No. 1 WLAX Vs. No. 5 Duke For ACC Top Seed On Thursday

Thursday, April 21

Chapel Hill

8 PM

North Carolina

Duke

Photo by: Syracuse Athletic Communications

April 19, 2022 | Women's Lacrosse

Watch Live Stats UNC Notes Tickets

• The University of North Carolina women's lacrosse team (14-0, 7-0 ACC), the nation's top-ranked team in the IWLCA/Inside Lacrosse poll for the fifth week in a row, will close the 2022 regular season with a home game against No. 5 Duke (15-1, 6-1) on Thursday night at Dorrance Field.
• The game will be a showdown for the Atlantic Coast Conference regular season championship between the Tar Heels (7-0 in ACC play) and the Blue Devils (6-1). Carolina has clinched at least a tie for the regular season title. The winner of Thursday's game will be the top seed in next week's ACC Tournament, to be held in Notre Dame, Ind.
• Thursday's game also is a matchup of the top two scoring teams in the nation. Duke leads the nation with 17.88 goals per game and Carolina is second at 17.71.
• UNC won its last outing, 17-7, at No. 15 Virginia last Thursday night. Duke is coming off a 16-15 win over No. 2-ranked Boston College in Durham on Saturday April 16.
• The ACC Network will broadcast the game with Leah Secondo, Sheehan Stanwick Burch and Dana Boyle on the call.
• Thursday's game will be the last of three consecutive nationally-televised games for the Tar Heels to close the regular season. ESPNU and the ACC Network are nationally televising six UNC regular season games in 2022, most of any school in the nation. The ACCN also will televise every game of the ACC Tournament later this month.
• In their last outing, the Tar Heels won 17-7 at No. 15 Virginia last Thursday behind four goals from Ally Mastroianni and three goals and two assists from Jamie Ortega.

Tar Heel Hot Streaks
Carolina has:
• Won 40 consecutive regular season games (last loss: 7-9, 3/31/19 at Notre Dame)
• Won 29 consecutive home games (last loss: 8-14, 3/23/19 vs. Boston College)
• Won 18 consecutive road games (last loss: 7-9, 3/31/19 at Notre Dame)
• Won 41 of its last 42 games
• Won 49 of its last 51 games
• Won 10 ACC regular season championships, including five of the last seven (beginning in 2015, excluding the COVID year of 2020 and including 2022)
• Won five consecutive ACC Tournament titles—the second-longest streak in the event's history (behind Maryland's six straight from 2009-14)
• Won 15 consecutive ACC Tournament games—the longest streak in the history of the tournament

ACC's Top Seed on the Line
• When Carolina (7-0 in ACC play this season) meets Duke (6-1) on Thursday night, the top seed in the 2022 ACC Tournament will be on the line.
• UNC has clinched at least a tie for the ACC regular season title for the 10th time (1998, 2000, 2006, 2010, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2021, 2022).
•A win over Duke would clinch Carolina's seventh outright ACC regular season title (joining 1998, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2021).

Series History vs. the Blue Devils
• Carolina leads the all-time series with Duke, 27-14.
• The Tar Heels have won 12 consecutive games in the series and 15 of the last 16.
• Last season, UNC beat Duke twice—in February in Chapel Hill and to close the regular season in April in Durham.
• Head coaches Jenny Levy and Kerstin Kimel are longtime close friends, as UNC and Duke each launched their women's lacrosse programs in 1996. They represent two of the seven winningest head coaches in NCAA Division I women's lacrosse history (Levy 3rd, Kimel 7th).

Tar Heel Tidbits
Team
• Scoring Run: Carolina has scored 10 or more goals in 50 of the last 51 games (a run that began on April 6, 2019). The exception was the 2021 ACC Tournament final vs. Syracuse (nine).
• UNC has won 41 of its last 42 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 has won 49 of its last 51 games overall (a run that began on April 6, 2019). The only two Tar Heel losses during the last 50 games came to Boston College in the 2019 and 2021 NCAA Tournament semifinals.
• The Tar Heels have won 40 consecutive regular season games.
• Carolina has won 29 home games in a row, the longest home winning streak in school history.
• UNC has won 18 consecutive road games, the longest road winning streak in school history.
• Among the NCAA's Best: The Tar Heels lead the nation in shooting percentage (.512), assists (9.79 per game) and points per game (27.50). UNC is also second nationally in scoring offense (17.71 goals per game) and scoring margin (+8.93).
• The 2022 Tar Heels are on pace to be the highest-scoring team in program history. Carolina is averaging 17.71 goals per game this season, ranking second in the nation. The UNC school record is 15.90, set in 2017.
• Carolina has scored at least 15 goals in 13 of 14 games this season and has scored 20 or more six times.
• The Tar Heels are allowing 8.79 goals per game in 2022, the ACC's best and the nation's ninth-best scoring defense.
• With a long list of recent All-America defenders and goalies in Chapel Hill under the tutelege of defensive coordinator Phil Barnes, Carolina's defense has held its opponents to single-digit goals in 31 of its last 41 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 Tidbits
• Andie Aldave, a graduate transfer from Notre Dame, is second in the ACC and 13th in the nation in shooting percentage at .593.
• Aldave scored a career-high six goals against Louisville on March 13 and scored four goals in the win at No. 1-ranked Boston College on March 20.
• Graduate transfer Sam Geiersbach (Richmond) has 18 goals and 18 assists in the last 10 games, providing instant offense off the bench.
• Scottie Rose Growney is third on the team with 32 goals and 46 points.
• Growney has scored at least two goals in 12 of 14 games this season.
• Caitlyn Wurzburger leads the team and is second in the ACC with 31 assists. She is second on the UNC team with 56 points.
• Junior defender Emily Nalls tied the school record with 10 ground balls at High Point and earned ACC Defensive Player of the Week honors. Nalls leads UNC with 16 caused turnovers and 32 ground balls and is second with 43 draw controls.
• Head coach Jenny Levy has more wins (record of 387-118) and more ACC regular season wins (95-33) than any coach in Atlantic Coast Conference history.

#1 In The National Polls
• Carolina is ranked No.1 in the ILWomen/IWLCA rankings for the fourth week in a row. UNC took over the top spot on March 21 after its win at previously-top-ranked Boston College.
• UNC had been ranked No. 2 nationally in every poll this season prior to winning at BC.

Tar Heels Streaking at Dorrance
• Carolina has won 29 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 63-6 in its last 69 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).

Ortega Rewriting Record Books
• Attacker Jamie Ortega is rewriting the UNC, ACC and NCAA record books in 2022 and is almost certain to earn All-America honors for a fifth consecutive season.
• Ortega is third in NCAA history with 429 points, 16 behind second place and all-time ACC leader Jen Adams of Maryland (1998-2001), who had 445.
• Ortega is Carolina's career leader in goals and points and is third in school history in assists.
• Ortega broke the UNC career points record in her 72nd career game, 17 games (almost a full season) fewer than it took Katie Hoeg to set the record.
• Ortega has 429 points in 83 career games for a UNC-record 5.17 points per game. Katie Hoeg had 370 points in 89 games (4.16 ppg).

• Ortega needs:
- 17 points to become the ACC's career points leader (she has 429; record is 445 by Jen Adams of Maryland)
- 17 points to pass Adams for second place in NCAA history in career points.

• Ortega has scored at least one goal in 48 consecutive games.
• Ortega has scored multiple goals in 74 of 83 career games (89.0 percent).
• Her 314 career goals are third in NCAA history and second in ACC annals. Current BC attacker Charlotte North is first in ACC history with 331 goals.
• Ortega has scored five or more goals 31 times in 83 career games (a whopping 37.3 percent).
• Ortega has tallied at least one point in 77 consecutive games and 82 of 83 in her career.
• 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. She has been at her best in big games.
• In the April 14 win at Virginia, she scored a game-high four goals (tying her career high) and had eight draw controls.
• In the March 20 win at top-ranked Boston College, she had two goals (including the game-winner) and five draw controls.
• She 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.
• She leads Carolina with 95 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

Moreno Snaps UNC Career Wins Record
• Graduate student goalie Taylor Moreno has a career record of 62-6 in the cage and became Carolina's all-time leader in goalie wins on Feb. 16 against Furman.
• Moreno eclipsed the wins record of Caylee Waters (2014-17), who had 49 career victories. Waters is a volunteer assistant coach for the 2022 Tar Heels.
• Moreno has started 68 consecutive games in the cage for the Tar Heels, beginning with the final five games of the 2018 season.
• Moreno leads the ACC in save percentage and goals against average.
• Moreno has four games with 10+ saves this season, including a season-high 16 (one off her career high of 17) in the April 2 win over Notre Dame.
• Moreno has 21 career games with 11 or more saves, including five in 2021 and four in 2022.
• Moreno is a three-time ACC Defensive Player of the Week and won IWLCA National Defensive Player of the Week honors on April 5.
• 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.

Tar Heels in the National Spotlight
• Carolina is among college lacrosse's showcase programs, having been among the nation's winningest programs on the field for years, and the Tar Heels annually are one of the nation's highest-profile programs in terms of media exposure and fan attendance.
• Two of the top three and four of the top 10 NCAA women's lacrosse games with the highest attendance this season have involved the Tar Heels.
• Carolina ranks second in the nation in total 2022 home attendance behind only Syracuse.
• Six UNC games will be televised nationally by ESPNU and the ACC Network in 2022.
• 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)

• 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.

ILWomen Midseason All-America Teams Include Eight Tar Heels
• Inside Lacrosse named its 2022 Midseason All-America Teams in the final days of March, and the teams included eight Tar Heels:
First team: Jamie Ortega, Ally Mastroianni, Emma Trenchard
Third team: Caitlyn Wurzburger, Emily Nalls, Taylor Moreno
Honorable Mention: Scottie Rose Growney, Andie Aldave

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.

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).

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.
• 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).