By R.L. Bynum
North Carolina has spent the past five seasons setting a championship standard, and the reigning national champion Tar Heels are back in the Final Four with another chance to add to it.
No. 2-seed UNC (18–1), which also won the title in 2022 and is in the Final Four for the 16th time, meets No. 3 Maryland (18–3) at 3 p.m. Friday on ESPNU in a national semifinal in Evanston, Ill. The other semifinal matchup pits No. 1 Northwestern (17–3) against No. 4 Johns Hopkins (17–4).
The Tar Heels bring a nine-game win streak into Evanston and have lost only once all season, a 17–16 overtime setback to Northwestern on March 25 in Chapel Hill.
Carolina coach Jenny Levy, who has four NCAA titles, said the opportunity carries weight, but she also noted how difficult it is to reach this stage, even for a program that has been here before.
“I’m really excited for all the student-athletes who get to compete this weekend because it’s such an honor,” Levy said at a press conference on Thursday. “Excited for our team. We’re excited for our team. It’s hard to get here. I’m looking forward to a great game [Friday] against Maryland.”
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The matchup renews a rivalry that has been dormant for years but has long been central to the sport’s identity. Levy and Maryland coach Cathy Reese have shared decades of history and mutual respect, and Levy said the stage adds another layer to what both fan bases recognize immediately when the names appear on the bracket.
“It’s such an honor to play Maryland, and the Carolina/Maryland matchup is something that all of these players watched that goes way back to when they were little,” Levy said. “It inspired them to either go to Maryland or go to Carolina. So, I think for the lacrosse world, it’s really exciting to see this matchup again, and it’s really exciting to see it in the Final Four.”
UNC’s path back has been shaped by the same internal demands that carried it through last season’s title run. Levy described an attack that treats daily work as the foundation for what happens in May.
“This is an offense that never takes a rep for granted,” Levy said. “We feed off each other, whether that’s energy or being inspired by my teammates on my left and right. So, we are constantly just pushing each other each day in practice, which I think has shown really well in our games this year.”
Sophomore Chloe Humphrey, arguably the best player in the country, said the group’s experience last season reinforced a simple approach that does not change with the calendar.
“I would say the biggest thing is not looking too far ahead,” said Humphrey, who led the country with 102 goals and 148 points, both single-season program records. “Obviously, our team sets very lofty goals. Last year, we had an undefeated national championship season, so we accomplished some of our lofty goals, but it truly is just taking it one season at a time, whether that’s ACC season, regular season, and now the NCAA season.”
Humphrey also credited the standards inside the locker room, both for her growth and for the way the group has handled success without slipping into comfort.
“We are never satisfied,” Humphrey said. “That energy of our team is so contagious, and allows me to believe I’m never going to be satisfied no matter what. Sometimes, to a fault, a little bit. Never satisfied. But it just goes to show how I think my teammates have elevated their games, which naturally has allowed me to elevate my game as well.”
On defense, veteran Sam Forrest has been central to UNC’s ability to keep winning while adjusting on the fly, allowing only 7.6 goals per game and causing 9.8 turnovers.
Forrest’s career arc, from not playing as a freshman to anchoring a Final Four defense, mirrors the patience and persistence Levy often asks of her teams.
“For our entire time we’ve worked so hard to get to this point for the second season in a row, and I think it would just mean so much to do it with our best friends,” Forrest said. “Over the past five years, I’ve grown. Jenny can probably attest to this. I didn’t play at all in my freshman year, and I didn’t know when I was going to play. Now that I have the opportunity to participate in the Final Four and hopefully for the championship, it’s just such an amazing feeling.”
Forrest said the postseason brings a different intensity, one that requires teams to understand how quickly the sport tightens around every possession.
“It’s just that the postseason is very different from the regular season,” Forrest said. “We like to say that we play three different seasons. Being able to experience every kind of season, from regular to ACC to national championship, you have to treat the three seasons differently and separate them from each other. Everyone is playing harder the further you get into the season, and throughout the season, I feel like we’ve learned that we can play faster and harder than we ever thought we could before.”
That adaptability has mattered, particularly as UNC has navigated changes and interruptions within the defensive lineup. Forrest said the group’s response has been rooted in readiness, not panic.
“We always talk about being able to adapt and adjust on the fly and being ready for anything the game may throw at us,” Forrest said. “Being prepared for somebody to go down, somebody is always ready to step up and take part in the leadership that’s needed to fill those gaps or the specific skills that are needed to fill those gaps, and I feel like we’ve done a really good job as a unit just adapting to what we need throughout the season and figuring out how to be the best version of our unit that we can be.”
Humphrey, one of the game’s most visible scorers, said the defense is still the engine that allows the attack to play with freedom, and she pointed directly to Forrest’s role within it.
“I’m so happy I finally have an opportunity to brag about Sam,” Humphrey said. “In practice, I cannot beat her in practice, and genuinely, she is such a light to our team and is constantly making others better around her. But she is the anchor of our team and our defense, and it’s been awesome to see the incredible things that she’s accomplished, and I’m just so honored to be on the same team as her.”
“For the record, she does beat me sometimes,” Forrest said, laughing.
Levy described Forrest’s on-ball strengths as the starting point, but she emphasized the leadership component that has become just as important as the matchups.
“Her signature trademark, her footwork and her ability to change directions and take people out of games with her one-on-one,” Levy said. “But she’s really had to step up into a leadership role this year with us, with different defenders coming in and out of the lineup. I’m really proud of her. We always knew she would be a star and do great things. She has exceeded all of our expectations.”
Freshman Eliza Osburn has also helped shape UNC’s ceiling, and she said the team believes it still has another level to reach as it enters the semifinals.
“I think something that’s really special about our team is we have not hit our full capacity yet,” said Osburn, who is fourth on the team with 30 goals and third on the team with 18 assists. “After a win or loss, we are ready to look at film and see what we can do better. Our team hasn’t hit our full capacity, so we’re excited to play against Maryland because I think we can show things that no other team has seen from us yet and put it to them.”
This year’s championship weekend marks the first time the women’s lacrosse Final Four has been staged outside the Eastern time zone.
Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics
