A busy Tar Heel sports weekend secured a couple exhilarating ACC titles, produced heartbreak on the lacrosse field and saw history made on the Chestnut Hill tennis courts.
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Indeed, it was a wild few days for Carolina athletics starting with one for the record books Friday at Boston College.
Brian Kalbas has all the pieces to contend for a national championship (UNC Athletics)
The No. 1 Tar Heel women’s tennis team put the finishing touches on an undefeated regular season by beating the Eagles, 5-2, and in the process, became the first ACC school in history to make it through the treacherous league slate unscathed.
Despite Jamie Loeb’s shocking three-set upset at No. 1 singles, Carolina showed off its depth by fighting past the pesky Eagles with commanding victories at No. 2, 3, 4 and 5 singles.
UNC head coach Brian Kalbas says the Tar Heels have been on a mission this season.
“This is the kind of team I don’t think would benefit from a loss going into the postseason. I really think this team benefits from winning and getting that motivation that we could do something special,” Coach Kalbas says.
UNC will now turn its attention to Cary Tennis Center for the start of the ACC Tournament this weekend. The Tar Heels will be the No. 1 seed and heavy favorites to take the title for the fifth time in seven years.
But the sweetness of victory is often born out of the bitterness of defeat. The Carolina men’s lacrosse team suffered the latter Saturday afternoon.
The Tar Heels surrendered three goals in the final 1:15 of the contest to fall short in heartbreaking fashion.
What’s worse, the 15-14 defeat to No. 1 Notre Dame in South Bend handed the ACC regular season championship to the Fighting Irish.
The second-ranked Tar Heels have some time to regroup before meeting Syracuse Friday in the ACC Tournament semifinals at PPL Park at 8 p.m. in Chester, PA.
Their female counterparts, however, were not to be denied the title of champions.
Sammy Jo Tracy gets all fired up (UNC Athletics)
Friday night at Duke’s Koskinen Stadium, the No. 2 UNC women’s lacrosse team downed its hated rival, 12-6, to claim the ACC regular season title for the sixth time and improve to 13-2 overall, 6-1 in league action.
Sammy Jo Tracy wasn’t the only Tar Heel to record a hat trick against the Blue Devils. Aly Messinger joined her teammate in that accomplishment.
Caylee Waters started the game in goal for Carolina and picked up the win thanks to three saves and only giving up four scores.
Head coach Jenny Levy’s Tar Heels open up their ACC Tournament campaign Thursday as the top seeds.
With the regular season now in the books for most spring teams in Chapel Hill, the excitement and promise of the postseason awaits – where dreams become reality.
And these successful Tar Heel players and coaches will be dreaming of hardware – ACC and national championship trophies.
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