Another Milestone Season Could Be On Tap For Women’s Lacrosse

Photo by: ANTHONY SORBELLINI

Another Milestone Season Could Be On Tap For Women’s Lacrosse

February 7, 2022 | Women's Lacrosse

2022 Schedule

Tar Heels seek 10th NCAA final four in last 13 years

North Carolina’s women’s lacrosse team is no stranger to success. With nine NCAA final four appearances, five consecutive Atlantic Coast Conference championships and two national titles in the last 12 years, excellence is the standard at Carolina, just as it is with the school’s storied women’s soccer, men’s basketball, field hockey and other programs.

Entering her 27th season as the only coach in the history of Carolina women’s lacrosse, Hall of Famer Jenny Levy’s 2022 squad is ranked No. 2 in the Inside Lacrosse/IWLCA Preseason Poll. UNC seems poised to make a run at another ACC title, a 10th final four in 13 years and a legitimate shot at a third NCAA championship.

The 2022 roster features eight returning starters from last year’s team that started the season 20-0 before losing a heartbreaker in the NCAA semifinal to Boston College.

Due in part to the NCAA’s decision to grant an extra year of athletic eligibility to student-athletes whose seasons were impacted by Covid-19, this year’s roster is especially experienced. It features 21 upperclassmen on a 41-player squad, including three seniors and eight fifth-year seniors or graduate students.

The NCAA’s updated rules on immediate eligibility for transfers have also paid dividends and helped replace graduated starters Katie Hoeg, Kerrigan Miller, Catie Woodruff and Caroline Wakefield. Preseason 2022 All-Americas Andie Aldave and Olivia Dirks have joined the program from Notre Dame and Penn State, respectively. Graduate student Sam Geiersbach also transferred to UNC, brining her over 150 career goals scored at Richmond.

Aldave and Dirks are among nine Tar Heels who dotted the major 2022 preseason All-America teams. Carolina led all schools nationally in total players on the Inside Lacrosse Preseason All-America teams (nine), players on the first-, second- and third-teams (seven) and first-team honorees (five).

ILWomen named five Tar Heels to its preseason first team (most in the nation), including players at all four positions on the field: attacker Jamie Ortega, midfielders Dirks and Ally Mastroianni, defender Emma Trenchard and goalie Taylor Moreno. Ortega, Mastroianni, Trenchard and Moreno all were consensus first-team All-Americas after the 2021 season.

Trenchard (the USA Lacrosse Preseason National Defender of the Year) and Moreno (the magazine’s Preseason National Goalie of the Year) lead a stout, experienced defensive unit.

Aldave is a USA Lacrosse second-team preseason All-America and a third-team pick by ILWomen. Sophomore attacker Caitlyn Wurzburger was a third-team pick by ILWomen, with senior attacker Scottie Rose Growney and junior defender Emily Nalls garnering honorable mention.

Five of Inside Lacrosse's top 10 candidates the 2022 Tewaaraton Award were Tar Heels: Dirks, Mastroianni, Trenchard, Moreno and Ortega.

Other key veterans such as Tayler Warehime, Elizabeth Hillman, Melissa Sconone, Julia Dorsey and Brooklyn Neumen, among others, are also returning.

In short, a program with plenty of milestone achievements on its resumé could be in line is on pace for more landmark accomplishments in 2022. Below is a small taste of what could on tap for the Tar Heels in 2022.

“This offseason was probably some of the most work we’ve put into a fall, whether it was individual skills, conditioning, speed and agility, or even the weight room. It just really shows the overall maturity of this group."

Scottie Rose Growney (to USA Lacrosse Magazine)