Elizabeth Hillman – Women’s Lacrosse
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2023 Women’s Lacrosse Roster
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Biography
R-SENIOR (2023) – Saw action in 13 games, earning a starting role in four … Notched a goal and an assist for two points vs. #12 Virginia on March 11 … Finished the year with seven draw controls, two ground balls and two caused turnovers … Had two draw controls and one caused turnover at Duke on April 20.
R-JUNIOR (2022) – Played and started in 17 games … Finished the season with 10 goals, four assists, 14 points, seven ground balls, nine caused turnovers and 32 draw controls … Set career-highs for goals, assists, points and draw controls, the latter which ranked fourth on UNC’s roster … First career hat trick was at Florida on Feb. 19 where she also had a career-high five draw controls … Notched two goals at Boston College on March 20 … Scored a goal vs. Stony Brook on May 19 in the NCAA Quarterfinal … Had two ground balls, four caused turnovers and two draw controls vs. Northwestern in the Final Four on May 27.
R-SOPHOMORE (2021) — Returned to the field after missing the 2020 season due to injury and immediately became a huge part of the Tar Heel midfield once again .. . Started the first 11 games of the year and appeared in 17 … Missed four games at midseason due to injury … Finished the year with seven goals and four assists for 11 points … Had a season-high two ground balls on three occasions and a season-high four draw controls twice … At her best in the regular season win over Syracuse, finishing with a goal, an assist, two ground balls, three draw controls and two caused turnovers … Also played great against the Orange in the ACC Tournament final, finishing with a goal, an assist and two ground balls … Tied her career high and set a season high by scoring two goals at Virginia Tech … Finished third among Tar Heels with 31 draw controls on the season.
SOPHOMORE (2020) — Redshirted the 2020 season.
FRESHMAN (2019) – Scored twice in the NCAA quarterfinal win over Virginia … Tallied an assist in the NCAA semifinal vs. Boston College … A key cog in the Tar Heel midfield as a freshman … Won a gold medal with the U19 U.S. Women’s National Team at the 2019 World Lacrosse Women’s U19 World Championship that competed in August alongside classmate Brooklyn Neumen.
HIGH SCHOOL – Played four years of lacrosse, four of basketball and two of soccer at Bel Air High School … Ranked the No. 1 overall incoming freshman and the top incoming midfielder in the nation for the 2019 season by Inside Lacrosse … Under Armour All-America pick in lacrosse for Coach Kristen Barry at Bel Air … 2017 3A-4A Maryland state champion … Four-time first-team all-county selection … Two-time first-team all-state and two-time second-team all-state honoree … Two-year team captain … Also a first-team all-state pick and three-year captain in basketball and a second-team all-state pick in soccer.
PERSONAL – Elizabeth Kate Hillman is the daughter of Rod Hillman … Birthday is December 13 … Born in Baltimore, Md. … Majoring in media and journalism with a focus on advertising and public relations with a minor in conflict management.
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Historical Player Information
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Elizabeth Hillman’s Return is Another Weapon for Carolina
When we last saw North Carolina on a lacrosse field, the Tar Heels were coming off a 20-goal explosion against Northwestern, unbeaten at 7-0, ranked No. 1 in the country and getting ready for a showdown against undefeated Notre Dame.
Then, the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the NCAA season.
But North Carolina has been anything but shut down in recent months. First, the Tar Heels learned that star Katie Hoeg, who broke the school’s all-time scoring record during the win over Northwestern, would be coming back for another year after the NCAA awarded all 2020 spring sport athletes an additional season of eligibility.
She rejoins four rising seniors who joined her on the final Tewaaraton Watch List for 2020 — emerging star midfielder Scottie Rose Growney, All-American goalie Taylor Moreno, All-American 100-point scorer Jamie Ortega and All-American and U.S. national team defender Emma Trenchard.
More recently, head coach Jenny Levy announced that a pair of All-Americans, Dartmouth’s Katie Bourque and USC’s Kerrigan Miller, both on the final Tewaaraton Watch List as well, would be transferring to Chapel Hill.
The talent doesn’t stop there. Headlining North Carolina’s incoming freshman class is one of the most heralded recruits in years, attacker Caitlyn Wurzburger. Wurzburger, the leading scorer on the 2019 U.S. U19 team, set the all-time national high school scoring record before her shortened senior year even began, ultimately finishing with a basketball-like total of 1,027 career points.
Pretty loaded, right?
But let’s not forget about another new piece of the puzzle for 2021.
“She really handled the situation with a great sense of leadership and calm. So many times in tough situations, it’s all about what’s happening to you.”
Levy and the Tar Heels are anticipating the return of Elizabeth Hillman, the nation’s No. 1 recruit from the Class of 2018, according to Inside Lacrosse, back to the lineup.
Hillman, a three-sport standout (soccer, basketball, lacrosse) at Bel Air (Md.) High School, played through an elbow injury her freshman season with the Tar Heels. Originally injured in her final high school basketball game, it progressively got worse during the 2019 college season, but she played through the pain.
The do-it-all midfielder finished her freshman year with 12 points, had a pair of goals in UNC’s NCAA quarterfinal victory over Virginia and had a decision to make at the end of the season.
Surgery right away, or wait a few months?
Hillman needed a surgery more common in baseball — Tommy John surgery — but even if she got it done right away, she would likely miss at least two months of the Tar Heels 2020 spring season. She decided to redshirt for 2020, and that made her decision to wait even easier, but there was another big reason.
Hillman had been selected to compete for the 2019 U.S. U19 team, and even with missing some of the training weekends during the lead-up to the world championship in Canada, she was named one of the team captains alongside UMass defender Ally Murphy.
She and 17 of her teammates were on the verge of realizing a dream of representing their country in the sport they love. Roughly a year after they began a tough tryout process, the moment had arrived. And then in the very last practice before the games began, the unthinkable happened.
“I was in the eight playing defense, my foot got caught and I just went down,” Hillman said. “I immediately thought the worst. I felt super unlucky to have had made it that far after everything with my elbow.”
She thought she had torn her ACL, but found out it was only a partially torn MCL with small tears in her meniscus. The only treatment was rest, something in short supply in a world championship format in which teams play seven games in a little over a week.
“We didn’t really know if she was going to be able to play,” U.S. U19 head coach Kelly Amonte Hiller said. “She just focused in, was very driven and it was pretty clear that she wanted to figure out a way to play.
“She had big goals for herself, was very patient and did everything she was supposed to do with her rehab.”
As she waited to get back on the field, she never sulked. She put the team ahead of herself.
“She really handled the situation with a great sense of leadership and calm,” Amonte Hiller said.