University of NC - Chapel Hill

Chapel Hill, NC 27515

North Carolina Southeast

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Jenny Levy

Entering her 29th season as the North Carolina head coach in 2024, Hall of Famer Jenny Levy is without question among the best coaches in women’s lacrosse history.

Jenny Levy – Career at a Glance:

Entering her 29th season in 2023-24

Career Record: 411-123 (.770)

Carolina Record: Same

ACC Record: 103-24 (.746)

National Lacrosse Hall of Fame (inducted 2021)

USA Lacrosse Foundation Gala honoree (2023)

U.S. National Team Head Coach (2017-22)

Three NCAA national titles (2013, 2016, 2022)

Seven ACC titles (2002, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022)

Three-time IWLCA National Coach of the Year (2013, 2016, 2022)

Seven-time ACC Coach of the Year (1997, 2002, 2010, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2022)

116 All-ACC selections

63 players with All-America honors

14 National Player of the Year winners

11 ACC Player of the Year winners

10 Tewaaraton Award finalists

Three NCAA Tournament MVPs

Two Honda Award winners

North Carolina Career

The only head coach in UNC women’s lacrosse history, Levy built the Tar Heel program from scratch. She was named its first head coach in October 1994.

Over the past 28 completed seasons, Levy has guided Carolina to:

24 NCAA Tournament bids (including 18 straight from 2005-present)

42 NCAA Tournament wins (tied for second all-time by a head coach)

13 NCAA Tournament semifinal appearances (tied for third all-time)

Three NCAA championship titles (tied for third all-time by a school, fourth all-time by a head coach)

10 ACC regular season titles, including seven outright

Seven ACC Tournament titles (most by a head coach, second-most by a school)

Levy became only the fourth coach in women’s lacrosse history to win an NCAA championship as a player (with Virginia in 1991) and as a head coach. She is one of only five head coaches to win three or more NCAA titles.

On March 3, 2023, Levy achieved her 400th career victory. She ranks third all-time in NCAA Division I women’s lacrosse history and second among active DI head coaches for career wins. She also became just the sixth head coach across all three divisions to ever reach the 400 threshold.

Less than two weeks later on March 16, 2023, Levy met another milestone: her 100th Atlantic Coast Conference victory. She became the first women’s lacrosse coach in ACC history to reach the century mark. As of that day, no other coach in league history had more than 67 conference wins.

Levy guided the Tar Heels to its first NCAA title in program history in 2013. The team beat defending national champion Northwestern, 11-4, in the semifinals before downing top-ranked Maryland, 13-12, in three overtimes in one of the most exhilarating games in the sport’s history.

Carolina was crowned national champion again in 2016, winning its second ACC title in school history which sparked a streak of six straight that would last through 2022. UNC held off Penn State, 12-11, in the semifinals before again knocking off Maryland, 13-7, in the final. It was the Terrapins’ largest margin of defeat in nine years.

North Carolina posted a storybook season in 2022 under Levy’s leadership. The Tar Heels set a program record 22 wins for its first-ever undefeated season, winning its sixth-straight ACC title and third NCAA title. After a thrilling 15-14 comeback win over Northwestern in the semifinals, top-seeded UNC held off Boston College, 12-11 for the crown.

UNC produced the NCAA Tournament MVP in each of its three national championship victories: Kara Cannizzaro in 2013, Aly Messinger in 2016 and Sam Geiersbach in 2022. Levy was named IWLCA National Coach of the Year following all three national titles.

In addition to their success on the national stage, Levy and the Tar Heels have also solidified themselves as an ACC powerhouse. The team has reached the ACC championship game 16 times overall – including 12 of the past 13 – and has won seven titles. Levy’s seven is most by a head coach in league history.

UNC’s six titles in a row from 2016-22 (no tournament in 2020 due to COVID-19) is tied for the longest streak in ACC history. The Tar Heels have won 20 straight ACC Tournament games from 2016-2023, the longest streak in the event’s history.

Prior to arriving in Chapel Hill, Levy served as an assistant lacrosse and assistant field hockey coach at Georgetown University from 1993-95.

U.S. National Team Career

Levy was appointed head coach of the United States National Team on November 9, 2017. A former USA Lacrosse Board of Directors member, she oversaw the efforts of the U.S. team toward the 2022 World Lacrosse Women's World Championship.

She guided the U.S. to the gold medal at the 2022 World Championships from June 29-July 9 in Towson, Maryland. It was the fourth-consecutive time, and first on home soil, Team USA had been crowned world champion, and the first time a host country had ever captured gold.

Levy’s U.S. squad finished the tournament undefeated at 8-0 while an 11-8 victory over Canada sealed the gold medal. Four of her players were named to the All-World Team, including former Tar Heel standout Marie McCool (‘18).

Including McCool, six Carolina players were on Team USA’s 18-person roster, the most of any school in the nation: Molly Hendrick ('17), Ally Mastroianni (‘21), Emily Garrity Parros (‘13), Emma Trenchard (‘22) and Caylee Waters (‘17).

Four former Tar Heels in Kristen Carr (‘10), Marie McCool (‘18) Jen Russell (‘10) , Laura Zimmerman (‘12) also won gold medals for the U.S. at the 2017 World Cup in Guildford, England.

As a player, Levy (then known as Jenny Slingluff) was a member of the U.S. National Team in 1991. She was part of the USA Developmental Team from 1994-95, winning gold at the World Cup in 1995.

Collegiate Career

Levy (née Slingluff) graduated from the University of Virginia in 1992 with a bachelor’s degree in rhetoric and communications. She was a standout attacker for the Cavaliers from 1988-1992.

She led UVA to the 1991 NCAA championship, the program’s first national title. She was the leading scorer during the 1991 NCAA Tournament with eight goals, two assists and 10 points, including five goals in the semifinals and three in the title game. She was named the Most Outstanding Attacker and was tabbed to the All-Tournament Team.

A two-time First Team All-America selection, she was named the IWLCA Player of the Year and Offensive Player of the Year in 1992. She earned IWLCA All-South Region First Team honors three times and was team captain as a senior.

In 2002, she was named one of the top 50 players in ACC women’s lacrosse history. She was also inducted into the Charlottesville Hall of Fame in 2017.

Personal

She married Dan Levy of Baltimore, Maryland, in June 1998. Dan, who graduated from UNC in 1993, played lacrosse for the Tar Heels from 1990-93. An attackman, he starred on the 1991 NCAA championship team and was named the ACC Tournament MVP as a senior.

The couple has three children: Ryan (born January 2002), Alec (both September 2003) and Kathryn "Kate" (born July 2006). Ryan will be a junior on the UNC men’s lacrosse team, while Alec will be a freshman on the team in Fall 2023.

Levy was formally inducted in the USA Lacrosse National Hall of Fame in 2021, with the ceremony being held in 2022. She was also honored at the USA Lacrosse Foundation Gala in June 2023.

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Phil Barnes

One of the nation’s most experienced assistant coaches and a keen-eyed recruiter, Phil Barnes has been a key part of Carolina’s women’s lacrosse success since 2004. In 2012 and 2022, the IWLCA named Barnes its assistant coach of the year.

On the field, Barnes works with the Tar Heel defense and goalkeepers, while also heading up the program’s recruiting efforts.

Barnes’ defensive tutelage has paid off for the Tar Heels. In 2009, Logan Ripley earned National Goalkeeper of the Year honors and Amber Falcone was named the National Defender of the Year. Jen Russell was named National Defender of the Year in 2010. Caylee Waters was the 2015 National Goalie of the Year, and Waters shared National Goalie of the Year honors with teammate Megan Ward in 2016. Taylor Moreno was tabbed National Goalkeeper of the Year in 2021, with Emma Trenchard being named National Defender of the Year in 2022.

Two of the gold-medal-winning 2017 U.S. National Team’s defenders were former Tar Heel defenders: Kristen Carr (‘10) and Jen Russell (‘10). Trenchard ('22) won gold under head coach Jenny Levy's U.S. squad at the 2022 World Championships.

Barnes is a former head coach at Holy Cross and the University of Massachusetts who also has coached prep lacrosse.

He was the head coach at UMass for three seasons (2000-02), capturing the Atlantic 10 regular-season and tournament championships and leading the nation in scoring defense in 2000.

Barnes was an assistant coach at UMass during the 1998 and ’99 seasons prior to taking over as head coach. He was also the head coach at the College of the Holy Cross during the 1996 and 1997 seasons, earning Patriot League Coach-of-the-Year honors in ‘96.

Barnes earned a B.A. in history from Assumption College in 1998. He is a native of Milford, N.H.

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Joe Breschi

Joe Breschi's coaching philosophy is summed up in three words....

FAMILY • ACADEMICS • LACROSSE

Breschi has installed his philosophy at every level of the program and its outreach to alumni, student-athletes, their families, and the Chapel Hill community. Carolina men's lacrosse is achieving at the highest levels on the field, in the classroom, and in the community. The credit for that goes to Breschi, one of the sharpest minds in collegiate coaching circles.

Breschi enters his 16th season as the head coach of Carolina's men's lacrosse program in 2023-24

Following the 2016 and 2017 campaigns, the words "big winner" were added to the resume. Breschi always had successful programs at Ohio State and UNC, but on Memorial Day weekend 2016, he took the Tar Heel program to heights it had not achieved since 1991 – the NCAA championship.

Breschi, a 1990 Carolina alumnus and former assistant coach for the Tar Heels, became the 12th head lacrosse coach in Carolina history on June 18, 2008. Breschi came to Chapel Hill from Ohio State, where he had served as the head coach for the previous 11 seasons. Young men pursuing college lacrosse careers and college degrees want to play for a man with the character of Breschi. A solid recruiter, excellent tactician, and tremendous communicator, Breschi and his staff know they have put the Tar Heel program on sound footing talent-wise. The Tar Heel players have also achieved at high levels in the classroom being community service leaders.

Carolina has advanced to the NCAA Tournament in 10 seasons since he became head coach.

Following an abbreviated 2020 season (7-0) due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Tar Heels finished the 2021 season with a 13-3 record and a share of the ACC conference title. UNC last shared the regular-season title in 2016. The Tar Heels earned the top overall seed in the NCAA Tournament and stormed their way through the tournament before falling to eventual National Champion Virginia in the Final Four 12-11. It was the 14th time that UNC played in the NCAA semifinals.

The 2017 season saw North Carolina finish their title defense from a year prior at 8-8. The fourth seeded Tar Heels defeated Syracuse and Notre Dame to claim the ACC Tournament Championship and advance to the NCAA Tournament.

In 2016, the Tar Heels went into the NCAA Tournament unseeded. With an 8-6 regular-season record, UNC beat four top seven national tournament seeds, culminating with a 14-13 win over #1 Maryland in overtime in the title game. Carolina not only reached the Final Four for the first time since 1993, it won the national title for the first time since 1991. It did all this without a single player being named first-team All-America, another historic first for an NCAA champion. Six Tar Heels were named All-ACC Academic, and 24 players made the ACC Academic Honor Roll. UNC's team GPA in the spring semester was the highest in program history. In December 2016, Breschi was acknowledged for all those accolades by being named the U.S. Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association National Coach of the Year, the first Tar Heel coach to win the award since Dave Klarmann in 1991. His chief assistant David Metzbower was the USILA's national assistant coach of the year.

The 2015 team won 13 games, the seventh straight year UNC reached double digits in wins. Twenty Tar Heels were named to the ACC Academic Honor Roll. It was a record-setting campaign for the Tar Heels, who went 13-4, finished second in the ACC, and reached the NCAA quarterfinals. Eight Tar Heels were named All-Americas, the most since the 1982 team. Offensively, the Tar Heels rewrote the Tar Heel record book, led by players like Joey Sankey, Jimmy Bitter, Chad Tutton, and Luke Goldstock, who repeatedly required record book updating with their feats.

The 2013 Tar Heels won the ACC regular-season championship, just as the 2016 team did, and also won the ACC tournament championship, the latter for the first time since 1996. Finishing at 13-4, UNC reached the NCAA quarterfinals and was ranked #1 in the USILA final regular-season coaches poll for the first time since 1993. Eighteen Tar Heel lacrosse players were named to the ACC Academic Honor Roll, eight to the All-ACC Academic Team for men's lacrosse for the second time in Breschi's tenure, and the Tar Heel program was one of three sports on campus to win an ACC Top Six For Service award from the conference. Senior attackman Marcus Holman was UNC's first Tewaaraton Trophy finalist since 2004, and Breschi notched his second ACC Coach of the Year honor since his arrival in Chapel Hill.

In 2012, Carolina advanced to the ACC Tournament championship game for only the second time since 1996. The second half of the season was a strong one for the Tar Heels, and Carolina featured one of the most improved offenses in the nation. Eighteen UNC players were named to the ACC Academic Honor Roll. In 2011, Carolina had the ACC Freshman of the Year for the second straight season while six UNC players were named All-America, and three were tapped for All-ACC accolades. Fifteen Tar Heels were named to the ACC Academic Honor Roll, and Carolina placed a school-record eight players on the All-ACC Academic Team.

In 2010, Breschi led the Tar Heels to a 13-win season, matching the fourth-most wins in a season in school history and recording the most wins since 1993. Carolina grabbed a share of the ACC regular-season title for the first time since 2003. Carolina opened the season with 10 straight wins, its longest winning streak since 1991. Breschi guided his team to the national lead in extra-man offense, and he saw attackmen Billy Bitter and Marcus Holman be named the ACC Player of the Year and the ACC Freshman of the Year, the first time in 14 and 12 years, respectively, that UNC won those awards. Carolina's final poll ranking of No. 4 was its best since the 1996 campaign. Breschi was deservedly named the ACC Coach of the Year for his efforts.

In his first year at Carolina in 2009, he led the Tar Heels to a 12-6 overall record and a spot in the NCAA quarterfinals. The Tar Heels won their first game in the ACC Tournament in 13 years, and they fell just one goal shy of reaching their first Final Four in 16 years. Breschi was the first UNC coach in history to have double-digit win seasons in his first eight years as head coach before that streak was broken in 2017 when Carolina finished 8-8.

Breschi was an assistant coach at UNC and Brown University for seven seasons before his stint in Columbus with the Buckeyes. He has completed 29 seasons of collegiate coaching experience overall, entering the 2020 campaign. In 2018, he earned his 200th overall collegiate coaching victory. Breschi has accomplished much in his life for a man a mere 51 years old.

A native of Baltimore and a 1986 alumnus of Loyola-Blakefield School, Breschi compiled a 92-63 record in his 11 years at OSU along with a 34-18 regular-season Great Western Lacrosse League mark. The Buckeyes shared GWLL regular-season titles in 1999, 2003, and 2008 and won the conference championship outright in 2004. The Buckeyes had seven winning seasons in Breschi's last eight years and made NCAA Tournament appearances in 2003, 2004, and 2008. Taking over a non-scholarship program in 1997, Breschi built the OSU program to prominence from scratch. Along the way, OSU had three double-figure winning seasons, going 10-3 in 1999, 12-4 in 2004, and 11-6 in 2008, when the program had the most significant wins in its history.

Immediately before moving to Chapel Hill, in Breschi's 11th season at OSU, the Buckeyes enjoyed their most successful campaign in history. Ohio State won its first NCAA Tournament game by defeating No. 8-seeded Cornell 15-7 in the NCAA first round on the Big Red's home field. The Buckeyes shared the GWLL regular-season title and reached the finals of the GWLL Tournament.

Four Buckeyes were named All-Americas in 2008, including second-team attackman Kevin Buchanan, who was also the fifth pick in the 2008 Major League Lacrosse draft. Four Buckeyes were GWLL first-team selections in 2008, and another four were second-team choices. He coached Ohio State players to 128 academic All-Big Ten honors and 217 Ohio State Scholar-Athlete awards in his 11 seasons at Columbus. Breschi was a three-time GWLL coach of the year selection in 1999, 2003, and 2004.

In his first nine seasons at Carolina, he has had players earn 54 All-America citations and 31 All-ACC awards. Attackman Billy Bitter was named a first-team All-America in 2009, Carolina's first choice since 2005, and he repeated as a first-team All-America in 2010. Ryan Flanagan earned first-team All-America accolades as well in 2010. He also was named the co-winner of the Schmeisser Memorial Cup from the USILA as the nation's top defenseman. It was UNC's first major USILA award winner in 14 years and its first Schmeisser Cup recipient in 19 seasons. In 2012, R.G. Keenan was the first Tar Heel midfielder to be named a first-team All-America since Jude Collins and Jason Wade in 1996. In 2013, Marcus Holman was a first-team All-America, the ACC Offensive Player of the Year, and a Tewaaraton Trophy finalist.

Breschi was one of the finest lacrosse players in the history of the ACC while playing for UNC from 1987-90. He was an All-ACC selection in 1989 and 1990 and was selected to play in the prestigious USILA North-South All-Star game in 1990. He was a first-team All-America pick on defense in 1990 and an honorable mention All-America in 1989. He was elected the sole team captain in 1990. Carolina has elected a single captain only three times since 1981, including Breschi's senior year.

After leading the Tar Heels his senior season to the NCAA semifinals and an ACC title, Breschi was selected as UNC's nominee for the 1990 Anthony J. McKevlin Award, given annually to the outstanding male athlete in the ACC. In 2002, Breschi was named to the prestigious ACC 50th Anniversary Men's Lacrosse Team, honoring the Top 50 players in league history. He was a member of U.S. National Teams that played in the World Lacrosse Games in 1994 and 1998. Breschi earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in communications from Carolina in 1990. He was a member of two U.S. National Teams (1994 and 1998).

After graduating from Carolina in 1990, Breschi coached at his alma mater for two seasons before going to Brown as an assistant coach from 1993-97. Breschi was an assistant at UNC for Dave Klarmann in 1991 and 1992 and was part of a staff that captured ACC titles both of those seasons and UNC's fourth NCAA title in 1991. UNC compiled a 28-3 record during Breschi's assistant coaching stint.

Success at North Carolina came as a coach for Breschi and as a player. Breschi and his wife Julie have five children, the late Michael Breschi, and four amazing daughters, Sam, 18, Abby, 16, Lucy, 14, and Emily, 13.

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David Metzbower

A veteran coach with more than a quarter century of experience on collegiate sidelines, David Metzbower was named in July 2014 as the offensive coordinator for the men’s lacrosse program at UNC. He was promoted to associate head coach in 2017.

Within two years, the hiring of Metzbower proved extremely profitable to the Tar Heels’ sucess on the field as a dynamic offense led Carolina on a post-season run that resulted in UNC’s first NCAA championship since 1991 during the 2016 campaign. UNC followed that up by winning the ACC Tournament championship in 2017, just its second league title since 1996.

In beating four seeded opponents in the 2016 NCAA Tournament, Carolina scored in double digits in all four games including 13 goals against Notre Dame in the NCAA quarterfinals, 18 goals against Loyola in the NCAA semifinals and 14 goals against top-ranked Maryland in the NCAA championship game. The Tar Heels scored 31 goals in the 2017 ACC Tournament’s two games against the top two teams in the nation in the NCAA RPI. All three starting attackmen were named to the All-ACC Tournament Team and Chris Cloutier was tapped as league tourney MVP. Cloutier finished his stellar career in 2018 as one of Carolina’s all-time leading scorers and went on to be named the Major League Lacrosse Rookie of the Year for the Denver Outlaws.

In the fall of 2016, Metzbower was tapped as the NCAA Division I assistant coach of the year as named by the U.S. Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association. In 2016, UNC finished sixth in the nation in goals per game at 13.06 and the Tar Heels were fifth in man-up offense at .500. All three Tar Heel attackmen - Luke Goldstock, Steve Pontrello and Chris Cloutier - were named to the 2016 NCAA All-Tournament Team with Cloutier being tapped as the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player.

In his first season as offensive coordinator, the Tar Heels averaged 14.35 goals per game in 2015 in reaching the NCAA quarterfinals, the team’s best scoring average since 1996 with players like Joey Sankey, Jimmy Bitter, Chad Tutton and Luke Goldstock rewriting large portions of the Tar Heel record book. All four of those players earned All-America honors in 2015 including Tutton on the first team.

Metzbower joined the Carolina staff from Loyola University (Maryland) where he had served as an assistant coach and the Greyhounds’ offensive coordinator since November 2012. In his two years on the staff at Loyola, the Greyhounds earned back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances and won the Patriot League regular-season and tournament championships in 2014. The Greyhounds went 26-7 in Metzbower’s two years as an assistant coach to veteran Loyola mentor Charley Toomey.

Beginning in 1990, Metzbower spent 20 years as an assistant coach, offensive coordinator and goalkeeper coach at Princeton University, the final seven seasons as the Tigers’ associate head coach. Metzbower helped the Tigers win six NCAA Championships and 230 games during his tenure in New Jersey.

Originally from the Baltimore area and an alumnus of Loyola Blakefield High School which is also Coach Breschi’s alma mater, Metzbower graduated from the University of Delaware in 1986 after a standout career as an attackman.

After graduating from Delaware, Metzbower joined the Blue Hens’ coaching staff and spent 1987-1989 on the sidelines in Newark.

In 1990, Metzbower joined the Princeton staff as the top assistant to new Tigers’ head coach Bill Tierney and helped create dynamic offenses that averaged 181.6 goals per year over a 20-season span.

Metzbower helped the Tigers win six NCAA championships, reach the NCAA semifinals 10 times and advance to the NCAA quarterfinals on 16 occasions. During Metzbower’s tenure, the Tigers won 14 Ivy League titles while achieving a cumulative 230-65 record.

He helped develop the top five goal scorers in Princeton history and the top four in career points. His players included 22 All-Ivy League attackmen, seven Ivy League Players of the Year, 27 first-team All-Americas and 74 All-Ivy League first-team selections. Under Metzbower, Kevin Lowe (1994) and John Hess (1997) won the Lt. Col. J.L. Turnbull Award as the most outstanding attackman in Division I, and Josh Sims twice won the Lt. Donald McLaughlin Award as the top midfielder in NCAA Division I (1998 and 2000).

As Princeton’s goalkeeper coach, he directed three players - Scott Bacigalupo (1992-1994), Trevor Tierney (2001) and Alex Hewitt (2006) - who won the Ensign C. Markland Kelly Award as the top NCAA Division I goalkeeper a combined five times.

Metzbower left the Princeton program in June 2009 as associate head coach after turning down an offer to be the Tigers’ head coach and served as an assistant coach at the Haverford School in 2010. He then served as head coach at Malvern Preparatory School in suburban Philadelphia for two years before moving to Loyola University in 2012.

He was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame in 2009. That same year, he was tapped as the IMLCA Assistant Coach of the Year.

Metzbower and his wife, Mimi, have two children, a daughter, Jordan, a student at the University of Denver, and a son, Derek, a student at East Chapel Hill High School, and a lacrosse attackman in his own right.