With less than a week to go before its first regular-season game, the UNC women’s lacrosse team has been picked to win the ACC once again. The Tar Heels received the top spot in the league’s preseason coaches poll, receiving seven of 10 first-place votes.

Boston College (second place), Syracuse (third place) and Notre Dame (fifth place) each received a single first-place vote. No. 4 Duke rounds out the league’s top 5. Virginia, Virginia Tech, Louisville, Pittsburgh and Clemson sit in spots 6-10. Clemson is sponsoring women’s lacrosse for the first time in school history.

In addition, attacker Caitlyn Wurzburger and defenders Emily Nalls and Brooklyn Walker-Welch were each named to the preseason All-ACC team. Wurzburger earned preseason All-America honors from Inside Lacrosse, while Nalls and Walker-Welch were each named to the second team.

Carolina is both the reigning ACC and national champion, winning the league title for the fifth straight time in 2022 and winning the third national title in program history later that summer. Ironically enough, the Tar Heels defeated Boston College — the 2021 national champion — in both championship games.

The Tar Heels will open the 2023 regular season in Chapel Hill against James Madison on Saturday at 2 p.m.

 

Featured image via Associated Press/Vincent Alban

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