In the game of sticks, Carolina is at the top of its class.

Just like UNC’s field hockey program, which advanced to its 12th consecutive NCAA Final Four with a win over Stanford on Sunday, the Tar Heel men and women lacrosse program have followed the winning tradition of its coaches.

Karen Shelton is going for her program’s third straight field hockey national championship this weekend for a second time. She has more than a dozen players from her home state of Pennsylvania, where UNC dominates in recruiting over the last 30 years.

Women’s lacrosse just won its fifth straight ACC championship under coach Jenny Levy, who built the Carolina program from scratch more than 25 years ago and has since become one of the most successful coaches in the history of the sport. She has won two NCAA championships, twice been National Coach of the Year and in 2017 was named the U.S. National Team coach.

Levy was also a star player at Virginia, winning a national championship in 1991, when she scored eight goals in the semifinals and finals, before going on to coach the Tar Heels to NCAA titles in 2013 in one of the greatest games of the sport’s history, and in 2016 after finishing the season with 17 straight victories. Levy has won more than 370 games and has better than .750 winning percentage, including a current 18-0 record.

Men’s lacrosse is not far behind. Coach Joe Breschi’s 3rd-ranked team avenged an earlier loss at No. 2 Duke with a 1-0 win over the Blue Devils Sunday to tie them for the ACC regular-season title.

The game was played before more than 4000 fans at Kenan Stadium after being postponed due to Friday’s thunderstorms. With no ACC tournament in men’s lacrosse this season, UNC awaits NCAA bids out on Sunday.

Since returning to his alma mater, where he starred as a player, Breschi has rebuilt the lacrosse program into a model on the field, in the classroom and within the community, culminating with the 2016 national championship, UNC’s first since 1991.

A native of Baltimore, where he still recruits heavily, Breschi’s motto in everything his teams do is FAMILY-ACADEMICS-LACROSSE.

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