The UNC women’s lacrosse team will begin the upcoming 2020 campaign with a target on its back, as the Tar Heels were ranked No. 1 in the Inside Lacrosse Preseason Top 20 rankings released on Friday.

Coming off the 11th Final Four appearance in program history–not to mention a fourth consecutive ACC Tournament title–UNC received 11 of the 12 potential first-place votes and is primed for a big year behind stars Jamie Ortega and Katie Hoeg.

Behind the Tar Heels in the top five are No. 2 Maryland, No. 3 Northwestern, No. 4 Syracuse and No. 5 Boston College.

The rest of the top 10 consists of: No. 6 Princeton, No. 7 Notre Dame, No. 8 Michigan, No. 9 Virginia and No. 10 Denver.

In total, the ACC has six teams ranked among the top 20–with Duke taking home the final spot in the rankings at No. 20, joining UNC, Syracuse, Boston College, Notre Dame and Virginia.

The Tar Heels are set to begin their regular season on the road Feb. 8 against No. 16 James Madison.

 

 

 

Photo via UNC Athletics

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