UNC women’s lacrosse routs Georgetown Hoyas

With one minute left in the second half of its matchup with Georgetown, the North Carolina women’s lacrosse team held the ball on the Hoyas’ end, passing and letting the time run down.

With offensive confidence, the Tar Heels had already put together a comfortable lead, unaware of the fact that just moments later they’d break a school record.

On Saturday, the top-ranked Tar Heels defeated Georgetown 18-11, breaking the program’s record for the most wins in a row.

During the NCAA tournament last year, the Tar Heels won all four of their games. Saturday, the team won its 13th straight game, bringing its record to 9-0 for the season, and breaking a 12-game win record that was set back in 2002.

The Tar Heels were led by their freshmen attackers, who scored a combined 10 of the team’s 18 goals. Freshman Sydney Holman had a hat trick, scoring the first goal of the game and putting two more away before the final whistle.

With a humble outlook, Holman spoke nothing but praises for her teammates and coaches.

“All fall we’ve worked so hard, and I’m just really lucky to have the opportunity to be out here playing with my other teammates,” Holman said. “I attribute everything to my teammates and my coaches. I wouldn’t be out here without them.”

Aly Messinger, Molly Hendrick and Abbey Friend each had at least one assist and two goals apiece. Maggie Auslander and Devin Markison both had goals in the first period, along with senior defender Sloane Serpe, who was met with roars from the sideline after scoring her first career goal.

“It was awesome,” said a beaming Serpe.

“Everyone’s celebration afterwards was awesome.”

With each goal, the team’s momentum grew. The Hoyas put up a strong fight, scoring six goals in the first half and five in the second. But with each goal produced by Georgetown, it seemed as if two more were scored by the Tar Heels.

A strong defensive effort was split by the Tar Heel goalies, Megan Ward and Caylee Waters. Ward went 5-6 in goals saved versus goals allowed. Waters had six saves and allowed five goals in the second period.

Coach Jenny Levy was pleased to see that her team has continued to work well together. She credited this season’s early success to a mixture of spunky freshmen and experienced upperclassmen.

“They’ve done a great job embracing them and leading them,” said Levy of the impact that the upperclassmen have made on the team’s freshmen.

“(The freshmen) are a talented group, but without the leadership of the upperclassmen, they wouldn’t be doing what they’re doing,” Levy said. “So we’re proud of everybody.”

After some less competitive wins early on, the Tar Heels will face a fast-rising No. 5 Boston College this weekend in their third ACC game of the season, which could put their winning streak to the test.

Boston College (7-1) is coming off of a win against Canisius College.

“It’ll definitely be a lot of competition. It’s our second away game and they’ve really moved up the charts,” said Holman about Boston College. “It’ll be good competition, but we’re always up for that.”

sports@dailytarheel.com