the ACC's Go Teach Dr Pepper Tuition Giveaway grand prize in December 2020.
• McDaniels, who earned her undergraduate degree in human development and family studies and plans to pursue her master's in special education, won the $20,000 grand prize in addition to being one of 15 $2,500 winners conference-wide.
• McDaniels spent three seasons as a key contributor for the high-powered Tar Heel attack. She tallied five goals and an assist as a sophomore against Northwestern, then followed up that effort with four goals in the next outting against Virginia. She also scored three goals against Northwestern in what ended up being her final college game in March 2020.
• The ACC, in partnership with the College Football Playoff (CFP) Foundation, honor 15 recipient student-athletes who are pursuing careers in education after the conclusion of their playing careers. The ACC's awards committee selected McDaniels as the grand prize winner.

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Players Mentioned

Katie Bourque

Scottie Rose Growney

Katie Hoeg

Taylor McDaniels

Kerrigan Miller

Taylor Moreno

Jamie Ortega

Emma Trenchard