BALTIMORE – North Carolina completed a perfect season with a 12-11 win over Boston College on Sunday afternoon to claim the 2022 NCAA Women’s Lacrosse Championship, the third national title in program history.
The top-ranked Tar Heels finished the season 22-0, setting a school record for wins and becoming the first undefeated national champion since 2017 (and the 11th in NCAA history).
In front of a capacity crowd of 8,500 at Homewood Field on the campus of Johns Hopkins University, the Tar Heels were anchored by graduate student goalkeeper Taylor Moreno, who made 11 saves on the day. Sam Geiersbach, the hero of UNC’s come-from-behind semifinal win over Northwestern on Friday, 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 got two goals each from Ally Mastroianni and Jamie Ortega (two goals on just two shots, due to the face-guarding BC defense), and single scores from Scottie Rose Growney, Andie Aldave, Caitlyn Wurzburger, Olivia Dirks and Nicole Humphrey.
In all, Carolina got goals from eight different players, including five off the bench from Geiersbach, Dirks and Humphrey.
“It was a total team effort,” head coach Jenny Levy told ESPN after winning her third national title in the last nine years.
Charlotte North led BC with four goals, but she needed 10 shots to get them, largely because of the stingy, matchup defense of UNC’s Emma Trenchard.
Carolina jumped out to a 2-0 lead and was up, 7-5, at halftime. The Tar Heels’ biggest lead of the game was three on three separate occasions before halftime. In the second half, neither team led by more than a goal until Growney scored with 2:23 to play to put the Tar Heels up, 12-10.
The UNC defense held BC without a goal for 8:35 of the fourth quarter until the Eagles came up with a late goal to pull within one with 15 seconds remaining. Carolina won the ensuing draw and claimed the victory, beating BC for the third time this season.
“First of all, congrats to BC for a great season and a great game today,” Levy said in the postgame press conference. “We knew it was going to be tough and go down to the wire. It doesn’t surprise me that that was a one-goal game. We’ve lost a lot of one-goal games, this crew, over the past couple years in the Final Four game, so it was nice to be on the other side of it. And I always think if you can lose a one-goal game, you can win a one-goal game. That’s what was going through my mind.
“This was a total team effort this year from our stars on stage all the way through our roster. So [I’m] just incredibly proud and grateful at the moment.”
Boston College coach Acacia Walker-Weinstein praised Moreno after the game: “She’s an amazing goalie, and I think unfortunately they have a lot of X-factors, but Taylor was one of them today and she played great. She’s a tough goalie to go against, but she’s a great player and great person, and congratulations to her.”
UNC’s three national championships are tied for third-most in NCAA history.
Team Notes
• With the victory, the Tar Heels won their third NCAA championship (2013, 2016, 2022) overall, all in the last nine seasons.
• UNC’s three national titles are tied for third-most in history with Princeton and Virginia (Maryland has 14, Northwestern has seven).
• Carolina completed the first undefeated season in program history and the first undefeated national championship season by any team since Maryland in 2017.
• The win was UNC’s 22nd of the season, extending a school single-season record (the previous record was 20, set in 2016 and 2021).
• Carolina is 69-6 in its last 75 games against Atlantic Coast Conference opponents (regular season and postseason).
• Carolina won for the 49th time in its last 50 games and the 57th in its last 59.
• UNC is 31-10 in the last 13 NCAA Tournaments with three championships, five title-game appearances and 10 semifinal berths in that span (beginning in 2009).
• The UNC senior class (2018-22) completed its career with a record of 83-9 in five seasons with four consecutive final four berths, four straight ACC Tournament championships and the 2022 NCAA title.
• Carolina improved to 16-0 this season vs. ranked teams, including 9-0 vs. top-10 opponents and 5-0 vs. top-five foes.
Individual Notes
• Taylor Moreno improved her career record in goal to 70-6. She started 76 consecutive games in the cage to close her career, beginning in 2018.
• With the win, head coach Jenny Levy picked up her 40th career NCAA Tournament win, third-most in the history of the sport.
• Sam Geiersbach was named the NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player. She joined Ally Mastroianni, Emily Nalls, Emma Trenchard, Jamie Ortega and Moreno on the NCAA All-Tournament Team.
• Ortega scored two goals and finished the season with 113 points, snapping her own school single-season record of 112 (set in 2019).
Source: goheels.com
Original Source: https://goheels.com/news/2022/5/29/womens-lacrosse-unc-boston-college-recap.aspx