It was a day to remember for fifth-year attacker Jamie Ortega in the No. 2 UNC women’s lacrosse team’s first-ever meeting with Pittsburgh. Three goals and two assists helped Ortega break the all-time school points record at 373, passing former teammate Katie Hoeg. It was all part of a clinical 15-5 win for the Tar Heels against a Panthers side in its first year of competition.
Ortega got started early, scoring UNC’s first two goals of the game. A first-half hat trick from fellow fifth-year attacker Scottie Rose Growney helped Carolina to a lead as large as 7-1 in the second quarter.
After Pitt took a goal back, Ortega broke Hoeg’s record and secured her hat trick by opening the scoring in the third quarter. Olivia Dirks, Ally Mastroianni, Caitlyn Wurzburger and Andie Aldave each also scored in the third. Ortega assisted on Wurzburger’s and Aldave’s goals to give her five points in total and extend her new school record.
Growney netted her fourth goal of the day in the fourth quarter, which also drew her just one goal shy of Ortega for the team lead through four games. Growney and Ortega were one of a trio of Tar Heels to record hat tricks Thursday, as a late goal by junior midfielder Olivia Dirks gave her three on the day, and her first hat trick as a Tar Heel. The Penn State transfer had scored only twice in the previous three games.
Along with breaking Hoeg’s record, Ortega has now scored goals in 38 consecutive games, and recorded at least one point in 67 consecutive games. She is the second current record-holder on the UNC roster. Goalie Taylor Moreno extended her own school record for wins, earning her 52nd career victory in net for the Tar Heels and making four saves before being pulled in the fourth quarter.
After starting its 2022 season with three of four games on the road, the well-traveled Tar Heels will now return home to Dorrance Field for a four-game homestand over the next two weeks. Carolina will begin that homestand by hosting Jacksonville in Chapel Hill on Sunday at 11 a.m.
Featured image via UNC Athletic Communications
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