North Carolina Tar Heels Week in Review: March 13-March 19
By Jordan Falls
A recap of the previous week for North Carolina Tar Heels Athletics for the week of March 13, 2023, thru March 19, 2023.
Welcome to a new weekly series here at Keeping it Heel where we will dive into the previous week of North Carolina Tar Heels athletics and break down what happened.
Women’s Basketball – UNC began its NCAA Tournament run over the weekend on Saturday against St. John’s. The Tar Heels were in a battle for most of the second half and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament thanks to Deja Kelly’s game-winning layup (and free throw), beating the Red Storm 61-59.
Baseball – The Diamond Heels entered the week ranked 18th in the country by D1Baseball. They bounced back from losing their first ACC series of the year to UVA with three dominating wins. UNC beat Charlotte 16-3, High Point 16-2, and Pitt 17-7.
The bats were on fire all week for the Tar Heels. As they hit a combined twelve home runs, including three each from Mac Horvath and Alberto Osuna. They also had twelve extra-base hits as a team in those three games. Vance Honeycutt also added two home runs for UNC to go along with his highlight reel catch on Saturday vs Pittsburgh.
Unfortunately for the Tar Heels in the midst of getting hot, the last two games of the three-game series with Pittsburgh were canceled due to adverse weather conditions.
Softball – UNC softball continued to struggle. The Tar Heels lost 4 of 5 games, including being swept by Duke over the week. The Tar Heels are now 10-19 on the year, including 1-5 in conference play.
Men’s Lacrosse – The Tar Heels entered the week 4-2 and ranked 13th in the national poll. They went 1-1 last week. They suffered a 15-8 loss on the road to #3 ranked Duke on Friday. UNC bounced back with a solid outing on Sunday by beating Dartmouth 25-7 in Chapel Hill.
Women’s Lacrosse – UNC entered the week undefeated at 7-0 and #1 in the country. The Tar Heels traveled to Louisville on Thursday and beat the Cardinals easily 20-7. The next stop on their road trip was to Evanston, Illinois to face the #3 ranked Northwestern who were 8-1. The Tar Heels struggled to get anything going against the Wildcats as they trailed 8-4 at the half and 10-4 with 9 minutes remaining in the 3rd quarter. UNC made a push and cut the lead to 10-8, but it just wasn’t enough as Northwestern held on for a 13-9 win. It was UNC’s first loss in almost two years when they lost to Boston College on May 28, 2021, in the Final Four. It was the first regular season loss since March 31, 2019, which came against Notre Dame.
Wrestling – What a week for UNC Wrestling! Austin O’Connor won his second NCAA National Championship on Saturday, March 18th.
Swim & Dive – The UNC women’s swimming & diving team finished 10th in the 2023 NCAA Championships on Saturday as well which is good for the program’s first top 10 finish since 2001. Aranza Vazquez won two individual NCAA Championships last week. First by capturing the one-meter national championship on Thursday and then following it up by winning the three-meter national title on Friday. Vazquez is the first diver in UNC’s history to win a National Championship.
Next. Former Tar Heel Signing with NFC South Team. dark
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