Key stats that defined the UNC women's lacrosse team's regular season

Just two years ago, North Carolina stood at the pinnacle of collegiate women's lacrosse.

The Tar Heels completed a perfect 22-0 season in 2022, securing the program's third NCAA Championship. Despite losing All-Americans like Jamie Ortega, Ally Mastroianni, Taylor Moreno and Emma Trenchard, UNC finished the following season 16-5, reaching the NCAA quarterfinals.

However, this year hasn't been quite the same for head coach Jenny Levy's squad. Underscored by four season-ending injuries and a program-worst 20-5 loss to No. 7 Syracuse, the Tar Heels limped to a 10-5 regular season record in 2024 —  their lowest win percentage since finishing 13-7 in 2008.

With First-Team All-American defender Brooklyn Walker-Welch, top-ranked recruit in first-year attacker Chloe Humphrey and All-ACC Freshman team members Marissa White and Kaleigh Harden being forced to watch from the sidelines, the Tar Heels have had to make do without some of their key pieces.

Here are three key stats that have defined No. 14 UNC's season:

193 total turnovers to opponents’ 206

UNC currently has the 18th-least turnovers per game in the country, while its opponents have tracked 206 total. It’s not so much the quantity of turnovers that has destabilized the Tar Heels, but rather the comparison to their competition.

In 2021, for example, North Carolina tallied 220 turnovers through 21 games, but its opponents had 50 more turnovers with 270. UNC caused 149 turnovers that season when its opponents only caused 93.

Opponents have caused 106 of North Carolina’s 191 turnovers this season, meaning that 85 were unforced. Errant passes, careless fouls and failure to back up shots have led the Tar Heels to lose possession unnecessarily.

A crafty offense like UNC’s can have difficulty taking care of the ball, but that’s a risk the players and coaches are willing to live with.

“I think that when they do fall, that’s kind of our edge on offense," sophomore midfielder Darcy Felter said. "We have a lot of creative kids."

.397 free position percentage: last in ACC

Although UNC is ranked No. 21 in the country in scoring offense with 14.4 goals per game, the numbers are not so high from the eight-meter arc.

North Carolina converts fewer than 40 percent of its free position attempts this season. This clip puts the Tar Heels at No. 102 nationally and last in the ACC.

During North Carolina’s most challenging stretch of the season, difficulties with free-position takes were a glaring difference maker. UNC only netted two of its seven shots in a 16-10 loss to No. 3 Northwestern and missed all three attempts in an 18-12 defeat against No. 4 Boston College.

Levy cites mindset as the primary cause.

“It’s not that they can’t do it," Levy said. "It’s a focus and confidence thing."

Failure to connect on free-position shots puts additional pressure on the offense to score in other ways. As a result, pressure builds on the defense if the offense cannot carry its weight in a cyclical pattern.

3.47 scoring margin: ranked 29th nationally 

North Carolina's offense may be high-flying, but the Tar Heels are giving up nearly 11 goals per contest. In the ACC, UNC is last in saves percentage at .364 and saves per game at 6.27.

The Tar Heels held their opponents to 6.58 goals per game in 2021, when they posted a 20-1 record. UNC outscored its competition by about nine goals per contest in that season.

North Carolina is grounding its defense on quick slides and pinpointing the opponent’s offensive abilities.

“We’ve been really trying to work on our slides, and we kind of change our defense based on the other team’s strengths,” fifth-year midfielder Olivia Dirks said. “So whatever we think the other team’s strengths are, we’ll try to either push out farther and force them to their weak hand.”

North Carolina will attempt to contain Virginia on Wednesday in Charlotte, facing the Cavaliers in the first round of the ACC tournament.

@meganosmithh

@dthsports | sports@dailytarheel.com