The No. 1 ranked North Carolina women’s lacrosse team took on No. 17 James Madison University on Saturday in the first game of the regular season. The Tar Heels defeated the Dukes 15-7.
What happened?
UNC took the lead right out of the gate with an early goal in the first period by junior midfielder Ally Mastroianni off the assist from US Lacrosse Magazine’s 2020 preseason national player of the year, junior attacker Jamie Ortega.
The Tar Heels kept the lead throughout the game in a strong victory. Midway through the first period, UNC scored four unanswered goals to close out the half, creating a more comfortable separation from the Dukes and pushing its lead to 7-2.
The Tar Heels continued to push right off the second period face-off, scoring two more unanswered goals. Both the scores were put away by junior midfielder Scottie Rose Growney and assisted by senior attacker Katie Hoeg.
Following these goals came the only short stint since the opening whistle where UNC started to feel some pressure. The Dukes went on a quick 4-1 run in a span of 11 minutes to close the Tar Heels’ lead to 10-6.
Carolina went on another offensive burst to counter this run, going on to score five more unanswered goals. The Dukes would only score one more goal to close out the game and it wasn’t nearly enough to mount a comeback.
Who stood out?
Three Tar Heels, Oretega, Growney and Tayler Warehime, finished with hat-trick performances, scoring three goals apiece. Ortega and Warehime also contributed multiple assists and were integral in UNC’s offensive production.
