Founded 1996 (varsity) | Coach Jenny Levy (20th) | |
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Colors Carolina Blue and White | ||
The North Carolina Tar Heels women's lacrosse team represents the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I women's lacrosse and currently competes as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). The North Carolina women's lacrosse team won the ACC tournament in 2002 and their first Division 1 National Championship in 2013.
Contents
History
UNC started a women’s lacrosse program in 1994 due to Title IX. Jenny Levy, a recent graduate from the University of Virginia was hired as the head coach. Reflecting on why she was hired Levy stated, “I was 24 years old, and I think I got hired because I was pretty cheap, very ambitious and high energy, I believed in the school and what we could sell here to student-athletes with academic opportunity and great tradition. I focused on what I knew and could do.”
The task of creating a successful women’s lacrosse team was challenging; during the preliminary years of the program Levy had only a part-time assistant and a small budget. She still managed to bring in talented recruits, some of which were transfers and some were members of the UNC women’s soccer team, which at the time had 14 NCAA Championships in 16 years.
Another obstacle was being a part of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), which had the University of Maryland and the University of Virginia, two established women’s lacrosse teams. Levy stated, “we rose pretty quickly, but there was not a lot of foundation, and it is very hard to establish tradition when you are a young program; sitting where I am today, I have learned that it takes a while to establish things that identify with the program that is unique to just that program.”
Although the task at hand was difficult the Tar Heels started out with success early on with a 12-4 record in its first varsity season of 1996. In their second year, UNC made the NCAA semifinals with a 14-4 record, tallying two victories against the Virginia Cavaliers. In UNC’s third season, the Tar Heels beat the eventual NCAA champion Maryland two times and reached the semifinals of the NCAA again. By the third season in program history UNC claimed the number 2 overall ranking.
Levy’s program grew stronger as years passed and certain perks came along with that success; Levy was granted a full-time assistant and UNC started to increase their athletic support staff overall.
Levy spoke of the early years saying “It was a gradual process of pushing and asking; it was a process for all Carolina sports, and slowly we have made progress with that, but even with it, the athletic program has been very successful.”
The UNC Women's Lacrosse team is in their 19th season of program history. Phil Barnes has served as the Assistant Coach for 10 seasons. Katrina Dowd joined the Tar Heels in 2012-2013 season to help them win their first National Championship.
2013 National Championship
When asked about constructing a national championship-type team, Head Coach Levy stated that “its not just a one-year thing for us." The team expects success because they have been a perennial final four team for the past 5 years. Even though they had not won a National Title until 2013 they expect to be in a position to do so year in and year out. She stressed the importance of the recruiting process; the team consists of not only talented lacrosse players, but also hard workers with an ability to sacrifice self-interest for the team. The freshmen are expected to be on “a constant ascension of personal development, athletically, academically, and in the community."
The 2013 Tar Heels had a small senior class with only 5 players and ended their previous season with an early loss in the post season (their first time not making it to the final-four in three years). This was the first year that Katrina Dowd joined the coaching staff to help build a dynamic attacking unit. This was a young team with a lot of change going into the 2013 season. In the season opener against The University of Florida, the Tar Heels lost 5-3. The team went on an 11-game winning streak after the loss to Florida, but the margins of victory were not very large. Their most notable win during the 11 game winning streak was their 11-8 win over the reigning National Champions, Northwestern. The Tar Heels went on to defeat every team they played besides Maryland once in regular season (April 6) and once in the ACC Championship (April 28). These two losses were crucial to the team’s success in the NCAA tournament because they eventually took down the Terrapins in a Triple OT thriller to secure their first National Championship in the 18-year program history.
When Jenny Levy was asked: "What’s it going to take for UNC to repeat as national champions?" she responded "Nothing’s changed, but everything has changed. We’re a tough group, and I think more than anything this championship is a tipping point for us because it validates what we’ve always talked about. Now our players have experienced that and they won’t forget that. We’re going to enjoy the championship right now but we’ll begin again in August and we’ll start from the very beginning and work our way back up. It took a lot of hard work, a lot of belief and a lot of trust and I think those lessons will stay with us for a long time."
2013 Season Performance
Individual honors
First Team All Americans
Coaching staff
Jenny Levy
Phil Barnes
Katrina Dowd