So Close in '09, UNC Women Ready for 2010

from press release

CHAPEL HILL - University of North Carolina women's lacrosse coach Jenny Levy released her squad's 2010 schedule on Monday, and the slate once again is among the nation's most challenging.  
 
The schedule features seven opponents who earned bids to the 2009 NCAA Tournament, including five-time defending national champion Northwestern, Georgetown, Penn, Vanderbilt and Atlantic Coast Conference rivals Duke, Maryland and Virginia.  
 
"We are excited again for a very competitive schedule, Levy says.  "We open the season with Denver and Vanderbilt at home, and I think both of those games will be good measuring sticks for us right away. The ACC is always challenging, but it is nice to have three conference home games and just two on the road.
 
"There are no easy games on our schedule and we will take each game as it comes," Levy continues. "Last year our schedule was rated the toughest in the country, and I think this schedule will be right there among the top two or three toughest."
 
In ACC play, the Tar Heels will host Virginia Tech, Maryland and Duke and will play road games at Virginia and Boston College.
 
Non-conference home games include matchups with Denver, Vanderbilt, Oregon, Florida and Penn. Florida is in its first year as a varsity program and features assistant coach Erica LaGrow, a 2008 UNC graduate and former Tar Heel All-America.  
 
Non-conference road games on the 2010 schedule include contests at Richmond, Georgetown, Old Dominion and Northwestern.  The Tar Heels will play Cornell in a neutral site game on May 8 in Alexandria, Va.
 
Carolina went 16-5 last season and reached the NCAA Final Four for the fourth time in program history.  The Tar Heels advanced to the NCAA Tournament championship game for the first time in school annals before losing to Northwestern.
 
"We're excited about how we played last year but right now we are in the midst of fall practice and are really focusing on getting better and making improvements every day in practice," Levy says. "Last year was great for all of our returning players in the sense that they went through a process and a journey and they know how hard they have to work and what type of focus it will take to be a top competitor during the season, at ACCs and in NCAAs.  We did a lot of great things last year but at the same time there are plenty of things we need to do better and could have done better. We have started working on all of that already."