UNC Women’s Lacrosse 2025-2026

[airball]

Well, after scoring a single goal in Q1, Carolina outscored Stanford 6-3 in Q2 and leads 7-5 at the half.

(On CH’s most recent goal, to me it looked like the Stanford player flopped.)

BTW, Chloe has 5 of the Heels’s 7 goals.

 

[airball]

This game is far from over — which coaching staff will make the critical adjustments?

 

[JOB1937]

Well, after scoring a single goal in Q1, Carolina outscored Stanford 6-3 in Q2 and leads 7-5 at the half.

(On CH’s most recent goal, to me it looked like the Stanford player flopped.)

BTW, Chloe has 5 of the Heels’s 7 goals.

Because she did flop

 

[airball]

11-7 after Q3 (UNC 4-2 in 3Q).

In terms of adjustments, UNC is generating even more fps chances than in the first half.

 

[airball]

Heels score twice in 1:18; lead 13-7 (Levy and CH)

14-7; 12:38 to play (Pattillo)

15-7 (CH #7) 11:18 to play

15-8 (7:17)

16-8 (CH #8) 5:57

17-8 (Felter has a hat trick)

18-8 (Osburn from distance laser) 3:40

18-9 04:8 to play

 

[airball]

Primary difference between this and the Northwestern game - UNC won draws 20-8. (vs. NW 15-20)

UNC’s goalie play was strong. 50% save percentage

In terms of half time adjustments, UNC outscored the Cardinal 11-4 in the second half.

Stanford is a good team.

 

[UNCH]

What makes you a star?

Chloe 8 goals

Stanford 9 goals

 

[Jriv23]

Airball did you watch the game? Charlotte North just explained why we lost the NW game. She talk with Jenny L before this game and Jenny did not saw it was the draw control. Remember we were up and NW tied the game and force us to go to overtime. We did not put them away on the defensive end, draw controls did not have anything to do with us losing against NW. Jenny said that there were mistakes made on the defensive end. Our defense slides were out of alignment and over reacting and over shifting. They had to go back and fix that by going back to the basics. We all saw how the defense played today against Stanford. So what you are saying does not match what Jenny told Charlotte North which means one of you is wrong. Since Jenny and staff watch film, she is the HC, I would have to conclude the Jenny knows what she is talking about. Also, against VA we did not win the draw control. VA won the draw control about every time, but yet we still won the game in a blow out. Also, we have to remember that it took us awhile to adjust to Stanford's defense. Our girls have not seen a defense like that before. Stanford is a good team. The main thing is we won the game. Our team and coaching staff made the in game adjustments and now we are the number 1 seed heading into the ACCT. Go Heels!

 

[Jriv23]

UNCH we already know that Chloe is a phenom. She is a generational talent. She is the best player in women's college lacrosse. She is higher than being a star IMO. As of early 2026, Chloe Humphrey (Attack, North Carolina) is widely considered the best college women's lacrosse player. After missing her true freshman year due to injury, she won the 2025 Tewaaraton Award and Honda Award and was named the 2026 Preseason Attacker of the Year.

 

[airball]

Nice evening for our draw taker, Sarah Gresham, who had 11 draws (Stanford had 8).

So you are put in charge of selecting Player of the Week — Chloe Humphrey had 8 goals and 2 assists in one of the two biggest games of the week (along with Md vs. NW). Not much of a chance for the rest of NCAA women’s lacrosse players.

 

[THEericstrattonrushchairman]

I went w my middle school granddaughter who plays lacrosse and explained a lot of the nuance. Our team is really athletic. And very fun to watch. Chloe is flat out amazing . In person, you appreciate the quickness. An additional highlight was my grandson getting Caleb Wilson’s autograph . A great night, indeed .

 

[In!]

Here is an article by Kylie Ohlmiller that explains the backer and rover zones that are becoming more prominent In women’s lacrosse.

https://www.insidelacrosse.com/article/kylie-ohlmillers-x-factors-zone-defense-takeover/52ca35ca-cf3f-4524-b0f3-063e29ca8a76

Her article doesn’t identify that zone defenses are frequently employed by teams that are less athletic. Zones defenses generally create more turnovers; the downside is that they are more susceptible to 3-second and shooting space calls, thereby giving the opponent free position shots.

Coach Levy is committed to man-to-man defense. One exception was the 2013 triple-overtime championship victory vs. an undefeated Maryland team. UNC had lost to the Terps twice — in the regular season and in the ACC tournament. In the national championship, the Heels surprised UM with a backer zone and prevailed 13-12.

(Aside — there were actually five OT periods in that game. Each OT consisted of two periods where the teams switched ends. The game was decided in the first period of the 3rd OT. This game hooked me on women’s lacrosse because it was incredibly intense and exciting.)

As I tell anyone who will listen, …that was the best lacrosse game I ever saw, and I’ve watched a good bit, men’s and women’s and that includes my own team’s big OT wins. That was my fist view of a backer zone too, as few games had been on TV till then. That team was the best example of Levy using conditioning to strategic advantage also. And maybe our goalie was better than theirs too…, especially right after the UMD won the draw and made a great back cut to get 1v1 with goalie. But that was all she wrote as our Brittany Coppa ran past like 7 UMD players and found Sammy Jo at point for the game winner. What a freshman class that was too! can’t find that game anywhere though to watch again…

 

[In!]

That was done intentionally and the referees must call that. I hope the Maryland player is not severely injured. They wanted NW to win and therefore no call was made. That look like it could have been a season ending injury. I hope and pray that I am wrong. That was a dirty cheap shot, and the NW coach should punish her player for during that. The NW player needs to be suspended a couple of games or something.

In the history of the game there are quite a few infamous off ball, blindside and “late” hits. Rodney Rullman All American and Kelly Award winner in ‘75 was blindsided by Franz Wittelsberger of Hopkins in 1 game. I believe Coach Rullman said he was bleeding from places he should NOT be bleeding from. I’m not sure where he got back at Franz or if so, but Rullman would not give the dude an inch ever again. He told me years ago that Franz had a 1 on 1 on him from a distance and instead of giving Wittelsberger the opportunity to score, Rullman just pulled the cage down on its face and walked off the field rather than give him the chance to score. Hilarious tale. Great interview with him on Lax Goalie Ray in like 2019 btw… Serious old school stories. And Coach is a GREAT guy!

 

[airball]

I went w my middle school granddaughter who plays lacrosse and explained a lot of the nuance. Our team is really athletic. And very fun to watch. Chloe is flat out amazing . In person, you appreciate the quickness. An additional highlight was my grandson getting Caleb Wilson’s autograph . A great night, indeed .

Sounds like an awesome outing. Chloe and Caleb in the same evening … virtual perfection. Can’t imagine a better time with grandchildren.

 

[airball]

As I tell anyone who will listen, …that was the best lacrosse game I ever saw, and I’ve watched a good bit, men’s and women’s and that includes my own team’s big OT wins. That was my fist view of a backer zone too, as few games had been on TV till then. That team was the best example of Levy using conditioning to strategic advantage also. And maybe our goalie was better than theirs too…, especially right after the UMD won the draw and made a great back cut to get 1v1 with goalie. But that was all she wrote as our Brittany Coppa ran past like 7 UMD players and found Sammy Jo at point for the game winner. What a freshman class that was too! can’t find that game anywhere though to watch again…

In! I assume you have seen the 6 minute highlight video of the 2013 NCAA championship. It’s available on YouTube. It captures the play of Brittney Coppa and Aly Messenger (both had hat tricks) and the field length gallop by Coppa where she fed Sammy Jo Tracy for the OT winner. Plus the game-saving point blank save by UNC goalie Megan Ward. The heart and soul of that team were captains Kara Cannizzaro (4 goals) and Emily Garrity.

A couple of asides — Brittney Coppa was a “warrior” (Jenny Levy’s description). She missed the next season after a severe knee injury in an off-season scrimmage vs. the US National team. The highlight video captures her toughness; she would have been an AA, but she never was quite the same player after a second knee injury. Sammy Jo Tracy missed the next season with a foot injury.

One of the amusing side notes — at the end of video, Coach Levy brought the championship trophy into the post-game celebration … accompanied by a young Kate Levy, who was probably seven at the time. I remember thinking to myself that it wouldn’t be surprising to see her with a crosse in Carolina blue in the future.

This video is still available … I just watched it .. for probably the 10th time.

GO HEELS!

 

[OGDookSucketh]

UNCH we already know that Chloe is a phenom. She is a generational talent. She is the best player in women's college lacrosse. She is higher than being a star IMO. As of early 2026, Chloe Humphrey (Attack, North Carolina) is widely considered the best college women's lacrosse player. After missing her true freshman year due to injury, she won the 2025 Tewaaraton Award and Honda Award and was named the 2026 Preseason Attacker of the Year.

My 6th grade goalie will tell you exactly wfy we lost the NW game. 16 saves to 5. NW’s goalie won the game for them. She played about as well as a goalie can play


And the draw controls might not have been the reason but they were a reason. Possessing the ball makes a huge difference.

Jenny chose to focus on the defense because it needs to get better, but if we had had 5-10 more possessions and them 5-10 fewer the game isn’t close.

 

[Joeheel]

Keepers were quite different (ours vs theirs) in the small sample I watched jn Q4 fwiw.

That was a rhetorical question. I know why we lost, we should not have.

 

[OGDookSucketh]

This is an absolutely impressive group of young women. I had 3 middle school girls with me and the meet and greet was really wonderful. The players were kind and attentive and genuinely interested. And Chloe asked every kid their name and thanked them for coming. Last Saturday at the men’s game Chloe talked to my daughter for 10 minutes and asked her all sorts of questions and offered several pieces of good advice.

I’m 52 and have been going to Carolina sporting events and have never seen a team handle themselves the way these ladies do. They truly deserve all the success they get.

My daughter really wanted to meet Jenny because her goalie coach is good friends with her. They yelled from the stands and Jenny came over and spent a few minutes with them, asking questions and offering encouragement. She got her first 3 commitments for the class of 32.

 

[airball]

Airball did you watch the game? Charlotte North just explained why we lost the NW game. She talk with Jenny L before this game and Jenny did not saw it was the draw control. Remember we were up and NW tied the game and force us to go to overtime. We did not put them away on the defensive end, draw controls did not have anything to do with us losing against NW. Jenny said that there were mistakes made on the defensive end. Our defense slides were out of alignment and over reacting and over shifting. They had to go back and fix that by going back to the basics. We all saw how the defense played today against Stanford. So what you are saying does not match what Jenny told Charlotte North which means one of you is wrong. Since Jenny and staff watch film, she is the HC, I would have to conclude the Jenny knows what she is talking about. Also, against VA we did not win the draw control. VA won the draw control about every time, but yet we still won the game in a blow out. Also, we have to remember that it took us awhile to adjust to Stanford's defense. Our girls have not seen a defense like that before. Stanford is a good team. The main thing is we won the game. Our team and coaching staff made the in game adjustments and now we are the number 1 seed heading into the ACCT. Go Heels!

LOL

In the future, I’ll try to remember to await your analysis before offering any comments.

 

[OGDookSucketh]

LOL

In the future, I’ll try to remember to await your analysis before offering any comments.

Yeah. No matter the defense, had the draw controls gone the other way, no way we lose that game.

 

[Jriv23]

No, the only think I did was I read Jenny's commens first and I also listened to what Charlotte North said first. That is all you need to do. Jenny is the coach and Charlotted North is an expert since she plays on the professionally level and she was the best college player when she played at BC. I use a little bit of common sense. I try to listen to the experts first before I give an opinion. You did not do anything wrong. To be honest, if I had not read her comment or listen to Charlotte Nort last night as she was telling us why UNC lost to NW, I would not have known either.

 

[Jriv23]

OGDookSucketh, Jenny the HC stated what I just said on why the lost to NW. Draw controls was not the issue, bro. NW only won 5 more than we did. I think the HC knows what she is talking about after watching film. This is why she is the HC and we are spectators. Also, to prove my point, when we played VA last week, they killed us on the draw controls. It was way worst than NW, but yet we still won the game in a blow out. I will leave it at that. Also, if you would have just listen to what Charlotte North said last night against Stanford, she stated that she talked to Jenny before the game and that is what Jenny told her and it was not the draw controls. It is what I stated above because I stated what Jenny and Charlotte North had said; therefore, you are wrong. To be honest, we had NW beat the entire game. The defense gave up some late goals and the tie us at the end. We lost to them in overtime. We were beating them the whole game. Draw controls was not the issue. Go back and watch the game and you will clearly see what Jenny was saying. I think the HC does what she is talking about, do you?

 

[OGDookSucketh]

No, the only think I did was I read Jenny's commens first and I also listened to what Charlotte North said first. That is all you need to do. Jenny is the coach and Charlotted North is an expert since she plays on the professionally level and she was the best college player when she played at BC. I use a little bit of common sense. I try to listen to the experts first before I give an opinion. You did not do anything wrong. To be honest, if I had not read her comment or listen to Charlotte Nort last night as she was telling us why UNC lost to NW, I would not have known either.

Any expert will tell you that in lacrosse the team that possesses the ball more almost always wins. You say they “only” had 5 more possessions. You think if we have 5 more possessions and NW had 5 less there is any chance we lose?

The reason defense was so crucial is because of the number of possessions.

To your point, against UVA they forced an insane amount of turnovers to create more possessions. But had they won more draws, it’s not necessary

Any lacrosse coach or player will tell you that. And Jenny would tell you that the difference in draw controls magnified the need for the defense to be perfect.

If we are talking NW specifically, it was neither draws or defense. It was goalie play. Ours was below average and NWs was unworldly. 16 saves is ridiculous!

FWIW, we talked to Charlotte before the game and she was cool.

 

[Jriv23]

Well, I just starting what Jenny said who is the Head Coach. So if you are disagreeing with me than you are implying that Jenny is wrong. Charlotte North said this yesterday while commenting. She said Jenny told her what I just stated. I will leave it at that and move forward. The bottom line is our team is ACC Champions. The lost to NW exposed some weaknesses, and sometimes a lost like that can bring a good team back to reality to let them know that there are some weaknesses. I would take losing early in the season than losing in the NCAAT because in that situation you are one and done.

 

[In!]

Any expert will tell you that in lacrosse the team that possesses the ball more almost always wins. You say they “only” had 5 more possessions. You think if we have 5 more possessions and NW had 5 less there is any chance we lose?

The reason defense was so crucial is because of the number of possessions.

To your point, against UVA they forced an insane amount of turnovers to create more possessions. But had they won more draws, it’s not necessary

Any lacrosse coach or player will tell you that. And Jenny would tell you that the difference in draw controls magnified the need for the defense to be perfect.

If we are talking NW specifically, it was neither draws or defense. It was goalie play. Ours was below average and NWs was unworldly. 16 saves is ridiculous!

FWIW, we talked to Charlotte before the game and she was cool.

“outcomes are rarely the result of a single variable.”

 

[OGDookSucketh]

Well, I just starting what Jenny said who is the Head Coach. So if you are disagreeing with me than you are implying that Jenny is wrong. Charlotte North said this yesterday while commenting. She said Jenny told her what I just stated. I will leave it at that and move forward. The bottom line is our team is ACC Champions. The lost to NW exposed some weaknesses, and sometimes a lost like that can bring a good team back to reality to let them know that there are some weaknesses. I would take losing early in the season than losing in the NCAAT because in that situation you are one and done.

One of the kids with me

“outcomes are rarely the result of a single variable.”

Possessions, Turnovers and saves. Very rarely if ever does a team win a lacrosse game. If they don’t “win” 2 of those.

 

[Jriv23]

Okay folks, we have only lost 1 game so far. I do not want to keep going back and forth debating about the NW game. We had them beat, we let them off of the hook, we just did not close them out like we should have bottom line. Remember that beat us in OT. We had them and they scored a few goals in the closing minutes. That falls on the defense. We did not make the stops like we normally do. That lost was a good won as I keep saying because it showed us areas that were weak and what this team needed to work on from a defensive standpoint. This is basically what Jenny was saying.

 

[unc80]

Heels off to a terrible start against the dookies. Getting absolutelly dominated. 3-0 dook.

 

[unc80]

Chloe gets one back

 

[unc80]

Carolina better wake up soon.

 

[4-Heel-N]

Wow. Don't think I've seen the lax team look like this in a looooong time. Hope they can pull it together soon.

 

[unc80]

With no adjustments to dook's zone, Chloe has to do it all herself. She gets another, but dook leads 4-2.

 

[UNCH]

Totally unprepared for this game. Thought it was going to be easy.

 

[unc80]

Nothing to say. We're getting waxed.

 

[unc80]

Thank goodness for Chloe Humphrey. The rest of the team needs to show up.

 

[THEericstrattonrushchairman]

Do it Chloe

 

[unc80]

Chloe... we're not worthy

 

[unc80]

Terrible shot by Kate on the FPS. Goalie isn't getting the bouncers.

 

[UNCH]

Offense has been so poor today.

 

[unc80]

Just can't pull away.