Women's Lacrosse Ready For First Road Test At Virginia Tech

Saturday, March 13

Blacksburg, Va.

1 PM

North Carolina

Virginia Tech

Caroline Wakefield

Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati

March 10, 2021 | Women's Lacrosse

Watch Live Stats UNC Game Notes

Matchup: North Carolina (6-0, 2-0 ACC) at Virginia Tech (2-2, 0-2 ACC)
UNC Ranks: No. 1/1/1 (IWLCA/Inside Lacrosse/USLacrosse)
VT Ranks: No. 13/14/15 (IWLCA/Inside Lacrosse/USLacrosse)
Date: Saturday March 13, 2021
Site: Blacksburg, Va. (Thompson Field)
Time: 1 p.m.
Watch: ACC Network Extra

• Atop all the national polls and off to a 6-0 start in 2021 that has included wins over five top-11 ranked opponents, North Carolina's women's lacrosse team will play its first road game of the season at Virginia Tech on Saturday.
• The two teams also had been slated to play on Thursday in Blacksburg, but that game was postponed indefinitely due to Covid-19 issues within the Hokie program.
• ACC Network Extra will stream Saturday's game.
• 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 access 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.

Tar Heel Tidbits
• Ranks: The Tar Heels are ranked No. 1 in the nation by the IWLCA, Inside Lacrosse and USLacrosse. Carolina has started its season with wins over five ranked opponents, including four ranked in the top 11 of the IWLCA poll.
• Scoring Streak: Carolina has scored 10 or more goals in 22 consecutive games (dating to 2019).
• Winning Streak: UNC has won 13 consecutive games. The longest winning streak in school history is 20 games (17 in a row to end the 2016 season & 3-0 to start 2017).
• Hot Start: Carolina is 6-0 in 2021. The best start in school history is 11-0 in 2014.
• Stellar D: UNC has held opponents to single-digit goals in all six games this season.
• UNC's defense has limited opponents to a shooting percentage of .275 in 2021.
• Scoring Margin: The Tar Heels have outscored their 2021 opponents, 95-38 (a scoring margin of +9.5 goals per game) Carolina's closest game in 2021 has been the five-goal win (11-6) over No. 8 Florida on Feb. 19.
• Attacker Jamie Ortega is Carolina's career leader in goals and has scored two or more goals in 50 of 55 career games.
• Ortega has scored at least one goal in 20 consecutive games.
• Ortega has tallied at least one point in 49 consecutive games and 54 of 55 in her career.
• Attacker Katie Hoeg holds the UNC career record for assists and has 47 career multi-assist games.
• Goalie Taylor Moreno has a career record of 35-5. She has started 39 consecutive games in the cage for the Tar Heels, beginning with the final five games of the 2018 season.
• Moreno has 14 career games with 10 or more saves, including two in 2021.
• Moreno's 2021 goals-against average is 6.13, more than 2.5 goals per game better than her career average of 8.73.

Ortega Breaks UNC Career Goals Record
• Jamie Ortega broke the UNC program record for career goals in the Feb. 28 win over Vanderbilt.
• Entering the game at Virginia Tech, Ortega has scored 205 goals, topping the previous record of 198 set by Abbey Friend from 2011-14.

Stout Defense Leads The Way
• Led by senior All-Americas Emma Trenchard and Taylor Moreno, the UNC defense has held each of its six 2021 opponents to single-digit goals.
• No Tar Heel opponent has scored more than the nine goals 11th-ranked Boston College scored on March 6.
• In the Feb. 28 win over Vanderbilt, Carolina forced a season-high 17 turnovers, including a career-high four by graduate student defender Catie Woodruff.
• Caroline Wakefield leads the Tar Heels with nine caused turnovers in 2021, while Emily Nalls leads UNC with 14 ground balls, often using her speed to turn those loose balls into quick offensive fast-break opportunities.

Series History vs. the Hokies
• Carolina leads the all-time series with Virginia Tech, 29-0.
• These two teams did not meet in 2020, but in 2019 UNC won, 19-5, in Blacksburg in the regular season and 19-9 in the ACC Tournament in Chestnut Hill, Mass.
• Carolina is 21-0 against the Hokies in regular season games, 7-0 in the ACC Tournament and 1-0 in the NCAA Tournament.

Hoeg & Ortega Are The Top-Scoring Duo In Tar Heel History
• Senior attackers Katie Hoeg and Jamie Ortega are the top two scorers in Carolina women's lacrosse history.
• Hoeg has 288 career points, most in UNC history.
• Ortega has 275 points, ranking second in school history.
• Hoeg's 180 assists and 2.43 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's 205 career goals and 3.72 career goals per game are the best in school history by a comfortable margin. She recorded a UNC-record 81 goals and 112 points as a sophomore in 2019.
• Hoeg and Ortega shared 2020 National Player of the Year honors from Inside Lacrosse. In just seven games last year, they 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.

Ortega Named IWLCA National co-Offensive Player of the Week
• Jamie Ortega scored a season-high six goals to lead the top-ranked Tar Heels to a 21-9 win over Boston College on March 6. She spearheaded an 11-2 run with four goals in the second half, extending her goals streak to 20 consecutive games and posting her 50th career multi-goal game. The senior attacker scored her 200th career goal in the first half on UNC's second goal of the game and also added a ground ball and caused turnover to her stat line.

Ortega Named ACC co-Offensive Player of the Week
• Jamie Ortega and Boston College senior attacker Charlotte North were named the ACC Women's Lacrosse Co-Offensive Players of the Week on March 2.
• Ortega broke the UNC career goals record on Sunday in a win over Vanderbilt when she scored her 199th career goal, breaking the previous record set by Abbey Friend from 2011-14. A native of Centereach, New York, she posted eight goals and four assists in two Tar Heel wins last week

Trenchard & Growney Sweep Named ACC & Player of the Week Honors
• Senior defender Emma Trenchard was named ACC Defensive Player of the Week on Feb. 23 and senior Scottie Rose Growney was the ACC Offensive Player of the Week.
• Growney scored seven goals on 12 shots as UNC rolled past Florida and High Point. She scored four goals, including two in each half, Friday against Florida. She scored two of her goals during a key 5-1 second-half run as UNC pulled away from a one-goal lead and put the game out of reach. She added three goals, two assists and a draw control Sunday against HPU.
• Trenchard was solid across the field in UNC's weekend wins. On Friday against Florida, she marked first-team All-America Shannon Kavanagh, limiting the senior to just one goal while also forcing a turnover. On Sunday against High Point, she initiated the UNC attack on a pair of fast breaks and recorded two assists (she had one career assist entering the game). She also added two ground balls and a draw control.

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 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.

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.