No. 2 WLAX Concludes Homestand Vs. Mercer & Louisville This Weekend

• The second-ranked University of North Carolina women's lacrosse team (6-0, 1-0 ACC) will conclude a four-game homestand and look to continue its hot start to the 2022 season with a pair of games this weekend.
• UNC will host Mercer at 5 p.m. on Friday and Atlantic Coast Conference foe Louisville at 1 p.m. on Sunday. Dorrance Field will be the host for both games.
• ACC Network Extra (ACCNX) will stream both games 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 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.
• Carolina has won six in a row to start the 2022 season and 33 of its last 34 overall in the last three seasons (7-0 in 2020, 20-1 in 2021 and 6-0 in 2022).
• The Tar Heels are 4-0 against ranked opponents this season, including 2-0 against top-10 foes.
• Mercer (3-1) is coming off a 16-11 win over UMass Lowell on Sunday March 6.
• Louisville (5-3, 1-1 ACC) won at Cincinnati, 16-9, on Wednesday afternoon.
• Following Sunday's game, the Tar Heels return to the road for back-to-back games away from Chapel Hill, beginning with a matchup at top-ranked and defending NCAA champion Boston College on Sunday March 20 in Chestnut Hill, Mass.

Series vs. Mercer
• Carolina won the first-ever meeting between UNC and Mercer in women's lacrosse, 18-3, in 2021 in Chapel Hill.

Series vs. Louisville
• Carolina leads the all-time series with Louisville, 8-0, including 4-0 in Chapel Hill and 7-0 in the regular season.
• In 2021, the Tar Heels beat the Cardinals twice, including 19-7 in the regular season in Louisville and 19-6 in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals in Chapel Hill.

Tar Heel Tidbits
Team
• Scoring Run: Carolina has scored 10 or more goals in 42 of the last 43 games (a run that began on April 6, 2019). The exception was the 2021 ACC Tournament final vs. Syracuse.
• UNC has won 33 of its last 34 games. Carolina won 27 in a row, the longest winning streak in school history and the seventh-longest in NCAA history, prior to the season-ending loss in the 2021 national semifinal to Boston College.
• Carolina is averaging 17.00 goals per game this season. The UNC school record is 15.90 in 2017. The 2021 Tar Heels were the third-highest scoring team in program history at 15.64 goals per game.
• The Tar Heels are allowing 8.33 goals per game in 2022. UNC led the nation in scoring defense in 2021, posting the second-best goals per game allowed average (6.58) in school history and the best in 25 years. The school record is 5.52, set in 1997 (UNC's second year as a varsity program).
• Carolina has held its opponents to single-digit goals in 26 of its last 34 games (since the start of the 2020 season).
• In the 2022 preseason, Inside Lacrosse ranked the Carolina defensive and midfield units as best in the nation and its attack group as the nation's second-best (behind Boston College).

Individual Notes
• Sam Geiersbach, a graduate transfer from the University of Richmond, leads Carolina in shooting percentage at a blistering .733 (11 of 15).
• Scottie Rose Growney is second on the team in shooting percentage at .667 (16 of 24) and leads the team with 16 goals.
• Growney has scored at least two goals in every game this season.
• Caitlyn Wurzburger is tied with Jamie Ortega for the team lead with 13 assists.
• Junior defender Emily Nalls was one of 13 players nationally added to the Tewaaraton Award Watch List on March 10. She becomes the seventh Tar Heel on the 2022 watch list.

#2 In The National Polls
• Carolina is ranked No. 2 in the nation in the ILWomen/IWLCA rankings this week. Boston College is in the top spot.
• Mercer and Louisville are both unranked this week.

Ortega Rewriting the Record Books
• Attacker Jamie Ortega is rewriting the UNC, ACC and NCAA record books.
• Ortega broke the UNC program record for career points on February 24 at Pitt. She has 381 career points, passing former teammate Katie Hoeg (370).
• Despite being a fifth-year senior, Ortega still hasn't played four full seasons since the 2020 campaign was cut short after seven games due to the Covid-19 pandemic and Ortega missed nearly two full contests in 2021 due to injury.
• Ortega broke the UNC career points record in her 72nd career game, 17 games (almost a full season) fewer than it took Hoeg to set the record.
• Ortega has 381 points in 75 career games for a UNC-record 5.15 points per game. Hoeg had 370 points in 89 games (4.16 ppg).
• Ortega is third in ACC history in career points. Sam Apuzzo of Boston College is second with 397 and Jen Adams of Maryland is first with 445. She is 10th in NCAA history in points.

• Ortega needs:
- 65 points to be ACC's career points leader (she has 381; record is 445 by Jen Adams of Maryland)
- 118 points to be NCAA's career points leader (she has 381; record is 498 by Kylie Ohmiller of Stony Brook)
- 62 goals to be NCAA's career goals leader (she has 280; the record is 341)

• Ortega is Carolina's career leader in goals and has scored two or more goals in 67 of 75 career games.
• Her 280 career goals are seventh in NCAA history and third in ACC annals. Ortega needs four goals to pass Sam Apuzzo of Boston College (283) for second-most goals in ACC history. Current BC player Charlotte North is first in ACC history with 300.
• Ortega has scored five or more goals 27 times as a Tar Heel.
• Ortega has scored at least one goal in 40 consecutive games.
• Ortega has tallied at least one point in 69 consecutive games and 74 of 75 in her career.
• Ortega became the third player in Carolina history top compile at least 100 assists with three on March 6 vs. Northwestern. She is third among Tar Heels in career assists with 101.
• 2022 Preseason Honors: Preseason First-Team All-America (USA Lacrosse, Inside Lacrosse), No. 2 overall player in the nation (men's and women's; Inside Lacrosse), Preseason All-ACC, Tewaaraton Award Watch List

Mastroianni Excelling in Midfield
• Graduate student midfielder Ally Mastroianni won the 2021 ACC Midfielder of the Year award but might be having an even better season as a graduate student in 2022.
• Mastroianni tied her career high with four goals and set a new career high with five points in UNC's 20-9 win over No. 6 Northwestern on March 6.
• Mastroianni has 20 draw controls in the last three games.
• She leads Carolina with 37 draw controls this season. She also led UNC with a career-high 112 DCs in 2021, earning unanimous first-team All-America honors.
• She was 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.
• Mastroianni, from Martinsville, N.J., earned a degree in 2021 with a double major in media & journalism and communication studies. She is now pursuing a master's degree in media and communication while also spearheading UNC's community service efforts off the field.
• 2022 Preseason Honors: Preseason First-Team All-America (USA Lacrosse, Inside Lacrosse), No. 11 overall player in the nation (men's and women's; Inside Lacrosse), Preseason All-ACC, Tewaaraton Award Watch List

Geiersbach Leads The Way in 20-9 Win Over Northwestern
• Six Tar Heels scored multiple goals as UNC dominated sixth-ranked Northwestern, 20-9, on March 6 in Chapel Hill.
• UNC blitzed Northwestern, 12-5, in the second half.
• UNC beat the Wildcats for the eighth consecutive time and the 10th time in the last 11 meetings in the series.
• Graduate transfer Sam Geiersbach scored a season-high five goals on just seven shots and added an assist for a season-high six points. She earned ACC Offensive Player of the Week honors for her efforts on March 8.
• Ally Mastroianni tied her career high with four goals and set a career high with five points. She has 20 draw controls in the last three games.
• Senior Jamie Ortega, the 2021 ACC Attacker of the Year, finished with two goals and a game-high three assists.

Six Tar Heels On US National Team
• Head coach Jenny Levy and her staff have named the final 18-player roster that will represent the United States in this summer's World Lacrosse Women's World Championship, and six of the players are current or former UNC players who played as Tar Heels for Levy.
• The six Carolina players, most of any school in the nation, include goalie Caylee Waters (UNC '17), fifth-year senior defender Emma Trenchard ('22), graduate student midfielder Ally Mastroianni ('21), midfielder Marie McCool ('18), midfielder Emily Parros ('13) and attacker Molly Hendrick ('17).
• USA Lacrosse will host the world championship from June 29 – July 9, 2022 at Towson (Md.) University.

Tar Heels Streaking at Dorrance
• Carolina has won 25 consecutive home games at Dorrance Field, the longest home winning streak in program history.
• UNC's last loss at home came on March 23, 2019, to Boston College.

ACC Dominance
• Carolina is 57-6 in its last 63 games against Atlantic Coast Conference opponents (regular season and postseason) and has won five consecutive ACC Tournaments.
• UNC's five straight ACC titles are the second-longest streak in the event's history (behind Maryland's six straight from 2009-14).
• UNC's 15 consecutive ACC Tournament wins are the longest streak in the history of the tournament.
• Since a loss in the 2015 ACC Tournament final, UNC's' only losses to conference foes have come to Boston College (four times), Syracuse (once, in 2017) and Notre Dame (once, in 2019).

Moreno Snaps UNC Career Wins Record
• Graduate student goalie Taylor Moreno has a career record of 54-6 in the cage and became Carolina's all-time leader in goalie wins on Feb. 16 against Furman.
• Moreno has started 60 consecutive games in the cage for the Tar Heels, beginning with the final five games of the 2018 season.
• Moreno has two games with 10+ saves this season.
• Moreno has 19 career games with 11 or more saves, including five in 2021 and two in 2022.
• She was named ACC Defensive Player of the Week on Feb. 22 after the wins over Furman and Florida.
• Moreno eclipsed the record of Caylee Waters (2014-17), who had 49 victories. Waters is a volunteer assistant coach for the 2022 Tar Heels.
• 2022 Preseason Honors: Preseason National Goalie of the Year (USA Lacrosse), Preseason ACC Defensive Player of the Year (Inside Lacrosse), Preseason First-Team All-America (USA Lacrosse, Inside Lacrosse), No. 7 overall player in the nation (men's and women's; Inside Lacrosse), Preseason All-ACC, Tewaaraton Award Watch List
• In 2021, Moreno finished second in the nation in goals against average (a career-best 6.65) and save percentage (a career-high .549). Her goals-against average was nearly three goals per game better than her career average entering the 2021 season (9.12).
• She is a two-time ACC Tournament MVP (2018, 2021).
• In the 2021 ACC Tournament, she earned MVP honors for the second time after leading the Tar Heels to three wins. Moreno allowed just 4.78 goals per game in three UNC victories, posting a save percentage of .611.

Tewaaraton Award Watch List Includes Seven Tar Heels
• Six UNC players made the intitial watch list for the 2022 Tewaaraton Award, most of any school in the nation.
• A seventh Tar Heel, Emily Nalls, was added on March 10.
• Tar Heels on the initiail list include Olivia Dirks, Ally Mastroianni, Taylor Moreno, Jamie Ortega, Emma Trenchard and Caitlyn Wurzburger.
• The list includes the top players in NCAA lacrosse and highlight the early contenders for the 2022 Tewaaraton Award, given to the national Player of the Year.
• Moreno and Ortega both were among the five finalists for the 2021 Tewaaraton Award.

Nine Preseason ILWomen All-Americas
• Carolina placed nine players on the 2022 Inside Lacrosse Preseason All-America Team, leading all schools nationally in total players on the list (nine), players on the first-, second- and third-team teams (seven) and first-team honorees (five).
• Tar Heels on the ILWomen preseason first team include players at all four positions on the field: attacker Jamie Ortega, midfielders Olivia 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.
• UNC attackers Andie Aldave and Caitlyn Wurzburger both grabbed spots on the third team, while attacker Scottie Rose Growney and defender Emily Nalls both made honorable mention.
• Carolina's five first-team honorees were the most in the nation, followed by Syracuse's three.

Preseason ACC Poll & All-ACC Team
• The ACC's coaches made their predictions for the 2022 ACC order of finish, and they picked North Carolina to finish second in the conference behind defending NCAA champion Boston College.
• The Eagles received 76 points in the voting to take first place. The Tar Heels, who have won five consecutive ACC championships, garnered 74 points. Syracuse (63) was picked third, and Notre Dame (56) was fourth. All four of the ACC's top four picks are ranked in the top five in the national preseason polls.
• At the same time, the coaches named their 2022 Preseason All-ACC Team, which includes four Tar Heels: attacker Jamie Ortega, midfielder Ally Mastroianni, defender Emma Trenchard and goalie Taylor Moreno. All four were consensus first-team All-Americas last year, and Ortega and Moreno both were among the five finalists for the 2021 Tewaaraton Award, given to the nation's top player.
• Boston College and Syracuse both also placed four players on the 18-player team. Notre Dame had three.

Tar Heels in the National Spotlight
• Six UNC games will be televised nationally by ESPNU and the ACC Network in 2022, the networks announced on Monday.
• UNC's six national broadcasts on the networks lead all schools in the nation. No other school has more than four. Tar Heel national broadcasts include:
• February 24 at Pitt, 4 p.m. (ACCN)
• March 6 vs. Northwestern, Noon (ESPNU)
• March 20 at Boston College, 2 p.m. (ESPNU)
• April 9 at Syracuse, 2 p.m.(ESPNU)
• April 14 at Virginia, 8 p.m. (ACCN)
• April 21 vs. Duke, 8 p.m. (ACCN)

• All Carolina home games not listed above will be streamed live by ACC Network Extra, which is available on smart TVs and via the ESPN app.
• The ACC Network will air the entire 2022 Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament, and ESPNU will televise all games of the 2022 NCAA Championship weekend on May 27-29.

Fedor Wins AD Scholar-Athlete Award
• Each school year, Carolina Athletics honors members of each varsity team as Athletic Director's Scholar-Athletes, recognizing one from each UNC team for outstanding academic achievement.
• The 2021-22 winners were honored at halftime of the final UNC men's basketball home game on Feb. 28 vs. Syracuse.
• Amanda Fedor, a senior exercise & sport science major from Vestal, N.Y., was the women's lacrosse winner.

Last Year
• Carolina went 20-1 overall in 2021, including 9-0 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, won its fifth consecutive ACC championship and made its 12th appearance in the NCAA Women's Lacrosse Tournament final four.
• The Tar Heels made their ninth final four appearance in the last 12 NCAA Tournaments (2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2021).

No. 2 WLAX Concludes Homestand Vs. Mercer & Louisville This Weekend

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Players Mentioned

Andie Aldave

Olivia Dirks

Amanda Fedor

Sam Geiersbach

Scottie Rose Growney

Katie Hoeg

Ally Mastroianni

Taylor Moreno

Emily Nalls

Jamie Ortega

Emma Trenchard

Caitlyn Wurzburger

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University of North Carolina Athletics