Clear of the Injury Bug, Walker-Welch and UNC Savoring this Season

Three years ago, North Carolina entered championship weekend 20-0 as the undefeated, hunted top seed — and delivered by hoisting a trophy at Homewood Field.

Fast forward to this weekend, and the Tar Heels enter the national semifinals with the same record, same top seed and same goal in mind in Foxborough, Mass.

In between? A Carolina program that battled a bevy of injuries in back-to-back seasons, a one-goal quarterfinal loss in 2023 and first-round ouster in 2024. Tar Heels who have returned from those setbacks — including some who contributed to that 2022 title-winning team — bring that experience of the highs and lows to Gillette Stadium this weekend, looking to complete an inverted bell curve with another championship celebration.

“It’s been something on our minds but hasn’t been at the forefront of our minds,” said defender Brooklyn Walker-Welch, who earned All-American accolades in 2022 and 2023 before missing the 2024 season. “Every single day is a fun day to be at practice, and we don’t take any opportunity to do that for granted.”

That 10-7 season in 2024, in which North Carolina had its season ended on the opening Friday of the NCAA tournament by Florida — its national semifinal opponent this Friday — was filled with frustrations beyond anyone’s control but strengthened the group going into 2025.

“It was hard at first,” Walker-Welch said. “At first, I got injured, then Chloe [Humphrey] got injured, and then the injury bug just kept going and going. At one point, we’re at Pitt, and there’s eight of us sitting on the bench. We used each other to get through our rehab and get through the injuries.”

Fellow defender Sam Forrest was on the sideline as a freshman when North Carolina won that 2022 title, having appeared in eight games during her first year in Chapel Hill. Forrest played in two early season games in 2023 before having her sophomore year cut short and was a steady presence for the shorthanded Tar Heels in 2024, the year when Walker-Welch was relegated to the sideline due to injury.

“We’re both pretty independent people and want to figure things out ourselves, but eventually, we opened up to each other,” said Forrest about the players’ injury experiences. “The mental piece is the hardest part of it; you have to understand that not everything’s going to feel the same. You have to have those hard conversations.”

The return of Walker-Welch and others to Carolina’s defensive unit in 2025 has shown a remarkable difference in the box score. The Tar Heels lead the nation in scoring defense (6.95 goals allowed per game) after ranking 52nd in the category (11.41) in 2024.

The return of the decorated national honoree has been a major part of that, as has a group that spent minimal time on the field together finding cohesion.

Walker-Welch punctuated her triumphant return by earning USA Lacrosse first-team All-American honors earlier this month.

“We took a moment in a circle, and Jenny [Levy] went around to us,” Walker-Welch said. “She reminds us that we were injured last year and we’re playing at this time this year. It shows how much we leaned on each other and leaned on our teammates during that time of injury. You’re able to learn so much sitting on the sidelines and helping our units out without actually being on the field, but this year when we are on the field, we can apply that.”

When North Carolina takes the field at Gillette Stadium on Friday afternoon, Tar Heels who spent so much time off the field in recent years will have gratitude for a return to lacrosse’s best weekend.

“This whole week we’ve been excited and grateful for the opportunity to even be here,” Walker-Welch said. “I wasn’t here in this position last year, so I’m grateful to be able to go on the field, give it all we have, and leave it all on the field, knowing every single person on our team has each other’s back.”