No. 2 UNC women's lacrosse continues pursuit of excellence in 20-7 win over Mercer

When the No. 2 North Carolina women’s lacrosse team throttled a top-ten Northwestern team by 11 last weekend, the result came as a shock to many, considering each team’s ranking.

But after the Tar Heels took down the unranked Mercer Bears 20-7 on a crisp Friday evening at Dorrance Field, the final score surprised few, not only due to the talent difference between the two teams, but because that’s the standard UNC has set for itself the past few seasons.

Helped in large part by three five-point first-half points from fifth-year attacker Jamie Ortega, sophomore attacker Caitlyn Wurzburger and graduate attacker Sam Geiersbach, North Carolina took a 13-4 halftime lead and never looked back.

“Every game on our schedule is on there for a reason, and all of our non-conference games are against teams that compete for their conference championship,” head coach Jenny Levy said. “The opponent is a gift to us, in a little more of a zen manner. We measure our standard against what the perfect game can look like, and it doesn’t matter who the opponent is.”

With the graduation of Katie Hoeg, the program’s all-time assists leader, after last season, Wurzburger and Geiersbach’s job now includes becoming the facilitating attackers and working with the program’s all-time goal scorer and points leader, Ortega, to lead the Tar Heels' offense.

Friday night showed that both players are working together seamlessly to lead this edition of UNC women’s lacrosse.

“They’re fitting into a great role — not in Katie’s role, but in their own roles,” Ortega said. “Seeing them develop as players and have that confidence and their skill levels getting better with every game, I’m just so impressed with how they’re playing.”

The Tar Heels got the scoring started just over a minute in when Geiersbach, who finished with two goals and a team-leading six assists, found the back of the net off a feed from Wurzburger. Mercer countered just over a minute later, capitalizing on UNC graduate goalie Taylor Moreno in the evening sunset.

North Carolina then took control, as Mercer’s 4-3 zone defense didn’t pressure Wurzburger behind the cage and allowed her to find cutting teammates like graduate midfielders Ally Mastroianni and Andie Aldave for slam dunk goals. 

“(Hoeg) was one of my idols, and I learned from her to have poise and to just relax,” Wurzburger said. “We have such great talent on the field, we know we have enough talent to win, and if we can be poised and make the right decision, it’s really easy to make plays with them.”

Mastroianni finished with three goals, and Aldave tallied three herself, plus an assist, to support the Tar Heel offense from the midfield.

Defensively, preseason All-American Emma Trenchard did not play after suffering an injury last weekend, but two forced turnovers by junior defenseman Emily Nalls and two more in the ride by Ortega helped pick up the slack. 

“Having the defense behind me gives me the confidence to go out and force those turnovers,” Nalls said. “They have my back, and you’re only as good as the people around you.”

Mercer scored 15 or more goals in three of its previous four games, and North Carolina’s focus defensively revolved around slowing down the Bears’ Hailey Rhatigan. The Tar Heels didn’t slide enough early on, but by forcing turnovers in the ride and controlling Rhatigan’s ability to attack from X, UNC’s defense limited Mercer to only three second-half goals.

“Coach Levy says every game is a business trip, and we never know what we’re going to get from each team,” Wurzburger said. “We have to keep chasing excellence.”

@dthsports | sports@dailytarheel.com