PREVIEWING NORTH CAROLINA
2026 record: 19-1
NCAA championships: 4 (2013, 2016, 2022, 2025)
Last championship: 2025
PROJECTED STARTERS
A: Chloe Humphrey
A: Caroline Godine
A: Addison Patillo
M: Charlotte Corkins
M: Kate Levy
M: Eliza Osburn
M: Kaleigh Harden
M: GraceAnn Leonard
Draw: Charlotte Rathjen
D: Sam Forrest
D: Sophie Straka
G: Betty Nelson
SEMIFINAL SUMMARY
A back-and-forth first quarter gave way North Carolina dominance after halftime, as the Tar Heels enjoyed 15 goals by sophomores or freshmen in a 16-6 win over Maryland.
Read the full game story by Kenny DeJohn.
ROAD TO THE TITLE GAME
Round 1: Bye
Round 2: 17-6 over Clemson
Quarterfinals: 14-11 over Stanford
Semifinals: 16-6 over Maryland
BY THE NUMBERS
5 • Consecutive games with a hat trick for Addison Patillo.
7 • Players with at least 20 goals, including four with at least 30 and two with 60 or more.
10 • Straight wins by the Tar Heels since losing to Northwestern on March 25.
107 • Goals scored this season by Chloe Humphrey, two shy of the NCAA single-season record set last year by Northwestern’s Madison Taylor.
.512 • Team shooting percentage, second nationally behind Clemson (.519).
COACH’S QUOTES
From North Carolina head coach Jenny Levy on Friday, May 22.
- “We are still on a journey of improvement, and we get one more day to tweak it a little bit more and get ready for, I’m sure, a tough opponent on Sunday.”
- “We recruit high-end, special athletes and we really invest in their development, on both sides of ball, so we can run two-way middies that can have impacts on games.”
NOTABLE
Storylines to watch during the championship game.
INJURY REPORT
Olivia Adamson won’t play for Northwestern on Sunday, though the Wildcats have learned to play without the stretch shooter, who last played April 4 against USC.
The bigger injury questions rest on the other sideline. Brooklyn Walker-Welch hasn’t seen significant action since the ACC title game, and Sarah Gresham started all year on the draw but didn’t start Friday. She wore a bulky brace on her leg and only entered when the game was well in hand.
In her stead, Charlotte Rathjen took the draw. Rathjen struggled, with Maryland holding a 15-7 draw edge, but UNC made up for it by causing turnovers between the 30s.
NO SOPHOMORE SLUMP
Seven of North Carolina’s starters in the semifinals were sophomores. All of them played big roles in last year’s NCAA championship season. Underclassmen in classification only, they played like experienced veterans.
CHILD’S PLAY
Annabel Child came to Northwestern this year as a defender but has made her mark anywhere and everywhere. A member of the Ivy League’s first team on defense in 2025 while at Harvard, Child has earned starts in the midfield this season and has scored 12 goals. She took on more of a defensive role against Maryland with three ground balls, one caused turnover and three shot attempts.
FRESH LEGS
Maybe it’ll matter. Maybe it won’t. But North Carolina was able to rest most of its starting lineup in the fourth quarter against Maryland and already runs multiple midfield lines deep. Northwestern also played the second semifinal on Friday, meaning a couple hours fewer of rest leading into Sunday.
50-50
For the past 11 games, North Carolina has split time evenly in the cage. Betty Nelson always starts and plays the first 30 minutes, then Lexi Zenk comes in to finish things off. This trend started, ironically, against Northwestern on March 25.
Jenny Levy has a history of utilizing two goalies to win a national championship. In 2016, Caylee Waters and Megan Ward split time, won a title and earned co-goalie of the year honors. Nelson and Zenk aren’t quite at that level, at least not yet, but the arrangement is working just fine.
RECORD WATCH
Madison Taylor is two points behind Izzy Scane’s all-time NCAA tournament points record. She’s also seven points behind Scane’s all-time program points record of 483. It’ll take a big performance Sunday to break the record, but Taylor has eight points in two of her last three games. Scane was in the stands Friday and will most certainly be there Sunday.
