Women’s lacrosse will meet Virginia again in NCAAs

In 2013, the North Carolina women’s lacrosse team met Virginia in the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament in Chapel Hill and came out on top with a 13-9 victory.

The Tar Heels would advance to eventually win their first NCAA tournament championship.

On Saturday, three-seeded North Carolina will face six-seeded Virginia for a rematch in the NCAA quarterfinals in Chapel Hill.

The two teams are not unfamiliar competitors.

The last time UNC and the Cavaliers met was on March 8 during the regular season, when UNC defeated the Cavaliers 14-10.

Both teams made their NCAA tournament appearance in the second round on Sunday and came out with close victories.

The Tar Heels defeated Georgetown 10-8 to advance to the NCAA quarterfinals.

Coach Jenny Levy said the leadership of seniors Sloane Serpe and Abbey Friend plays an important role in the team’s success.

“(Serpe and Friend are) two kids who have been carrying our team all year, because we play seven freshmen, and that’s not an excuse, but they don’t have the All-Americans around them that we normally have,” Levy said.

“Sloane is a total warrior. She’s the top defender in the country, and Abbey is one of the best attackers in the country, and that’s why we won today — because of the play of those two kids. They should not get overlooked going forward in this season.”

Friend, who now holds the most career goals for North Carolina with 195, proves to be a huge offensive threat for the Tar Heels.

This season, she has had career highs of 62 goals, 78 points and 16 assists.

“Abbey is smart,” Levy said.

“She’s playing with one other senior (who is) Taylor George, and the rest are freshmen and one sophomore, and she had to carry the unit all season. She understands that. She embraces that. She has a lot of big game experience, and we have a lot of trust in what she can do.”

After the Tar Heels’ victory on Sunday, the team was unsure who they would play next as UVa. and Princeton were playing later in the day.

Levy planned on preparing the team to continue to battle.

“For us it’s going to be recover, sharpen up (and) continue to get better,” she said.

“We’re so far from being a finished product, but we’re tough, and we’re going to keep clawing and scraping and doing what we can to get wins.”

Virginia defeated Princeton 13-11 — but it didn’t matter to Friend who the Tar Heels played next.

“No matter what, any NCAA game is going to be a tough one,” she said.

“At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter who we play — we just have to bring our A-game every day.”

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