No. 1 North Carolina takes fight out of Irish in women's lacrosse

There has been a common theme to the No. 1 ranked North Carolina women’s lacrosse team’s season thus far.

That theme: thoroughly destroying every team in its path.

The Tar Heels are consistently validating their lofty ranking, the latest demonstration of their dominance being a 19-9 victory against No. 12 Notre Dame (2-2, 0-2 ACC) on Thursday night.

UNC now stands at 5-0 (1-0 ACC) with all of its wins coming by at least 10 goals.

After each win, coach Jenny Levy is quick to praise her team’s opposition, noting how talented each of the Tar Heels’ opponents are, which begs the question: How talented is UNC?

“I don’t know how talented we are,” Levy said.

“We’re continuing to plug away and get better. I’m always surprised when I look down at the score because I feel like the games are a lot closer than that.”

Thursday night’s contest against the Fighting Irish was never close, as UNC sprinted out of the gates to a 5-0 lead that it would never relinquish.

Four North Carolina players scored at least three goals on the night as the Tar Heels attacked the Notre Dame goal from all over the field.

UNC has been able to blend the nation’s top-ranked recruiting class with returning contributors that helped the Tar Heels win the national championship a season ago.

The newcomers contributed 12 of UNC’s 19 goals Thursday night, highlighted by a five-goal outburst from attacker Carly Reed.

Reed said that the way the Tar Heels are playing right now, she doesn’t know what could slow her team down.

“I guess we have so much momentum that we kind of feel like no one’s going to stop us now,” Reed said.

“Anybody on the team can score at this point. So its great to be a part of a team where you can trust any player on the field.”

Fellow freshman Sydney Holman was not to be outdone by her classmate.

The Chapel Hill native added three goals and two assists as her brother, former Tar Heel All-American Marcus Holman, tried not to smile while broadcasting the game on ESPN3.

Holman said it’s been thrilling to form such a bond with her classmates and the connection between Holman and Reed was on display against the Fighting Irish.

Twice, Reed sprinted in from close to midfield and Holman put the ball right on her stick, and both times Reed fired the ball into the back of the net.

“Carly’s one of my really good friend’s, and I think the chemistry out here is growing,” Holman said.

“She’s been working so hard, and I think she’s starting to get more confident.

“Whenever I see her, I try to hit her as much as possible.”

While Levy doesn’t want to christen her team as favorites to repeat as champions just yet, she did concede that it’s fun watching her team in such a groove.

“I think we’re a pretty complete team,” she said.

“And we certainly have strengths all over the field.”

sports@dailytarheel.com