Super Sophs: North Carolina's Kate Levy
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© 2025 USA Lacrosse. All Rights Reserved.
© 2025 USA Lacrosse. All Rights Reserved.
As a redshirt freshman, Chloe Humphrey set college lacrosse on fire — leading North Carolina to a national championship while becoming the first freshman to win the Tewaaraton Award as the nation's top player.
She wasn't the only rookie to make her presence felt last season. USA Lacrosse Magazine caught up with five true freshmen from last season poised to continue their stories in our Super Sophs series.
Midfield
Freshman stats: 14G, 9A, 25GB, 26CT, 24DC
When Jenny Levy — or as Kate calls her, “Mom” — texted her daughter on Sept. 1, 2022, and asked her if she would like to become a Tar Heel, it was almost a rhetorical question.
She long dreamt of being one of “Mommy’s Girls.” Much has been made of the dream-come-true nature of winning a national championship together last year — and it’s, indeed, a nice story. But Levy also dreamt of playing alongside another key cog on last year’s team: Chloe Humphrey.
The two were inseparable at North Carolina clinics, with Levy never far behind the future Tewaaraton Award winner.
“Playing together was something we had been talking about since she was about 10 and I was 8 years old,” Levy said. “She’s so easy to play with, so creative and loves the game. We were finally able to do it. We soaked it in. She was in my warmup line this year, and it was funny. We had so many conversations about how cool it was to be together for longer than three days at camp, finally.”
A true two-way midfielder, Levy officially enrolled at UNC having compiled 135 points in two years at McDonogh (Md.). The statistics from her freshman campaign show that her most significant impact came between the 30s, on defense and in the circle. Levy has no complaints there.
“On teams I’ve been on, I’ve needed to score goals and make flashier plays,” Levy said. “But that’s not how I’ve always evaluated my game. I would much rather make a million scrappy plays and score zero goals than the other way around.”
Levy did make some flashy plays, notably a coast-to-coast run that culminated in a goal to give UNC a 13-11 edge over Boston College in the ACC championship game that Carolina won 14-12.
She gave the Heels a bit of everything a month later in the NCAA title game against Northwestern: One goal, one ground ball, two caused turnovers. And the experience playing in — not watching — a national championship game gave her (and her freshman class) something.
“Being in those big moments early on in our careers sets us up for success going forward,” Levy said. “We have been there, and there’s comfort in knowing we can do it. We have done it.”
Comfort, but not contentment. Levy wants more, and she was able to focus on one team and one team alone this summer. It marked a shift for a player who spent summers trying out for or playing with teams, including the USA Lacrosse U20 Women’s National Team that won a world championship in 2024.
“It was the first time since I was 12 years old that I didn’t have all these other lacrosse obligations,” Levy said. “I coached a bunch and practiced what I needed to work on intentionally.”
Levy’s mindset? That doesn’t need work. UNC knows how to win and has many key players back and talent for days coming in. However, the team, motivated by revenge in 2025 after a season marred by injuries in 2024, knows the target has returned.
“We’re ready to get to work because no one in the country is just waiting for us to come and win again,” Levy said. “Everyone else has stepped it up.”
Beth Ann Mayer is a Long Island-based writer. She joined USA Lacrosse in 2022 after freelancing for Inside Lacrosse for five years. She first began covering the game as a student at Syracuse. When she's not writing, you can find her wrangling her husband, two children and surplus of pets.
