LI's Olivia Vergano helps North Carolina women's lacrosse win national title, cap undefeated season
Eliza Osburn celebrates with Kate Levy and other North Carolina teammates after Osburn’s goal during the NCAA Division I women’s lacrosse championship against Northwestern at Gillette Stadium on Sunday. Credit: Jaime Campos
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Olivia Vergano said she “kind of” remembered her first day as a Tar Heel. It was late last summer when she showed up on campus as a transfer for her senior year and stepped on the practice field with her new team. She did recall being nervous walking into a new environment after three seasons at Virginia Tech.
Her last day? It started with similar jitters, she said, but it ended up being a little more cherished.
Vergano helped North Carolina win the 2025 NCAA Division I women’s lacrosse championship at Gillette Stadium on Sunday with two goals and an assist in a 12-8 victory over Northwestern. Her two timely goals in the second half helped the team cruise to a fourth national title and cap an undefeated season at 22-0.
“I’d never been in this position before,” the West Babylon product said of her pregame angst. “It was unique. But the girls around me and the culture our leaders have set enabled me to just be free, play my game, have an open mind, and not feel the weight of a national championship on my back. We just played us. We got our butterflies flying in the right direction.”
Many teams like to refer to themselves as a family. For this North Carolina squad, it’s a literal designation. The team has three sisters all playing key roles – graduate students Nicole and Ashley Humphrey and redshirt freshman Chloe Humphrey – while coach Jenny Levy and freshman midfielder Kate Levy became the first mother-daughter combo to win a championship in the sport. Levy scored a goal Sunday, Chloe Humphrey scored four, and Ashley Humphrey had four assists… one of them to Chloe as they connected for the 30th time this season.
Those bonds are tight, but not specific just to them.
“That connection is so deep, but I think on this whole team I have 38 sisters,” Ashley Humphrey said. “We may not have DNA in common but everyone on this team is a family. This is blood too.”
Vergano is now part of that forever clan.
“They’ve done a phenomenal job setting the culture, allowing me to slide right into my own place, be vulnerable, and express my own feelings while feeling comfortable with them,” she said. “Everything goes back to the leaders of this team. They’ve done such a good job of being open to everyone.”
No. 3 Northwestern (19-3) opened the scoring on a goal by Abby LoCascio (St. Anthony’s/Lindenhurst) but North Carolina scored the next five. Northwestern goalie Delaney Sweitzer made a program-record 17 saves to keep the Wildcats close but every time Northwestern seemed to grab some shred of momentum, North Carolina clamped down and refused to let it breathe.
One of those times came in the fourth quarter when North Carolina ripped off three goals in 46 seconds, the third of them from Vergano in a player-up situation in which she ripped the ball into the upper right corner for a 10-4 lead with 7:45 remaining.
The Tar Heels also did something no other team had been able to do since 2023: Stop Madison Taylor.
The junior from Wantagh came into the game with an NCAA-record 109 goals on the season but was held scoreless for the first time in 46 games going back to her freshman season. Taylor did have four assists, but she also committed six turnovers and was stopped on two free position shots.
“[Our defense] came out and absolutely terrorized Northwestern,” said North Carolina goalie Betty Nelson (8 saves). “It made it really easy for me to do my job.”
After the game was over and the clock hit zeros, Vergano said she “blacked out.” She did know that she threw her equipment into the air, found Kate Levy for a hug (they play the same position), and joined the celebratory pile in front of the goal.
Then she headed for the stands where she found her parents, siblings, and the friends who had come up from Long Island to cheer her on. After spending her entire career in the ACC at Virginia Tech and North Carolina, this weekend, she said, was the closest to home she had ever played as a collegian.
It turned out to be a day for both of her families to remember.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
