No. 2 UNC women's lacrosse battles through rainy weather to push past Jacksonville

For 60 minutes, rain fell from the sky onto Dorrance Field during the No. 2 North Carolina women's lacrosse Sunday matchup against Jacksonville. As a result, players slipped and slid throughout the game.

At the end of it, though, UNC overcame the elements and ran away with a 17-10 victory, improving its record to 5-0.

It was clear that the poor weather caused trouble for both sides. Both teams had their second-highest number of turnovers on the season with the Dolphins committing 13 and the Tar Heels committing 15, including eight unforced turnovers. It is UNC’s highest total since the season opener against James Madison.

But the Tar Heels didn’t look at things as if the sky was falling. Instead, they used it to their advantage.

“Instead of complaining and going, ‘I’m wet, I’m cold,’ we said, ‘I love this, I have a great feeling today,’” fifth-year attacker Jamie Ortega said. “It starts when (head coach Jenny Levy) comes into the locker room and is like, ‘Oh raining today? Awesome.’ Let’s take it as a challenge and instead of seeing everything as an obstacle, be grateful that you’re playing.”

Ortega broke the program’s career points record in her last game, but on Sunday, the spark for UNC came from two of its graduate transfers — Andie Aldave and Sam Geiersbach.

Aldave scored five goals, and Geiersbach added four goals of her own with an assist on another.

The quickness in which the duo has found their role on the team and are making an impact speaks to the chemistry and atmosphere of the program as a whole.

“It’s made it really easy for me to be on the receiving and finishing side,” Aldave said. “It’s been awesome, and I feel so lucky to be a part of this team right now. I know we’re going to do awesome things.”

Although Aldave and Geiersbach have been regular contributors for the Tar Heels so far this season, their play on Sunday demonstrated the depth of a UNC team that won 27 consecutive games prior to losing in the NCAA Tournament semifinals last season.

In addition to Aldave and Geiersbach registering hat tricks, fifth-year attacker Scottie Rose Growney and graduate midfielder Ally Mastroianni both put three goals in the back of the net. This marked the first time four Tar Heels have recorded hat tricks since the quarterfinals of the 2021 ACC Tournament against Louisville.

“We share the ball, and there’s a lot of weapons out there from a lot of different places on the field,” Levy said. “It’s important to get a lot of people contributing, and I think that makes an extremely dynamic offense and I think it’s really hard to stop.”

Although not everything went perfectly for UNC, there were still some teachable moments that Levy and the Tar Heels hope to take from this game and bring into their next game against a tough No. 6 Northwestern team.

“I still want to sure up our transition,” Levy said. “We’re still getting a lot of five-on-four breaks that we’d like to capitalize on a little bit more consistently. I always think that you can do better on clearing and riding. The better you can do those two things, the more you can create some momentum for your team."

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