North Carolina women’s lacrosse season ends against Navy, 14-16

In the last game played on Fetzer Field before its renovations, the UNC Women’s Lacrosse team fell to Navy in the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals, 16-14, ending their season. The Tar Heels had been seeded 2nd overall and were playing at home, but unseeded Navy, having upset a couple of seeded teams already, were able to pull out the victory in Chapel Hill.

It was a game of runs, or at least a second half of them: After a tightly contested first half led mostly by Navy, the Heels opened up a 5-0 run to take a 13-10 lead before going cold for the final 17:39. The Tar Heels only scored once in that timespan while allowing six goals on their own net (this sounds familiar...).

UNC was led by senior Sammy Jo Tracy, who scored five, and Ela Hazar, who scored two goals and assisted on three more. Molly Hendrick added to her record year with three goals and an assist, finishing her season with a school-record 72 goals and a school-record-tying 83 total points.

The relatively early exit is disappointing for a program that has been to the Final Four six times in the past nine seasons, especially coming off the 23-12 walloping they laid on Virginia in the previous round. It was only the team’s 3rd loss of the season as they finished the season 17-3, an unfortunately early end to an otherwise excellent season. Unlike the men’s team, the Heels looked like a legitimate candidate to defend their crown throughout the entire season, and simply fell short in a tough game.

Further game summary and quotes from the coach and players can be found here.