Tar Heels pile up assists in women's lacrosse rout

During Friday’s game against Virginia Tech, the North Carolina women’s lacrosse team did not hesitate to share the wealth.

And there certainly was a lot of it to share.

The depth on offense shined in UNC’s 19-3 win against the Hokies. Eight different Tar Heels had goals in the matchup, and seven of them had two or more.

“This team doesn’t care who scores,” coach Jenny Levy said. “They’re very unselfish. A lot of kids can feed, and a lot of kids can score. And we’re going to try to take the best shooting opportunity possible, whoever that may be.”

Sunday’s 16-2 win at Old Dominion marked the third game in a row Corey Donohoe has led the team in scoring. The 5-foot-8 junior had three goals and a career-high four assists against Virginia Tech.

Posting 10, the Tar Heels had more assisted goals against Virginia Tech than they had against any other opponent all season. The previous season-high was six in multiple wins.

“I think we did a great job handling the ball, keeping possession,” senior Kristen Taylor said. “When you’re moving the ball around like that, assists just come naturally.”

Taylor, who is second this season in scoring after Donohoe with 27 goals, was one of four Tar Heels who had three against the Hokies.

Levy was elated to show the offensive depth by playing the entire bench during the game. The starting lineup was absent for the final 20 minutes of play.

“Other programs will keep their stars in and you’ll see more high scoring,” Levy said. “But we don’t do that. We wanted to get our other guys out and give some credit to the other kids.”

Passing the ball around is something the Tar Heels have done easily all season. And with so many different offensive threats on the field, it’s hard for them to go wrong.

In the first 10 games so far this season, North Carolina has averaged just less than eight scoring contributors per game.

“You try and get everyone their fair share of the ball and give everyone a chance to shine,” Donohoe said. “It pumps us up so much when other girls score who don’t normally score.”

So far this season, the Tar Heels have been seeing double — double digits, that is.

The 14-point win over Old Dominion was the 11th straight double-digit score for UNC this season.

“Any time you get in the flow of people scoring from all over the place and a lot of people scoring, it’s a great thing because everyone has confidence on the field,” Taylor said.

“When we get in hard games, hopefully we can implement the same kind of intensity.”

Both Levy and the Tar Heels are hoping that the weekend’s strong offensive display will give them confidence against a tough schedule ahead.

But for Donohoe, there’s no question.

“When we play at such a high level, it definitely carries over into the next game,” she said. “It really brings our confidence up to know what we can do.”



Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.