Women's Lacrosse Cruises By Mercer, 18-3, Behind Ortega's Five Goals

Saturday, March 27

Chapel Hill

1 PM

North Carolina

10-0

Mercer

2-4

Mercer

North Carolina

Jamie Ortega scored five first-half goals in the win.

Women's Lacrosse Cruises By Mercer, 18-3, Behind Ortega's Five Goals

March 27, 2021 | Women's Lacrosse

Box Score Final Stats (.pdf)

CHAPEL HILL—The No. 1-ranked North Carolina women's lacrosse team got five first-half goals from Jamie Ortega and dominated Mercer, 18-3, on Saturday afternoon at Dorrance Field. Eleven Tar Heels scored in the game.

Ortega posted her 22nd career game with at least five goals. Katie Hoeg added a goal and four assists, while Scottie Rose Growney, Kerrigan Miller and Tayler Warehime each had two goals and one assist. Caitlyn Wurzburger scored a goal with a season-high three assists.

Emma Trenchard scored her first career goal on a free position try early in the second half. Other goal scorers for UNC included Ally Mastroianni (who added eight draw controls), Briana Lantuh, Katherine Thompson and Brookyn Neumen. Melisssa Sconone and Caroline Wakefield added assists.

UNC led, 5-0, before the Bears posted a successful clear and had built a 10-goal lead before the halfway point of the first half.

"With every game we play, we want to come out strong, come with energy, focus and be dialed in," Ortega said after the game. "On the first possession we had, we did score to get off to a good start. It's always great when everyone does well and does their parts and roles on the team. Once we scored three goals in just a few minutes, we did get in the groove a little bit. I think that was huge for us."

UNC connected on 18 of its 29 shot attempts for a team shooting percentage of .621. Carolina outshot the Bears, 29-17, and forced a season-high 21 turnovers.

Taylor Moreno started in goal and played the first half, making five saves and allowing no goals to improve her 2021 record to 10-0 and her career record to 39-5. Kimber Hower entered the game to start the second half and made three saves while allowing three goals in 30 minutes.

Iseabal Cryne started and played 50:33 in the cage for Mercer, making five saves and allowing 16 goals in taking the loss.

Carolina will return to action with a home game next weekend against second-ranked Syracuse on Saturday April 3.

Notes:
• Carolina won its 17^th consecutive game. The longest winning streak in school history is 20 games.
• UNC is off to a 10-0 start in 2021. The best start in school history was 11-0 in 2014.
• UNC scored double-figure goals for the 26th game in a row and held its opponent to single digits for the 10th game in a row (every game in 2021).
• Jamie Ortega extended her goals streak to 24 consecutive games and posted her 54th career multi-goal game (54 multi-goal games in 59 career games).
• Ortega has tallied at least one point in 53 consecutive games and 58 of 59 in her career.
• Katie Hoeg posted her 51st career multi-assist game.
• Taylor Moreno improved her career record in the cage to 39-5. She has started 43 consecutive games in goal.

Gallery: (3-27-2021) Women's Lacrosse Blasts Mercer, 18-3