US Lacrosse Magazine released the Nike/US Lacrosse Division I Women’s Preseason Top 20 on Jan. 2. Team-by-team previews will be unveiled on uslaxmagazine.com through the end of the month and will also appear as part of the magazine’s NCAA preview edition in February. 

Don’t get the mag? Join US Lacrosse today to start your subscription.

No. 3 North Carolina

2018 Record: 17-4 (6-1 ACC)
Coach: Jenny Levy (24th year at UNC)

All-Time Record: 329-113
NCAA Appearances: 20
Final Fours: 10
Championships: 2

A quick glance at North Carolina’s roster shows just four seniors and one graduate student. Compared to the six seniors on last year’s roster, the Tar Heels might appear to be even younger.

But make no mistake, this is a much more experienced Carolina team than a year ago. Last year, UNC had to replace nine graduated starters and while the season didn’t end with a national championship, it’s hard to argue with the results.

“I thought we did a pretty good job, winning the ACC and making it to the final four,” said head coach Jenny Levy, who led the Tar Heels to the NCAA title in 2013 and 2016. “It was not the end of the season we wanted. None of us were satisfied with that last weekend of play.”

Carolina’s season ended the way it began — with a loss to eventual national champion James Madison. But along the way, the Tar Heels handed Maryland its only loss of the regular season and earned revenge over Boston College to win the ACC title with an impressive 14-11 victory that was BC’s only loss heading into the NCAA tournament.

There’s plenty of positive for Levy and her staff, which welcomes back Katrina Dowd, an assistant on both title teams, to build from. The Tar Heels welcome back 12 players that started at least five games last season, including attackers Katie Hoeg and Jamie Ortega.

Ortega lived up to the hype as the nation’s No. 2 incoming recruit by Inside Lacrosse. She was the ACC Freshman of the Year, set a UNC freshman record with 70 goals and her 86 points were the second most in Carolina history, trailing only the 89 that Hoeg set in a breakout campaign.

That duo meshed right away.

“It ended up being really, really good,” Levy said. “We thought it was possible, but we didn’t know how quickly it would happen.”

Levy had confidence in Ortega in key moments right off the bat. In at February victory over Maryland, Ortega had the ball in her stick and drew the attention and respect that opened up All-American Marie McCool for the game-winning goal. Against Boston College in the ACC title game, Ortega poured in six goals, including three in a five-goal run early in the game that put the Tar Heels in control.

“We’ve had so many great players, and they’re all different,” Levy said. “We don’t compare them. What makes Jamie special is that she’s so humble. She wants to be great and she makes things look easy when they’re not.”

Levy loves the excitement that freshmen bring to the program and she’s got another special one in Elizabeth Hillman, the No. 1 ranked recruit by Inside Lacrosse and a member of the U.S. U19 training team. Hillman is one of three U.S. U19 players in the class, joined by Kimber Hower and Brooklyn Neumen. Levy expects Hillman, Neumen, Gabbi Hall and Taylor Warehime to make an immediate impact while Hower, a goalie, will redshirt behind Taylor Moreno and Elise Hennessey.

Having two goalies is nothing new for Carolina, which famously road the tandem of Megan Ward and Caylee Waters to the 2013 national championship and they’ve got two solid keepers again. Moreno got hot down the stretch, making 56 saves in the four games leading into the national championship game and finished the year with a 54.1 save percentage. Hennessey also has plenty of experience, starting 13 games last year and finishing with a 10-2 record.

The Case For North Carolina

There is talent everywhere in Chapel Hill. All four recruiting classes on campus were ranked in the Top 3 nationally by Inside Lacrosse, including the No. 1 ranked class for this year’s senior and sophomore classes. Two of the key players leading to those No. 1 rankings, Olivia Ferrucci and Ally Mastroianni should be fully healthy. Ferrucci was off to a banner season in 2016 before suffering a knee injury that sidelined her for the rest of the year and all of 2017. Now reclassified as a junior, the former U.S. U19 player had 15 goals last year and is back at full strength. Mastroianni, the nation’s No. 3 recruit from the Class of 2017, had 14 goals last year despite a lingering injury and is also back healthy.

The Case Against North Carolina

North Carolina graduated three of its top five scorers, including two-time Tewaaraton finalist Marie McCool, arguably the most decorated player in school history. In addition to scoring over 80 points, McCool served as the team’s draw specialist and had 165 draw controls. “I really can’t say she’s easy to replace,” Levy said. “She carried a really big weight for us until the other players learned to step up. She did so much for us I feel like I’m replacing three players.”

Path to the Playoffs

North Carolina’s season opens against defending national champion James Madison and never eases up. The ACC will be its usual brutal test with league favorite Boston College hosting the end-of-season tournament. The Tar Heels nonconference schedule also includes games against Florida, Maryland and Northwestern. Jenny Levy’s crew will have no shortage of opportunities to show their worth.

Players To Watch

Katie Hoeg, A, Jr.
39 G, 50 A

Set North Carolina single-season record for assists (50) and points (89) in her first year as a starter to earn First Team All-American and All-ACC honors. Had at least four assists in six games.

Jamie Ortega, A, So.
70 G, 16 A

ACC Freshman of the Year set a UNC freshman record with 70 goals and set an ACC tournament record with 15 goals in leading the Tar Heels to the championship. Followed that up with 12 goals in three NCAA tournament games.

Charlotte Sofield, D/M, Sr.
3 G, 14 CT

Second year as a team captain and earned First Team All-ACC honors as a defender last season. Three-year regular and finished third on the team with 14 caused turnovers in 2018.

National Rankings

Power Ratings (Scale of 1-5)

Offense
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Defense
⭐⭐⭐⭐

Goalkeeping
⭐⭐⭐⭐

Draw
⭐⭐⭐⭐

4

Number of players with at least 80 points for North Carolina last year: Katie Hoeg (89), Jamie Ortega (86), Marie McCool (84) and Ela Hazar (82). Prior to 2018, 80 points had only been topped three times in the history of the program.

5-Year Trend
Recruiting Rankings (Inside Lacrosse)

Coach Confidential
Jenny Levy

On the importance of her juniors and seniors leadership: “They have a lot of experience and have learned to play through struggles. Now they need to take another step up.”

Enemy Lines

"Carolina is a final four team without a doubt. Katrina coming back is a huge step forward for them. Getting her is a game changer. If you look at their track record with her vs. without her, I think she’s a game changer. They return Jamie Ortega and they have firepower on the offensive end. And defensively they’re a solid, solid group."

"It’s really exciting that they bring back Katrina Dowd as their offensive coach. As a program, they seemed lost against a zone defense and so I would expect for them to show more innovation on the attacking end vs. zone. I have an expectation for that program to reload. I don’t foresee losing Marie McCool to be a big deal for them. They lost Sammy Jo Tracy and she stepped right in on the draw. I would assume they’ll reload in every position they’re losing somebody special."

“I think for them, they have a lot of holes to fill. Losing Marie McCool and Ela Hazar is tough. It will be interesting to see how they replace that talent. … They’re never rebuilding; they’re always kind of reloading.”