NCAA Rewind: Preseason Injuries Drastically Altered UNC's Potential

Before USA Lacrosse Magazine looks ahead to what’s to come in 2025 — look out for our NCAA Way-Too-Early Top 25 rankings later this summer — our team of staff and contributors decided it was worth taking a last look at the 2024 college lacrosse season.

To do that, we’re taking a journey through 30 of the top teams in men’s and women’s lacrosse to see what went right, what went wrong and how we should feel about the season.

NORTH CAROLINA

USA Lacrosse preseason/final ranking: No. 3/No. 19
2024 record: 10-7 (6-3 ACC)

What went right: North Carolina dealt with incredibly unfortunate injury woes well enough to finish above .500 and ended the regular season on a modest three-game winning streak. The Tar Heels notched an early win over eventual NCAA semifinalist Florida and followed six days later by handing an overtime loss to Virginia, one of the biggest breakout teams of 2024.

Though the volume of impactful injuries made high-level success difficult to sustain, it did open the door for some players to take the next step. Caroline Godine (27G, 20 A), Alyssa Long (32G, 10A) and Kiley Mottice (33G, 7A) provided support for offensive stars Ashley Humphrey (19G, 38A) and Caitlyn Wurzburger (29G, 21A), helping North Carolina finish 24th nationally in scoring offense (13.88 goals per game).

North Carolina was able to maximize its biggest strength — a deep offense, even after injury — by not wasting possession. The Tar Heels were No. 7 nationally in clearing, checking in at a 92.9-percent clip.

What went wrong: The biggest things that went wrong were no fault of their own. Before the season even began, North Carolina — which was touted as a title contender entering Fall Ball — lost four pivotal players to season-ending injuries. With defensive stalwart Brooklyn Walker-Welch, stellar sophomores Marissa White and Kaleigh Harden and freshman dynamo Chloe Humphrey on the shelf, North Carolina had to scramble.

Head coach Jenny Levy and Co. did an admirable job offensively, and while the Tar Heels would for sure like to improve upon a No. 24 national finish on offense, things were far from terrible on that end. It was the defense that lost some of it edge, though, finishing tied for 52nd nationally with 11.41 goals allowed per game.

Losing the leadership of Walker-Welch, not to mention her on-field abilities, certainly hurt. And the goalie play was inconsistent, too, with Alecia Nicholas and Stella Harrison seeing a majority of the time. Overall, four goalies combined to save 34.9 percent of shots.

Season highlight: The aforementioned two-game winning streak against Florida and Virginia showed what was possible for the Tar Heels. Make no mistake: UNC was far from a pushover, even if a few lopsided results pop up when analyzing the 2024 schedule.

Unfortunately for North Carolina, though, its season ended with defeats by both the Gators and the Cavaliers — first by UVA in the ACC tournament, then by Florida in the first round of the NCAA tournament after UNC earned an at-large bid.

Verdict: The Tar Heels will quickly want to forget about 2024 — not necessarily because of the results, but more because of how injuries to bona fide stars derailed their potential. As always, the cupboard is far from bare in Chapel Hill, and those injured stars should be back in action. Plus, the incoming freshman class is again stacked.

As disappointing as last spring might have been for UNC, the future is exciting.