No. 1 Women’s Lacrosse Falls To No. 3 Northwestern

Sunday, March 19

Evanston, Ill.

1:30 p.m. ET

North Carolina

#3 Northwestern

Huddle
University of North Carolina Women’s Lacrosse v Elon
Dorrance Field
Chapel Hill, NC
Saturday, February 4, 2023

Photo by: ANTHONY SORBELLINI

March 19, 2023 | Women's Lacrosse

Box Score Photo Gallery

EVANSTON, Ill. – The No. 1 University of North Carolina women's lacrosse team suffered its first loss of the season at No. 3 Northwestern, falling 13-9 at Ryan Fieldhouse in Evanston, Illinois, on Sunday afternoon.

The Tar Heels are now 7-1 (4-0) on the year while the Wildcats improve to 8-1 (1-0) overall.

How It Happened

It proved to be a defensive battle at the start with neither team able to break through. Alecia Nicholas had six big stops in the first 15 minutes.
Two goals in the final 38 seconds of the opening frame gave Northwestern a 2-0 lead after the first 15 minutes.
Caroline Godine had two goals in the second quarter but the Tar Heels trailed, 8-4, at the break.
UNC scored a pair of unanswered goals at the end of the third as the Wildcats held a 10-6 advantage going into the final quarter.
Reilly Casey and Kiley Mottice both found the back of the cage at the start of the fourth to put UNC within two.
Godine made it a hat trick with just under five minutes remaining, but Northwestern held on for the 13-9 win.

Inside the Box Score

Carolina dominated the draw in the second half with 10 to Northwestern's two, including a 7-0 advantage in the fourth quarter.
Kiley Mottice had a game-high two assists, the first multi-assist game of her career.
Godine and Mottice both had a team-high three points.
Ellie Traggio led the team with her career-high three caused turnovers.
Nicholas made 11 saves between the pipes, the third 10+ save performance of her career.

Tar Heel Tidbits

Godine has recorded three hat tricks in the last four games, bringing her season total up to 11 goals and 17 points.
Mottice's three points behind one goal and two assists was a new career-high.
With one assist today, Wurzburger is now six away from being tied for seventh all-time in UNC history for career assists (77).
UNC's defense held NU's Izzy Scane, the nation's leading scorer, to only four goals, matching the fewest she has scored all year.
Carolina still holds a narrow 13-12 lead in the all-time series with Northwestern.
Dating back to Feb. 12, 2022, UNC is now 20-1 vs. ranked teams, including 12-1 vs. top-10 opponents and 6-1 vs. top-5 foes.
The Tar Heels' 47 consecutive regular season game win streak has come to end, which was the second longest in Division I women's lacrosse history.
UNC had won 29 games in a row prior to today's loss, setting a new record for longest win streak in program history.

Up Next
The Tar Heels look to bounce back on Thursday, March 23, when they host High Point back at home in Dorrance Field at 6 p.m. ET. Tickets are available here.

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