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A close game, a blowout and a thriller for the Tar Heels.
It was hard to leave the TV on a scintillating Sunday, with another women’s lacrosse national championship, a blowout by the Diamond Heels to win the ACC Tournament and a first individual PGA tour victory for Carolina’s comeback kid.
On the field where Bill Belichick coached six Super Bowl championship teams, Jenny Levy was the Hall of Fame coach of the day. Her unbeaten Heels had one of their closest games of the season, beating Northwestern 12-8 on a combination of sisterly offense and team defense at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro.
Redshirt freshman Chloe Humphrey had four goals and an assist while her big sister Ashley had four assists in a game that kept us uncomfortable before the final whistle blew following two reassuring goals by Eliza Osburn in a nine-second span of the fourth quarter.
And in a rugged defensive struggle, the 22-0 Heels held Wildcat Madison Taylor, the nation’s leading scorer, without a goal thanks to dogged defense by Sam Forrest and others.
It was UNC’s (and Levy’s) fourth national championship in the last 12 NCAA tournaments. “Tough all year, nothing fazes them,” said Levy, the only women’s lax coach UNC has ever had with her 443rd career victory since she started the program from scratch in 1995.
In the ACC baseball tourney title game, Scott Forbes’ Heels won their first conference crown since 2022 by blowing out Clemson 14-4 in a game that should have been stopped by a TKO. The third-ranked team in the country won the new single-elimination ACC tournament and will host the NCAA regional at Boshamer Stadium for the second straight year against Holy Cross at noon Friday as Carolina will also be a favorite to return to Omaha and win that elusive College World Series.
UNC banged out 13 hits and led by two touchdowns after six innings. The Dia-Mound Heels used four pitchers sparingly and will have 12-0 ace Jake Knapp ready for whenever Forbes needs him this weekend. Gavin Gallaher and Alex Madera had three hits each and Jackson Van De Brake had five RBIs in the laugher at Durham Bulls Athletic Park.
Down in Fort Worth, former Carolina golfer and Chapel Hill native Ben Griffin hung on to win the Charles Schwab Challenge with a 4-foot par putt on the 72nd hole after his opponent Matti Schmid holed an improbable bunker shot for a birdie. Griffin had to make the winning putt to avoid a playoff. CBS’ Jim Nantz praised UNC’s big day and retold how Griffin had just about given up the game before starting his comeback that now finds him in the top 10 of the FedEx Cup standings worth about $25 million to the winner. He pocketed $1.7 mill in Texas.
The unemotional Griffin found himself staring down the most important putt of his 29 years, and the comeback continues for Chapel Ben.
Featured image via UNC Athletic Communications/Joe Bray
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
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