2025 NCAA WOMEN'S LACROSSE CHAMPIONSHIP

May 23, 2025

Jenny Levy

Sam Forrest

Chloe Humphrey

Gillette Stadium

North Carolina Tar Heels

Media Conference

North Carolina 20, Florida 4

JENNY LEVY: First of all, congratulations to Florida. Making it to the final four is not easy. They have had a great season. Just appreciate their program as an opponent that we get to see every year and just really happy for my team. I thought a little -- we are always able to adjust, and we did a great job adjusting today, and I have an incredible staff with Marie McCool, Kayla Wood and Maiah Bartlett, who work so hard to get these guys prepared for any situation that we see, and I just thought the adjustments that we made were great.

Chloe started the party and just started putting goals. I think all aspects of our game were sharp by the first quarter, and I thought it made a big difference for us today.

Q. Chloe, do you mind describing the three-goal stretch that felt like it changed the game in the early second quarter?

CHLOE HUMPHREY: The game definitely started back approximate forth. We have to give so much credit to Florida's defense. They gave us their best effort in the first quarter. I think we were able to make adjustments. Marie told me how to beat my defender in front of me, and I gave her credit for so many adjustments. We both learned how to use that to our advantage, and I think my teammates were putting the ball in my stick, which made it so much easier. Eliza Osburn and Carol Godine, they were to credit for those two goals that gave us the moment to run. Definitely giving them credit to that.

Q. You had seven goals today. That's your career high. You also passed the single season goals record for UNC. Was there a moment through your lacrosse career where you knew you had a knack for scoring goals?

CHLOE HUMPHREY: I think my dad would always tell me in third grade, there's kind of no off button. It was just get the ball in the back of the net, and I just naturally always had that like even little pee-wee soccer. It's awesome to see how I've developed with the people around me, through every team, it's just pushed me to be the best player, person and teammate that I could have imagined.

It's just that's the reason that I can still continue to elevate my game is just the people around me, and they are just so awesome. It's so fun being a part of this team. But I definitely couldn't do it without them.

Q. Even in the first quarter, a lot of what Florida was doing still seemed unsettled and helter-skelter. What is it about what you did that kept them scrambling for the ball?

SAM FORREST: Be all over, pressure out, we try to feet on their hands and it's just trying to be aggressive but also clean at the same time and I think that helps us a lot organize -- it helps us organize quicker and get slides sent quicker and just anticipate their next move, and I think that was a driving factor in the momentum switch in the first quarter where we stopped letting them score goals.

And, yeah, it's just our velociraptor defense.

Q. A lot of this year has been about the new additions and folks who returned from injury, and I think it seems symbolic that you beat Florida today after the end of your season last year. How did you guys reflect on that or how did you think about heading into this game?

SAM FORREST: It was heartbreaking last year losing to Florida. We all wanted to go further than we did, and we had so many injuries it. It was heartbreaking for everyone on and off the field, but we used that to not get mad, but get even. We wanted to cash our check and make sure we that we got our revenge on them and finish our strong season and keep going into the next game. It was mostly just a motivation for us because we wanted to get our win back.

Q. Obviously seven goals, but what was it like seeing Nicole score at the end of the game?

CHLOE HUMPHREY: Ashley and I just looked at each other like oh, my God, this girl has been through so much between her foot injury, flying across the country, to hear she wasn't able to play her season. It was a full-circle moment for her, all her hard work and recovery, it has not paid off in ways that she expected it to. That says so much about her character. She's relentless. This girl will not stop. She has a barely functioning foot and she's still running midfield for ten minutes straight. So it just shows so much about her character and how badly she wants to be here and her dedication to this team.

Q. You guys have had a great season, but what does it feel like to be able to compete for a National Championship, especially alongside your sisters?

CHLOE HUMPHREY: Yeah, I think Jenny can attest to this. I walked into the Carolina lacrosse camp in sixth grade and my eyes were bright as can be. That's when I decided I wanted to win a National Championship for the University of North Carolina, and that's given my passion for the game for I don't know how many years, since sixth grade. To be here, I have to pinch myself today and to put on that performance we did today, I wouldn't want to do it with any other team and people around me. So we have one more game and we are going to give it everything that we have and this team, I'm telling you, has a lot to give.

Q. Obviously, as the season goes on, players gain experience. They learn the systems. At what point did this team maybe stop feeling like such a young team like it was coming into the season, or has it felt like it's no longer a young team?

JENNY LEVY: I would say more of an experienced team. Obviously, there's a lot of freshmen or red shirt freshmen who didn't play last year and contributed today. But even going into our first game of the season against JMU to our first ACC game of the season to heading out to Northwestern for that, like, we've been progressing and working on our craft since last year, and you know, coming into today's game, we haven't been in this environment with them. The ACCs were one thing, and walking into Gillette Stadium with all the stuff that was going on today, it just -- I had no idea, and the timing was all different. Our kids warmed up in 15 minutes, and we still had 10 minutes on the warm up clock, and I'm looking at them like, why don't you go back in the loom and do something. They didn't want to warm up anymore. They were ready to play.

So I don't know, I approach every game with an open mind to help them solve problems on the field as they come up. My whole staff does. We are taking our cue from them and what they need in these moments.

And they have continued to impress. They have been poised. They have been confident, and they have been relentless, and that is, I just think, who they are as competitors, and not to mention they are just great human beings, and they get along so well and really lift each other up. It's been a great, great ride for us.

Q. Obviously, a lot of newcomers. One with a lot of experience is Olivia. Can you talk about what she's brought to the team?

JENNY LEVY: She's been great. We needed a lefty in the transfer portal last year. It was glaring for us last year, knowing we had a couple freshmen coming in that were lefties but not a veteran attacker. She's open every day to learning, working hard. She's a great teammate. She, like, pinches herself every day that she gets to be where she is with the people that she's doing it with.

I think sometimes a reset for some athletes is really positive, and they can make a positive impact on your environment, too, because they have just a different perspective. She's been amazing. She's also an incredible human, great teammate, hard worker. She's learning every day. She's just getting better and better every day. She just gives us her heart all the time. So she's been a joy to coach.

Q. Your team scored their 372nd goal of the season today, which is a UNC single-season goal record. Can you talk about when this season you realized this offense was something special?

JENNY LEVY: We knew the potential of it when you look at it on paper, whether it's Chloe, and then Ashley played last year for us. She had a semester under her belt, and how we like to do things. She learned a lot. Obviously, bringing Marissa back from injury and getting Kayleigh Harden back from injury, and the influx of our freshmen, Eliza Osburn and Kate Levy, those guys have given us so much depth.

We knew how great they would be and their potential. We just didn't know when it would be realized. We work hard every day to make sure our fundamentals are sharp and how we want to play the game is reinforced on a day-in, day-out basis.

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

Q. What about this felt similar to the Boston College game and different?

JENNY LEVY: Just getting into a rhythm offensively where you're not inpatient and everyone is touching the ball and you're starting to take the shots you want to take instead of taking the shots they want you to take.

So I didn't really flashback to the BC game. It's a really long game, as everybody knows. It doesn't get played inside two hours, unfortunately. There's just so much time on the clock at that point. We are trying to look to get into rhythm and make a few adjustments.

Florida already played us this year. So of course they are going to come out in something different. We weren't sure if they would double face guard or zone. You just didn't know until we knew. And once we knew, we started making some adjustments. I didn't worry about it quite honestly. I thought we finished the quarter strong, 4-4 after maybe -- 2-4, and then we tied it up pretty quick. So there's no panic. We work through it and see what we can make of it.