Don’t look now, but Carolina’s lacrosse programs are taking over the NCAA Tournament.

UNC is a school filled with dozens national championship trophies — from soccer to basketball to tennis and everything in between. It looks like UNC’s lacrosse programs are making a serious run at adding to the championship cupboard pretty soon.

Both the UNC men’s and women’s lacrosse teams earned the No. 1 seeds in their respective NCAA Tournament and have made their way to the Final Four. The men will travel to East Hartford, Connecticut while the women make their way to Towson, Maryland for their final games.

Both teams had some dramatic games this weekend to secure Final Four spots. The men’s team needed an overtime goal from Connor McCarthy to defeat Rutgers, 12-11. McCarthy — in his first year as a Tar Heel after transferring from Princeton — scored just over two minutes into the four-minute extra period to deliver UNC its first Final Four appearance since winning the championship back in 2016.

Meanwhile, UNC women’s lacrosse used a last-minute rally to defeat upset-minded Stony Brook, 14-11. Trailing 11-9 with just under nine minutes left on the clock, UNC shifted into overdrive and reeled off five straight goals to win the game. Scottie Rose Growney and Jamie Ortega scored the first two goals of the run to tie the game, while Tayler Warehime netted the eventual game-winner.

So what’s next for the Tar Heels?

The men’s team has a tough matchup — facing off against No. 4 seed Virginia on Saturday at noon. The teams split their first two meetings in the regular season, with UNC winning 16-13 on the road but falling 18-16 a few weeks later in Chapel Hill.

If the Tar Heels can advance, they’ll face off against the winner of Maryland and Duke in the championship. UNC hasn’t played Maryland this season, but split a pair of games with Duke.

Meanwhile, the women will face off against Boston College on Friday at noon — a team that they beat 21-9 in the regular season. With a win, the Tar Heels will face the winner of Syracuse and Northwestern. The Tar Heels haven’t played Northwestern, but have beaten Syracuse twice — most recently in the ACC Tournament championship.

The road isn’t easy for UNC to add to its national championship trophy case, but it certainly seems manageable. We’ll be rooting for our Tar Heels this weekend. Will you?

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