WLAX Visits Syracuse In Battle Of ACC Unbeatens

• The University of North Carolina women's lacrosse team (12-0, 5-0 ACC), the nation's top-ranked team in the IWLCA/Inside Lacrosse poll, will play another huge road game this weekend when it visits No. 4 Syracuse. The Tar Heels and the Orange (10-2, 5-0 ACC) are the only two undefeated teams remaining in ACC play. They will take the opening draw at the Carrier Dome on Saturday at 2 p.m. in a nationally televised contest.
• ESPNU will broadcast the game with Jay Alter (play-by-play) and Sheehan Burch (analyst) on the mic.
• In their last outing, the Tar Heels beat 15th-ranked Notre Dame, 15-7, last Saturday in Chapel Hill.
• UNC has won 38 consecutive regular season games, 29 consecutive home games, 16 consecutive road games and 39 of its last 40 games overall.

Series History vs. the Orange
• Carolina leads the all-time series with Syracuse, 10-6.
• UNC has won six in a row and eight of the last nine meetings in the series (since the start of the 2016 season).
• After Syracuse won four of the first five meetings in the series between 2001-14, Carolina has won nine of the last 11 meetings starting in 2015.
• Carolina is 5-2 against Syracuse in ACC regular season games since the Orange joined the conference prior to the 2014 season.
• The Orange leads the series in games played in Syracuse, 3-2, but Carolina has won the last two meetings there (20-11 in 2018 and 12-11 in 2016). The teams' scheduled 2020 game in the Carrier Dome was canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
• UNC is 4-1 against the Orange in Chapel Hill and 4-2 in the ACC Tournament.
• Last season in Chapel Hill, Carolina closed the game on a 16-2 run and beat No. 2 Syracuse, 17-6 on April 3. UNC also beat the Orange, 9-4, in the ACC Tournament final in Chapel Hill.

Tar Heel Tidbits
Team
• Scoring Run: Carolina has scored 10 or more goals in 48 of the last 49 games (a run that began on April 6, 2019). The exception was the 2021 ACC Tournament final vs. Syracuse (9).
• UNC has won 39 of its last 40 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 47 of its last 49 games overall (a run that began on April 6, 2019). The only two Tar Heel losses during the last 47 games came to Boston College in the 2019 and 2021 NCAA Tournament semifinals.
• The Tar Heels have won 38 consecutive regular season games.
• Carolina has won 29 home games in a row, the longest home winning streak in school history.
• UNC has won 16 consecutive road games, the longest road winning streak in school history.
• Carolina leads the nation in assists per game and points per game and is second nationally in scoring offense, shooting percentage and scoring margin.
• Head coach Jenny Levy is 93-33 in ACC regular season games in her 27-year career at UNC.
• The 2022 Tar Heels are on pace to be the higest-scoring team in team history. Carolina is averaging 18.08 goals per game this season, ranking second in the nation and on pace to be the highest mark in program history. The UNC school record is 15.90 in 2017.
• Carolina has scored at least 15 goals in every game this season and has scored 20 or more six times in 12 outings.
• The Tar Heels are allowing 8.67 goals per game in 2022, the ACC's best and the nation's sixth-best scoring defense. 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.
• Carolina has held its opponents to single-digit goals in 30 of its last 39 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 third in the ACC and is ninth in the nation in shooting percentage at .608.
• 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.
• Sam Geiersbach has 16 goals and 16 assists in the last eight games off the bench.
• Scottie Rose Growney is third on the team with 29 goals and 43 points.
• Growney has scored at least two goals in 11 of 12 games this season.
• Caitlyn Wurzburger leads the team with 26 assists and is second with 50 points.
• Junior defender Emily Nalls was one of 13 players nationally added to the Tewaaraton Award Watch List on March 10. She tied the school record with 10 ground balls at High Point and earned ACC Defensive Player of the Week honors. Nalls leads UNC with 14 caused turnovers and 29 ground balls and is second with 40 draw controls.

#1 In The National Polls
• Carolina moved into the No. 1 spot in the ILWomen/IWLCA rankings 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 61-6 in its last 67 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).

ACC & National Weekly Honors For Moreno
• Goalie Taylor Moreno was selected the IWLCA and ACC Defensive Player of the Week as the conference announced weekly women's lacrosse honors on April 5.
• Named ACC Defensive Player of the Week for the third time this year, Moreno made a season-high 16 saves, including two on one spectacular sequence that earned her a SportsCenter Top 10 berth, in leading a 15-7 Tar Heel win over Notre Dame.

Ortega Rewriting Record Books
• Attacker Jamie Ortega is rewriting the UNC, ACC and NCAA record books.
• Ortega is third in NCAA history with 418 points, 27 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.
• 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 418 points in 81 career games for a UNC-record 5.16 points per game. Katie Hoeg had 370 points in 89 games (4.16 ppg).

• Ortega needs:
- 28 points to be ACC's career points leader (she has 418; record is 445 by Jen Adams of Maryland)
- 28 points to pass Adams for second place in NCAA history in career points.

• Ortega has scored at least one goal in 46 consecutive games.
• Ortega has scored two or more goals in 72 of 81 career games.
• Her 306 career goals are third in NCAA history and second in ACC annals. Current BC player Charlotte North is first in ACC history with 323 goals.
• Ortega has scored five or more goals 30 times as a Tar Heel.
• Ortega has tallied at least one point in 75 consecutive games and 80 of 81 in her career.
• Ortega became the third player in Carolina history to compile at least 100 assists with three on March 6 vs. Northwestern. She is third among Tar Heels in career assists with 112.
• 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 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 79 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 60-6 in the cage and became Carolina's all-time leader in goalie wins on Feb. 16 against Furman.
• Moreno has started 66 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.
• 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.

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).

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, 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.
• 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).

Scoreboard Slider

University of North Carolina Athletics

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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