2022 Tar Heel WLAX Season Review

• In 2022, North Carolina women's lacrosse (22-0, 8-0 ACC) posted the first undefeated campaign in program history, set a school record for most wins and captured its third NCAA championship in a storybook season for the ages.
• The Tar Heels have won three national titles, all in the last nine NCAA Tournaments (2013, 2016, 2022).
• UNC made its fifth appearance in an NCAA title game in 2022 and have won two in a row (2016, 2022).
• Carolina advanced to the NCAA final by overcoming an eight-goal deficit in the second half to beat No. 4 seed Northwestern, 15-14, in the semifinal.
• In the title game vs. Boston College, graduate student goalkeeper Taylor Moreno anchored the Tar Heels with 11 saves on the day. Sam Geiersbach, the hero of UNC's come-from-behind semifinal win over Northwestern, led Carolina in scoring with a hat trick and earned NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player honors with a combined eight goals in the two games on Championship Weekend.
• The Tar Heels beat defending NCAA champion Boston College three times during the 2022 season: in the regular season at BC, in the ACC Tournament final in Chapel Hill and on neutral territory in Baltimore in the NCAA championship game.

Tar Heel Hot Streaks
Carolina closed the 2022 season having:
• Won 22 consecutive games, the second-longest streak in UNC history
(last loss: 2021 NCAA semifinal to Boston College)
• Gone 49-1 in the last three years (2020, 2021 & 2022 seasons)
• Won 57 of its last 59 games (since 4/6/19)
• Won 33 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 18 consecutive ACC Tournament games, the longest streak in the event's history
(last loss: 2015 final to Syracuse)
• Won six consecutive ACC Tournament titles—tied as the longest streak in the event's history (with Maryland's six straight from 2009-14).
• Won 40 consecutive regular season games (tied as third-longest streak in NCAA history)
(last loss: 7-9, 3/31/19 at Notre Dame)
• Won 22 consecutive regular season ACC games
(last loss: 7-9, 3/31/19 at Notre Dame)
• Won 10 ACC regular season championships, including five of the last seven (beginning in 2015, excluding the COVID year of 2020)
• Reached 10 of the last 13 NCAA semifinal weekends

Carolina's NCAA Tournament History
• UNC is 40-20 all-time in NCAA Tournament games and made its 23rd NCAA appearance in 27 years as a varsity program in 2022.
• Carolina has made 17 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances.
• UNC has reached the NCAA title game five times (2009, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2022), winning three times (2013, 2016, 2022).
• The Tar Heels have made 13 NCAA Championship Weekend (final four) appearances (1997, 1998, 2002, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022), including 10 in the last 13 seasons.
• Carolina's 13 berths in the NCAA final four are tied as the third-most in the history of the sport behind Maryland (28) and Virginia (14). Northwestern also has 13.
• Carolina is 31-10 in the last 13 NCAA Tournaments, advancing to 10 final fours and five national finals with three championships since 2009.
• Carolina is 29-3 at home in NCAA Tournament games, losing only in 2000 (to Loyola), 2014 (to Virginia) and 2017 (to Navy). UNC has won 27 of its last 29 home NCAA Tournament games.
• UNC is 19-1 with 19 consecutive wins in the NCAA Tournament second round.
• The Tar Heels are 13-9 in NCAA Tournament quarterfinal games and have won 10 of their last 13. Carolina is 12-3 in quarterfinal games played in Chapel Hill and 1-6 on the road.
• Carolina is 5-8 in NCAA semifinal games.
• The Tar Heels are 3-2 in NCAA championship games, beating Maryland in 2013 and 2016 and Boston College in 2022 (while losing to Northwestern in 2009 and Maryland in 2015).
• Head coach Jenny Levy has led Carolina to 23 NCAA Tournament berths, including 17 in a row. Levy's 40 NCAA Tournament wins rank third in the history of the sport. Her 13 trips to NCAA Championship Weekend are tied for most in NCAA history.
• UNC was a top-five seed in the NCAA Tournament in 2022 for the 13th tournament in a row.

Two Tewaaraton Award Finalists
• Ally Mastroianni and Jamie Ortega were both among the five finalists for the 2022 Tewaaraton Award. Boston College's Charlotte North won the award for the second year in a row.
• The 2022 season was the second year in a row and the second time overall the Tar Heels have had two Tewaaraton finalists in the same season (Ortega and Taylor Moreno were finalists in 2021).
• Ortega joins Marie McCool as the only two-time Tewaaraton finalists in Tar Heel history.
• Mastroianni and Ortega are the 10th and 11th Tewaaraton finalists in Carolina women's lacrosse history: Christine McPike (2002), Amber Falcone (2009), Jen Russell (2010), Becky Lynch (2012), Kara Cannizzaro (2013), Marie McCool (2017, 2018), Taylor Moreno (2021), Ortega (2021, 2022) and Mastroianni (2022).

Two Honda Award Finalists
• Ally Mastroianni and Jamie Ortega were both among the four finalists for the 2022 Honda Award for Lacrosse.
• The 2022 season was the first time the Tar Heels have had two Honda Award finalists in the same season.
• Mastroianni and Ortega are the eighth and ninth Honda finalists in UNC history. Past Tar Heel Honda Award finalists include Christine McPike (2002), Amber Falcone (2009), Jen Russell (2010), Kara Cannizzaro (2013), Marie McCool (2017, 2018) and Taylor Moreno (2021).

National Players of the Year
• The IWLCA's 2022 positional national players of the year included a pair of Tar Heels.
• Graduate student Ally Mastroianni was named the National Midfielder of the Year, while senior teammate Emma Trenchard was the National Defender of the Year.

Tar Heels Dominate ACC Awards
• Carolina dominated the 2022 ACC individual awards, announced after the Tar Heels won their sixth consecutive ACC Tournament.
• Jamie Ortega is the ACC Attacker of the Year for the second year in a row (2021, 2022), Ally Mastroianni is the ACC Midfielder of the Year for the second year in a row (2021, 2022) and Emma Trenchard is the ACC Defensive Player of the Year of the second time (2019, 2022).
• Jenny Levy earned her seventh ACC Coach of the Year award in 2022, including her third in a row.

Six Consecutive ACC Titles
• The Tar Heels won their sixth ACC Tournament championship in a row with their 16-9 win over No. 2-ranked Boston College on May 7 in Chapel Hill.
• The Tar Heels have won seven ACC championships overall (2002, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022).
• UNC's six ACC titles in a row tie the longest streak of consecutive titles in ACC history (with Maryland's six straight from 2009-14).
• UNC's seven ACC titles are second-most in conference history. Maryland holds the record with 11.
• Head coach Jenny Levy won her seventh ACC championship, passing Cathy Reese of Maryland for the most in ACC history.
• Carolina has won 18 consecutive ACC Tournament games, the longest streak in history. UNC's last ACC Tournament loss came in the 2015 title game to Syracuse.
• UNC has an all-time record of 35-18 in ACC Tournament play.
• Carolina has reached the ACC championship game seven years in a row, 11 times in the last 12 years and 15 times overall (1998, 2000, 2002, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2022). The 15 ACC title-game appearances are the most in history.
• The Tar Heels were the No. 1 seed in the ACC Tournament for the ninth time in 2022. Carolina is 17-5 all-time as the No. 1 seed, winning titles in 2016, 2017, 2021 and 2022.
• UNC is 13-0 all-time in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals.
• Carolina is 15-10 in the ACC semifinals. The Tar Heels have won 11 of their last 12 ACC semifinal games.
• UNC is 7-8 in ACC Tournament finals, winning in 2002 over Maryland, 2016, 2017 and 2021 over Syracuse and 2018, 2019 and 2022 over Boston College.

10x ACC Regular Season Champ
• Carolina (8-0 in the ACC) won its 10th ACC regular season championship in 2022 (1998, 2000, 2006, 2010, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2021, 2022).
• The 2022 season was Carolina's seventh outright ACC regular season title (1998, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2021, 2022).
• Carolina has won 22 consecutive ACC regular season games, last losing on March 31, 2019, at Notre Dame.

Tar Heel Tidbits
Team
• Carolina won 22 games in 2022, the most in UNC history. The Tar Heels finished 20-1 in 2021 and 20-2 in 2016.
• UNC (22-0) posted its first undefeated season in school history, the first by any NCAA champion team since 2017 and the 11th in NCAA history.
• Scoring Run: Carolina has scored 10 or more goals in 57 of the last 59 games (a run that began on April 6, 2019). The exceptions were the 2021 ACC Tournament final vs. Syracuse (nine) and the 2021 NCAA quarterfinal vs. Stony Brook (eight).
• The 2022 Tar Heel senior class (2018-22) posted a record of 83-9 in its five seasons (including the Covid-shortened 2020 campaign).
• Vs. Ranked Teams: In 2022, Carolina went 16-0 vs. top-25 teams, 9-0 vs. top-10 teams and 5-0 vs. top-five teams.
• The 2022 Tar Heels were the highest-scoring team in school history at 16.82 goals per game, third in the nation and second in the ACC. The previous UNC school record was 15.90, set in 2017.
• Carolina scored at least 15 goals in 18 of 22 games in 2022 and scored 20 or more seven times.
• UNC led entering the fourth quarter in all but two games in 2022 and at halftime in all but four contests.
• The Tar Heels allowed 8.50 goals per game in 2022, the ACC's best and the nation's sixth-best scoring defense.
• With a lengthy list of recent All-America defenders and goalies in Chapel Hill under the tutelege of longtime defensive coordinator Phil Barnes, Carolina's defense has held its opponents to single-digit goals in 36 of its last 49 games (since the start of the 2020 season).

Individual
• Graduate transfer Andie Aldave scored 2+ goals in 15 of 22 games this season and had 2+ points in 18 of 22. She moved to attack for UNC after playing mostly in the midfield previously at Notre Dame.
• Aldave had a goal and an assist in the NCAA final vs. Boston College and a team-high four draw controls in the NCAA semifinals vs. Northwestern.
• She led Carolina with a game-high five points on three goals and two assists in the NCAA quarterfinal win over Stony Brook. She 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.
• Gradaute transfer Sam Geiersbach had 11 multi-goal games and 16 multi-point games in 2022. She had 35 goals and 26 assists for 61 points in the final 19 games of the season, providing instant offense (3.21 ppg in that span) off the bench.
• Geiersbach had a game-high five goals and seven points in the NCAA semifinal win over Northwestern and led UNC with three goals in the NCAA title game vs. Boston College. Geiersbach was named Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Tournament for her efforts. She also had two goals and an assist in the win over Stony Brook in the NCAA quarterfinals.
• Scottie Rose Growney was second on the team with 56 goals and tied for second with 76 points, both of which were career highs.
• Growney scored at least two goals in 18 of 22 games this season. She scored 13 goals in three ACC Tournament wins and was named to the all-tournament team.
• Caitlyn Wurzburger finished second on the team and the ACC with 42 assists. She tied for second on the UNC team with a career-high 76 points.
• Junior defender Emily Nalls tied the school record with 10 ground balls in a win at High Point and earned second-team All-ACC honors in 2022. Nalls led UNC with 22 caused turnovers and 49 ground balls and was second with 58 draw controls—all of which were career highs in a breakout season that makes her an All-America candidate for 2023.
• Head coach Jenny Levy has more wins (record of 395-118) and more ACC regular season wins (96-33) than any coach in ACC history. Her 40 NCAA Tournament wins are third in history

#1 In The National Polls
• Carolina finished the season ranked No.1 in the ILWomen/IWLCA rankings and was atop the poll for the final eight polls of the season. 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 of the season prior to winning at BC.

All-ACC Honors
• Four Tar Heels earned first-team All-ACC honors for 2022, all for the second consecutive year: midfielder Ally Mastroianni, goalie Taylor Moreno, attacker Jamie Ortega and defender Emma Trenchard. Moreno, Ortega and Trenchard were named first-team All-ACC for the third year in a row.
• Defender Emily Nalls and attacker Caitlyn Wurzburger grabbed second-team All-ACC accolades.
• Brooklyn Walker-Welch was named to the ACC All-Freshman Team

Tar Heels Streaking at Dorrance
• Carolina has won 33 consecutive home games at Dorrance Field, the longest home winning streak in program history and tied as the fifth-longest in NCAA history.
• UNC's last loss at home came on March 23, 2019, to Boston College.

ACC Dominance
• Carolina is 69-6 in its last 75 games against Atlantic Coast Conference opponents (regular season and postseason) and has won six consecutive ACC Tournaments.
• UNC's six straight ACC titles are the longest streak in the event's history (tied with Maryland's six straight from 2009-14).
• UNC's 18 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 Rewrote the Record Books
• Attacker Jamie Ortega rewrote the UNC, ACC and NCAA record books in her career (2018-22) and is the first five-time All-America in Carolina history.
• She was a third-team All-America pick by Inside Lacrosse as a freshman in 2018 while earning both ACC and National Freshman of the Year Awards. She then earned first-team All-America honors in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022.
• Finished her career first in ACC history and second in NCAA history with 466 career points, topping the record of former ACC leader Jen Adams of Maryland (1998-2001) that had stood for over 20 years.
• Ortega is Carolina's career leader in goals and points and is second in school history in assists.
• Ortega tallied 466 points in 91 career games for a UNC-record 5.12 points per game. Katie Hoeg is second in school history with 370 points in 89 games (4.16 ppg).
• Ortega scored at least one goal in 54 of her final 56 games. Her 50-game streak came to an end in the ACC semifinal win over Notre Dame on May 1, 2022.
• Ortega scored multiple goals in 80 of 91 career games (87.9 percent).
• Her 334 career goals are third in NCAA history and second in ACC annals.
• Ortega has scored five or more goals 31 times in 91 career games (34.1 percent of the time).
• Ortega tallied at least one point in her final 85 consecutive games and 89 of 90 in her career.
• Ortega started all 91 games in her career, the most starts in school history and most games played in school history.

Mastroianni Dominated the Midfield
• Graduate student midfielder Ally Mastroianni is the two-time reigning ACC Midfielder of the Year (2021, 2022) and was a finalist for both the Tewaaraton Award and the Honda Award for Lacrosse in 2022. She was at her best in big games and earned first-team All-ACC honors for the second consecutive year in '22.
• She was a unanimous first-team All-America in 2022 for the second year in a row.
• Mastroianni won the IWLCA's National Midfielder of the Year Award after the 2022 season.
• Mastroianni had three goals and four draw controls in the NCAA semifinal win over Northwestern.
• She followed that effort with two goals and a game-high six draw controls in the NCAA title game win over Boston College.
• She had three goals, an assist and tied her career high with 11 draw controls in the ACC championship game win over No. 2 Boston College, earning All-ACC Tournament honors.
• She tied her career high with four goals in the April 21 win over Duke that clinched the top seed in the ACC Tournament.
• She led Carolina with a career-high 136 draw controls in 2022, ranking fourth in the ACC. She also led UNC with 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.
• Mastroianni, from Martinsville, N.J., earned a degree in 2021 with a double major in media & journalism and communication studies. She is pursuing a master's degree in strategic communication while also spearheading the team's community service efforts off the field.

All-Time Great Moreno Snaps UNC Career Wins Record
• Graduate student goalie Taylor Moreno posted an astounding career record of 70-6 in the cage and became Carolina's all-time leader in goalie wins on Feb. 16, 2022, against Furman.
• Moreno eclipsed the wins record of Caylee Waters (2014-17), who had 49 career victories. Waters was a volunteer assistant coach for the 2022 Tar Heels.
• Moreno started 76 consecutive games in the cage for the Tar Heels, beginning with the final five games of the 2018 season.
• Her 87 games played in goal and 76 consecutive starts both are most in UNC history by a goalie. Those are believed to be ACC records as well, though those are unofficial.
• Moreno led the ACC in save percentage (0.493) and goals against average (8.56).
• Moreno had seven games with 10+ saves in 2022, including a season-high 16 (one off her career high of 17) in the April 2 win over Notre Dame, 12 in the ACC semifinal win at Notre Dame, 11 in the ACC final win over Boston College, 10 in the NCAA quarterfinal vs. Stony Brook and 11 in the NCAA championship game vs. BC.
• Moreno posted 24 career games with 11 or more saves, including five in 2021 and seven in 2022. She had 11 saves versus Boston College in the 2022 NCAA championship game.
• Moreno was a three-time ACC Defensive Player of the Week in 2022 and won IWLCA National Defensive Player of the Week honors on April 5.
• 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 was a two-time ACC Tournament MVP (2018, 2021) and three-time first-team All-ACC pick (2019, 2021, 2022).
• 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.

Five IWLCA All-Americas
• Five Tar Heels claimed spots on the 2022 Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) All-America teams.
• Attacker Jamie Ortega, midfielder Ally Mastroianni and defender Emma Trenchard earned first-team nods. Goalie Taylor Moreno was on the second team, and defender Emily Nalls was on the third team.

Eight Inside Lacrosse All-Americas
• Eight Tar Heels grabbed spots on the 2022 Inside Lacrosse All-America teams.
• Attacker Jamie Ortega, midfielder Ally Mastroianni and defender Emma Trenchard earned first-team nods. Defender Emily Nalls made the second team, and goalie Taylor Moreno was on the third team. Attackers Caitlyn Wurzburger and Scottie Rose Growney and defender Brooklyn Walker-Welch picked up honorable mention honors.

Nine USA Lacrosse All-Americas
• Nine Tar Heels, most of any team in the nation, grabbed spots on the 2022 USA Lacrosse Magazine All-America teams.
• Attacker Jamie Ortega, midfielder Ally Mastroianni and defender Emma Trenchard earned first-team nods. Goalie Taylor Moreno was on the second team, while attacker Caitlyn Wurzburger and defender Emily Nalls were third-team picks. Attackers Andie Aldave and Scottie Rose Growney and defender Brooklyn Walker-Welch picked up honorable mention honors.

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).

Four Tar Heels in First Eight Picks Of AU Pro Draft
• Four national champion All-Americas from the UNCC women's lacrosse team went in the first eight overall picks as the Athletes Unlimited Lacrosse professional league held its draft on June 1.
• Senior attacker Jamie Ortega was the No. 2 overall pick, senior defender Emma Trenchard went No. 3, graduate student goalie Taylor Moreno went No. 5 and graduate student midfielder Ally Mastroianni went No. 8. Fifteen total players were drafted and will play in the league's second season at USA Lacrosse headquarters in Sparks, Md., from July 21 to August 14.

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 for 2021-22.

Players Mentioned

Andie Aldave

Amanda Fedor

Sam Geiersbach

Scottie Rose Growney

Katie Hoeg

Ally Mastroianni

Taylor Moreno

Emily Nalls

Jamie Ortega

Emma Trenchard

Brooklyn Walker-Welch

Caitlyn Wurzburger

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