Women's Lacrosse Opens Quest For 5th Consecutive ACC Title Wednesday

2021 ACC Women's Lacrosse Tournament Quarterfinal
Matchup: North Carolina (15-0, 9-0 ACC) vs. Louisville (5-10, 1-9 ACC)
UNC Ranks: No. 1/1/1 (IWLCA/Inside Lacrosse/USLacrosse)
Louisville Ranks: No. 24/19-tie/- (IWLCA/Inside Lacrosse/USLacrosse)
Date: Wednesday April 28, 2021
Site: Chapel Hill (Dorrance Field)
Time: Noon
Watch: ACC Network

• North Carolina's women's lacrosse team will play its first 2021 Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament game when it plays No. 8 seed Louisville on Wednesday. The Tar Heels are hosting this year's tournament at Dorrance Field in Chapel Hill.
• The Tar Heels and Cardinals will take the opening draw just after noon. The game will be televised live by the ACC Network (along with the rest of the ACC Tournament).
• Carolina captured its ninth ACC regular season championship this season.
• UNC is seeking its fifth consecutive ACC Tournament title and its sixth overall (2002, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019).

Tar Heel Tidbits
Team
• Rankings: The Tar Heels are ranked No. 1 in the nation by the IWLCA, Inside Lacrosse and USLacrosse and have topped all the polls every week in 2021.
• Scoring Streak: Carolina has scored 10 or more goals in 31 consecutive games (dating to 2019 vs. Notre Dame).
• Winning Streak: UNC has won 22 consecutive games, the longest winning streak in school history. The previous record was 20 games (17 in a row to end the 2016 season & 3-0 to start 2017). During their 22-game winning streak, the Tar Heels have outscored their opponents, 381-150 (a +10.5 scoring margin).
• ACC Tourney Winning Streak: UNC has won 12 consecutive ACC Tournament games. The conference record is 14 (Maryland, 2009-14).
• Top Start: Carolina is 15-0 in 2021, the best start to a season in program history (the previous record was 11-0 in 2014).
• Tough Schedule: Carolina is 13-0 this season against IWLCA-ranked opponents, including 7-0 against top-10 foes.
• Among the NCAA Leaders: The Tar Heels are among the national leaders in several statistical categories: scoring margin (2nd, 10.07), scoring defense (1st, 6.20), scoring offense (10th, 16.27), save percentage (1st, .567), fewest turnovers committed (1st, 10.33) and shooting percentage (5th, .510).
• Stellar D: UNC has held opponents to single-digit goals in 13 of 15 games this season. UNC's defense has limited opponents to a shooting percentage of .283, best in school history.
• Scoring Margin: The Tar Heels have outscored their 2021 opponents by 151 goals in 15 games, 244-93 (a scoring margin of +10.07 goals per game that ranks second in the nation in 2021 and is the best in school history).
• Two of the Nation's Top Five Scorers: Jamie Ortega (80 points, fourth in the nation) and Katie Hoeg (76, sixth) are both among the nation's top five scorers in 2021.
• Two of the Top Five in ACC History: Katie Hoeg (337 career points, fourth in ACC history) and Jamie Ortega (323, fifth) are the top-scoring set of teammates in ACC history.

Jamie Ortega
• Attacker Jamie Ortega is Carolina's career leader in goals and has scored two or more goals in 58 of 63 career games.
• She missed her first career game on April 23 at Duke.
• Ortega's 323 career points are fifth in ACC history (teammate Katie Hoeg is just ahead of her with 337).
• Her 244 career goals are fourth in ACC history (Amy Appelt of Virginia is third with 258).
• Ortega has scored five or more goals 25 times as a Tar Heel, including seven times in her last nine games.
• Ortega has scored four or more goals in 11 of 14 games this season,
• Ortega has scored at least one goal in 28 consecutive games. She ranks fourth in the nation in goals with 61 despite missing the regular season finale vs. Duke.
• Ortega has tallied at least one point in 57 consecutive games and 62 of 63 in her career.
• Ortega is sixth in Carolina history in career assists with 80.
• Over her last eight games, Ortega has scored goals on 39 of 51 shots, a blistering shooting percentage of .765.
• Ortega ranks second nationally with a shooting percentage of .709.

Katie Hoeg
• Attacker Katie Hoeg is third in NCAA history and first in ACC history in career assists with 209. Hoeg has 55 career multi-assist games.
• Hoeg is fourth in ACC history in career points with 337 (Amy Appelt of Virginia is third with 373).
• Hoeg leads the ACC and is fourth in the nation with 3.13 assists per game. She is second in the nation with 47 assists.
• Hoeg's 47 assists in 2021 are already tied as the third-highest single-season total in school history.

Taylor Moreno
• Goalie Taylor Moreno has a career record of 43-5. The UNC career record for goalie wins is 49 (Caylee Waters, 2014-17).
• Moreno has started 48 consecutive games in the cage for the Tar Heels, beginning with the final five games of the 2018 season.
• Moreno has 16 career games with 10 or more saves, including four in 2021 (and a season-high 11 on April 3 versus Syracuse).
• Moreno leads the ACC and the nationally in goals against average (a career-best 6.21) and is second in the nation in save percentage (a career-high .569). Her goals-against average is almost three goals per game better than her career average entering the 2021 season (9.12).

Scottie Rose Growney
• Attacker Scottie Rose Growney is Carolina's third-leading scorer with 52 points, ranking 51st in the nation.
• Growney is second on the team behind Ortega in goals with 35.
• This season, Growney already has set career highs in goals (35), assists (17) and points (52).

Carolina Seeking Fifth Consecutive ACC Title
• Carolina has an all-time record of 29-18 in ACC Tournament play and captured its fourth conference title in a row in 2019.
• The Tar Heels have won ACC championships in 2002, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019.
• UNC is seeking its fifth title in a row, which would approach the longest streak of consecutive titles in ACC history (behind Maryland's six straight from 2009-14).
• Carolina has won 12 consecutive ACC Tournament games, last losing in the 2015 title game to Syracuse. The longest win streak in ACC Tournament history is 14 games by Maryland from 2009-14.
• UNC's five ACC titles are tied with Virginia for second-most in conference history. Maryland holds the record with 11.
• Carolina has reached the ACC championship game five years in a row, nine times in the last 10 years and 13 times overall (1998, 2000, 2002, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019).
• Jenny Levy is seeking her sixth ACC champioship, which would tie Cathy Reese of Maryland for the most in ACC history.
• The Tar Heels are the No. 1 seed in the ACC Tournament for an eighth time. Carolina is 12-5 all-time as the No. 1 seed, winning titles in 2016 and 2017.
• UNC is 11-0 all-time in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals.
• Carolina is 13-10 in the ACC semifinals. The Tar Heels have won nine of their last 10 ACC semifinal games.
• UNC is 5-8 in ACC Tournament finals, winning in 2002 over Maryland, 2016 and 2017 over Syracuse and 2018 and 2019 over Boston College.

Nine Midseason All-Americas
• An impressive nine of 12 regular Carolina starters earned 2021 Midseason All-America honors from Inside Lacrosse.
• Five Tar Heels grabbed first-team honors at each position on the field: attackers Katie Hoeg and Jamie Ortega, midfielder Ally Mastroianni, defender Emma Trenchard and goalie Taylor Moreno.
• Attacker Scottie Rose Growney was on the second team, and defender Catie Woodruff was on the third team. Midfielder Kerrigan Miller and defender Caroline Wakefield earned honorable mention.

Moreno Is A 3x-ACC Defensive POW
• For a third time this season, Carolina goalie Taylor Moreno was the Atlantic Coast Conference Defensive Player of the Week on April 20.
• Moreno stymied Virginia in a pair of North Carolina wins on April 16 and 18. She was dominant in the cage on both Friday and Sunday, as UNC limited the Cavaliers to single-digit goals in both games. On Friday, the native of Huntington, New York, made four saves in a 20-8 win, while also gathering two ground balls in 44:24 of action. On Sunday, she and the UNC defense limited Virginia to just four first-half shots in a 15-4 victory. She made four saves in the contest.
• Moreno also won the award on February 16 (after making 10 saves in the season opener against Stony Brook) and April 6 (after the 17-6 win over Syracuse, when she stymied the Orange on the way to a 16-2 Tar Heel scoring run after falling behind, 4-1).

Mastroianni Wins Postgraduate Scholarship
• Senior midfielder Ally Mastroianni is among three Tar Heels and 52 ACC student-athletes selected as 2021 Weaver-James-Corrigan Postgraduate Scholarship Award recipients. Chris Gray (men's lacrosse), Rachel Jones (women's soccer) and Mastroianni (women's lacrosse) were part of the list of conference honorees announced on March 24.
• Teammate Katie Hoeg won the same honor in 2020.
• Mastroianni, from Martinsville, N.J., is pursuing a double major in media & journalism and communication studies and plans to pursue a master's degree in the field after graduation.
• The Weaver-James-Corrigan postgraduate scholarships are awarded to selected student-athletes who intend to pursue a graduate degree following completion of their undergraduate requirements. Each recipient will receive $6,000 toward his or her graduate education. Those honored have performed with distinction in both the classroom and their respective sport, while demonstrating exemplary conduct in the community.

Four On Tewaaraton Nominees List
• Four UNC seniors led the watch list for the sport's most prestigious award, the Tewaaraton Award given to the nation's top player.
• Tar Heels on the watch list include attacker Katie Hoeg, goalie Taylor Moreno, attacker Jamie Ortega and defender Emma Trenchard.
• UNC had more players on the nominees list than any school in the nation.
• Senior attacker Scottie Rose Growney was on the Tewaaraton Watch List, joining Hoeg, Moreno, Trenchard and Ortega.

Ortega Is UNC Career Goals Leader
• Jamie Ortega broke the UNC program record for career goals in the Feb. 28 win over Vanderbilt.
• Entering the ACC Tournament, Ortega has scored 244 goals, topping the previous UNC 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 14 of 15 opponents in 2021 to single-digit goals.
• UNC is first in the nation in both scoring defense (6.20) and save percentage (.567).
• On March 13, UNC tied the school record for fewest goals allowed in a 22-1 win at No. 14 Virginia Tech.
• In the March 27 win over Mercer, UNC forced a season-high 21 turnovers.
• Caroline Wakefield leads the Tar Heels with 16 caused turnovers in 2021, followed by Trenchard with 13. Emily Nalls (28), Trenchard (22) and Wakefield (21) lead in ground balls, often using their speed to turn those loose balls into quick-strike fast-break opportunities on offense.

Series vs. Louisville
• Carolina leads the all-time series with Louisville, 7-0. Wednesday's game will be the first ACC Tournament meeting between the two schools.
• Earlier this season, Jamie Ortega scored a season-high seven goals in a 19-7 win at Louisville on March 18.

Moreno is ACC Defensive POW For A Third Time In 2021
• For a third time this season, North Carolina goalie Taylor Moreno earned ACC Defensive Player of the Week honors on April 20.
• Moreno stymied Virginia in a pair of UNC wins on April 16 and 18, as UNC limited the Cavaliers to single-digit goals with four saves in each game.
• Moreno also won the award on February 16 (after making 10 saves in the season opener against Stony Brook) and April 6 (after the 17-6 win over Syracuse, when she stymied the Orange on the way to a 16-2 Tar Heel scoring run after falling behind, 4-1).

Hoeg & Ortega Are The Top-Scoring Duo In ACC History
• Senior attackers Katie Hoeg and Jamie Ortega are the highest-scoring set of teammates in Atlantic Coast Conference history.
• Hoeg has 337 career points, most in UNC history and fourth in ACC history. Her 209 assists are the most in ACC history and third in NCAA history.
• Ortega has 323 points, second in school history behind Hoeg and fifth in ACC history. Her 244 goals rank fourth in ACC history.
• Hoeg's 209 assists and 2.52 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 244 career goals and 3.87 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.
• Head coach Jenny Levy told US Lacrosse in April, "Jamie and Katie are just a tandem that will go down in lacrosse history as great. They can score and feed in so many different ways, it's not something that is a script for them. They're reading what defenses are giving them, and when you play against that defensively, it's very difficult to defend."

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.
• 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.

Women's Lacrosse Opens Quest For 5th Consecutive ACC Title Wednesday

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Players Mentioned

Scottie Rose Growney

Katie Hoeg

Ally Mastroianni

Kerrigan Miller

Taylor Moreno

Emily Nalls

Jamie Ortega

Emma Trenchard

Caroline Wakefield

Catie Woodruff