“Unassisted” was a word that echoed over the PA speakers throughout Dorrance Field on Friday night seemingly each time the ball was shot successfully into the cage.
It was an ironic way to encapsulate the total team effort that went into the commanding victory that the No. 1 UNC women’s lacrosse team claimed over No. 4 Boston College.
The rematch of last season’s National Championship game with the Eagles did not have the same nail-biting quality. In fact, despite losing six of their top eight scorers from last season, the Tar Heels dominated from the opening possession as first-year attacker Marissa White drove directly into the teeth of the defense and scored an unassisted goal.
To start the season, UNC had scored the majority of its goals off an assist—29 of the 54 goals during the team's first four games. But as the first half came to a close, UNC had already filled up the cage with 11 goals — all of which came unassisted. On paper, it might have looked like a team that was not sharing the ball, one that was leaning on parts rather than playing as a cohesive unit.
But the opposite was true.
Seven different Tar Heels scored in the first half, and it was the confidence the players had in one another that helped them amass their daunting 11-2 lead at the half.
“We’ve really been working on working together as a unit,” junior midfielder Sophie Student said. “The work that we put in throughout the week really helped us all feel confident working as a team and getting those open looks to people who might not have necessarily scored in the past few games.”
Finding that confidence is what helped Student finish with a hat trick Friday night after scoring just two goals in UNC’s first four games combined. Two other Tar Heels had a hat trick as well: senior midfielder Nicole Humphrey and first-year attacker Caroline Godine, who notched three goals for the first time in her career.
It was not just the offense that built each other up, though.
