Humphrey, 'Velociraptor Defense' Lead UNC's 20-4 Semifinal Rout of Florida

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — It was another day at the office for top-seeded and undefeated North Carolina in Friday’s NCAA women's lacrosse semifinal against Florida at Gillette Stadium.

In this one, though, UNC looked flat in the game’s opening 15 minutes.

An all-out blitz in the second quarter — one in which Florida surrendered a season-high 10 goals in a period — completely re-shaped the game. Against the Gators, it was the Tar Heels doing the chomping in a 20-4 win.

North Carolina (21-0) advances to Sunday’s NCAA championship game and will play the winner of second-seeded Boston College and third-seeded Northwestern.

It was the Gators who first locked their jaws and clamped down on defense, holding North Carolina to just two goals in the first quarter — the Tar Heels’ fewest first-quarter total since April 5 against Boston College. Four Florida goal scorers gave it a 4-2 advantage heading into the second quarter.

That crisp, disciplined Gators team didn’t show up in the second quarter. North Carolina was relentless, much as it’s been all season, denying entry passes and forcing turnovers on the ride. Florida was 5-for-9 on clears in the first half, and even that conversion rate seemed generous given the scatterbrained nature of seemingly every attempt to cross the middle of the field.

“Florida already played us this year, so of course they’re going to come out in something different,” said Tar Heels coach Jenny Levy, referencing her team’s 14-9 win over Florida on Feb. 15. “We weren’t sure if they were going to double face-guard or zone … You just didn’t know until you knew. Once we knew, we started making some adjustments.”

Chloe Humphrey, held scoreless in the first quarter as part of Florida’s strategy to face guard both herself and her sister, Ashley Humphrey, opened the second-quarter scoring with three straight goals for a 5-4 lead. The third in that string, which started with a lightning-fast v-cut off the faceguard, was a precursor of things to come.

Eliza Osburn, Addison Pattillo and Marissa White accounted for the next four goals, with Pattillo scoring left-handed on a rollback dodge for her second goal in the stretch.

Humphrey made it 10-4 when she again used a v-cut to leave her defender in the dust, scoring down the left alley for her 83rd goal of the season, breaking Jamie Ortega’s single-season program record.

Caroline Godine and Osburn each scored again before the half to make it 12-4, North Carolina. The lead only ballooned from there, as Sophie Student helped UNC build a 20-6 draw edge and the defense continued to cause chaos.

Florida was held scoreless for the game’s final 48:28 and didn’t even attempt a shot for just over 25 minutes, a stretch that started on Gianna Monaco’s shot that was saved by Betty Nelson with 8:43 left in the second quarter and ended on another Monaco shot saved by Nelson with 13:06 left in the contest.

“Jenny always talks about us playing ‘velociraptor defense’ and just being all over them,” All-American defender Sam Forrest (five ground balls) said. “It’s just about trying to be aggressive but also clean at the same time.”

North Carolina set a single-season program record for goals scored (372), a testament to the record-setting Humphrey sisters and the exponential progression of the nation’s top freshman class.

Indeed, freshmen littered the box score against Florida, much like they’ve done through the second half the season. Alongside Chloe Humphrey (a redshirt freshman) and her seven goals, Osburn and Pattillo each chipped in a pair with one assist, and Kate Levy scored a goal, too.

“We knew the potential of [the offense] when you look at it on paper,” Jenny Levy said. “We knew how great they would be and their potential. We just didn’t know when it would be realized.”

It was realized not long after that Feb. 15 game down in Gainesville. The Tar Heels dropped 14 on the Gators, but Florida (20-3) coach Amanda O’Leary said her semifinal opponent has clearly made major strides since then.

“As an entire team, they grew tremendously,” she said. “Offensively, when we saw them in February, they were still a work in progress. … Their freshmen just improved day in and day out.”

O’Leary adjusted her game plan accordingly, at least for 15 minutes, but UNC out-adjusted the adjustment.

“What Carolina does is they just put you on your heels,” O’Leary said. “They put you on your heels from the moment you cross the 30-yard line. You better have a plan. They got us today in a number of those situations.”

After only appearing in the final four once in program history, Florida has now made back-to-back championship weekend appearances. In both 2024 and 2025, the Gators carried lengthy winning streaks into the semifinals only to be bested by the tournament’s top seed.

Graduate goalie Georgia Hoey, who didn’t start Friday but made five saves in 27:30, said there are now concrete expectations for the program.

“From the first whistle of the first game, this was our goal,” Hoey said. “This is our standard now. … This team will be back. Teams to come will be back.”

Championship weekend has long been the standard for North Carolina, which will make its sixth NCAA championship game appearance while seeking its first title since 2022.

The Tar Heels take the nation’s most explosive offense into the most high-stakes game many of its key components have ever played in. Jenny Levy isn’t worried about it all.

“When you have really talented players with great sticks and you give them the freedom to create,” Levy said. “Those make some really magic moments for not only them, but also the people watching.”