North Carolina Faces Maryland With Unc Women's Lacrosse Title Berth at Stake
Unc women's lacrosse will put its 22-0 season back on the line Friday when No. 2-seed North Carolina meets No. 3-seed Maryland in the NCAA Tournament semifinal at Martin Stadium. North Carolina arrives as the defending champion after winning its fourth national title in 2025, while Maryland is trying to reach the title game for the first time since 2019.
Martin Stadium on Friday
The semifinal is set for 3 p.m. and will air on ESPNU. It is a direct path to the national title game, and it brings together two programs that have not played each other since 2020.
Maryland earned the trip to Evanston, Illinois, by beating Navy 14-10 in the quarterfinals. Cathy Reese’s team now has to solve a North Carolina group that has turned mistakes into one of the cleanest profiles in the country.
Jenny Levy’s North Carolina
Jenny Levy has coached the Tar Heels for 31 years and is the only coach in North Carolina team history. She is also the second-winningest women’s lacrosse coach of all time, and her teams have won eight ACC titles under her watch.
The current roster has done its part. Chloe Humphrey won the 2025 Tewaaraton Award as a freshman and leads the nation with 5.37 goals per game and 148 points, while also adding 21 caused turnovers and 46 assists. Addison Patillo has 69 points, including 59 goals, and has committed 19 turnovers, the fewest among North Carolina’s starting attackers.
North Carolina’s edge
Eliza Osburn has added 48 points, 39 draw controls, 24 ground balls and 15 caused turnovers this season. North Carolina leads the ACC with 16.2 draw controls per game, causes 9.8 turnovers per game and commits 12.1 turnovers per game, the fewest in the league, with a plus-196 goal differential behind it.
That balance is why the Tar Heels have already finished one season at 22-0 and why Maryland has a narrow margin for error after Reese said, “We have not played a perfect game,” and “I mean, sometimes we don’t even play two good quarters.” The winner moves one step closer to the title game, and Maryland will need a cleaner 60 minutes than it showed against Navy to extend its run.
