After the North Carolina women’s lacrosse team fell to Florida on opening day, its two games this weekend took on added meaning.
The fifth-ranked Tar Heels needed a weekend sweep to climb back above .500 on the young season — and they did just that.
The Tar Heels beat No. 17 Towson 9-6 on Friday and proceeded to take down unranked Richmond 14-7 on Sunday.
And while coach Jenny Levy said she’s pleased with the improvement of her team, she said her players need to continue to mesh in order to compete with the best in the country — including top-ranked Northwestern, which UNC faces on Friday.
“When your offense is relatively new,” Levy said, “there’s going to be some chemistry and timing issues until you figure out who’s job is going to be what. But we’re going to get better as the season goes along.”
After struggling to score for stretches in the Towson game, the Tar Heel offense started to hit its stride early against Richmond. UNC dominated play and jumped out to a 10-1 lead in the first half, punctuated by a diving Brittney Coppa goal seven seconds before halftime.
Junior Taylor George, who tallied three goals against the Spiders, could sense her team’s confidence rising along with the score.
“We haven’t quite been getting into a rhythm,” George said. “We either come out too slow or we come out too on fire, too intense.
“So today, we found a really happy medium, especially in the first half, with being poised, but at the same time being ready to attack.”