No. 2 UNC women's lacrosse outlasts No. 2 Northwestern, 15-12, to remain undefeated

The No. 2 UNC women’s lacrosse team (10-0, 5-0 ACC) defeated No. 3 Northwestern (8-2, 2-0 Big Ten), 15-12, Thursday night at Ryan Fieldhouse. 

After scoring only one goal in the second quarter and entering halftime with a two goal deficit, the Tar Heels responded with nine second half goals to push past Northwestern. Redshirt first-year attacker Chloe Humphrey led the way for North Carolina with four goals and three assists. The win marked the first UNC victory against the Wildcats since 2022 and first against a top three ranked opponent since 2023. 

Northwestern got on the board first courtesy of Madison Taylor, giving the Wildcats an early 1-0 lead. 

The Tar Heels stormed back, scoring four unanswered goals, including two from Chloe Humphrey. Less than halfway through the first quarter, UNC took a commanding 4-1 lead. 

Chloe Humphrey’s strong day continued when she delivered a great pass from behind the net to driving junior attacker Kiley Mottice to extend North Carolina’s lead to 5-2. 

A diving effort by Northwestern’s Sam Smith cut UNC's lead to two at the end of the quarter. 

Northwestern’s Emerson Bohlig ran the length of the field and found the back of the net, bringing the Wildcats within one, 5-4. 

Taylor made no mistake on a hard net-drive to tie the game. Just a little over a minute later, Taylor added a free-position goal handing Northwestern the lead, 6-5. 

The Wildcats’ offensive rampage didn’t stop with a back-foot goal from Northwestern's Taylor Lapointe. A bounce-shot from Bohlig extended the lead to 8-5 in favor of Northwestern.

With less than a second remaining, senior attacker Olivia Vergano scored a top-shelf shot to give UNC its first goal of the second quarter. 

Northwestern’s high-flying offense gave the team an 8-6 lead heading into halftime. 

The first goal of the second half came from Chloe Humphrey, who went bar down on a free position shot from just outside the crease. Humphrey’s third goal of the game cut UNC’s deficit to one. 

Once again Chloe Humphrey delivered, this time tying the game with a hard shot off the post and in, knotting the game 8-8 with a little over six minutes remaining in the third quarter.

Graduate attacker Ashley Humphrey scored her first goal of the contest with a move behind the net, finishing just under the bar to give North Carolina their first lead since halfway through the second quarter. 

Mottice joined in on the Tar Heels second half scoring spree, finding herself wide open in front of the net to give UNC a 10-8 lead. Less than a minute later, Mottice finished through heavy contact just outside the crease to extend UNC’s lead to three. 

North Carolina began the fourth quarter soaring offensively, with a free position goal by first-year midfielder Kate Levy. Vergano piled on with a cross-body goal on the man-advantage to put the Tar Heels up 13-8.

A free position goal from Bohlig just over five minutes into the fourth quarter ended the Wildcats’ second half scoring drought. After fighting off multiple Tar Heel defenders, Niki Miles added another tally to decrease the deficit to 13-10. 

First-year midfielder Eliza Osburn ripped a shot high to add an insurance goal for UNC, but Northwestern answered back with a goal to make the game 14-11 in favor of North Carolina. 

A late goal from Miles was too little, too late for the Wildcats. 

The Tar Heels travel to South Bend next to take on the No. 20 Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Sunday at 3 p.m.

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