North, Mastroianni, Trenchard sign for 2022 Lacrosse season

June 28, 2022, New York, N.Y. – Charlotte North – the most accomplished and highly decorated lacrosse player in NCAA history – has signed with Athletes Unlimited, and will begin her professional career on July 21 with the start of the second season of Athletes Unlimited Lacrosse. Athletes Unlimited also signed North Carolina standouts and 2022 National Champions Ally Mastroianni and Emma Trenchard, who along with North will compete this week for Team USA at World Lacrosse Women’s Championship. 

Season two of Athletes Unlimited Lacrosse will run from July 21-August 14, with all games taking place at USA Lacrosse Headquarters in Baltimore. Tickets can be purchased at here, and all games will be broadcast live exclusively on ESPN platforms (full schedule below). 

North, the NCAA’s all-time leader with 358 career goals and a former Boston College standout, was the top pick in the 2022 Athletes Unlimited Lacrosse College Draft after putting the finishing touches on a historic career by leading the Eagles to their fifth consecutive appearance in the national championship game. The reigning Tewaaraton Award recipient, who began her college career with two seasons at Duke, finished her three-year stint in Boston with 217 goals and 47 assists in 51 games while earning First-Team IWLCA All-America honors twice. North was also the 2021 IWLCA Attacker of the Year and claimed the Honda Sport Award for Lacrosse. 

Mastroianni, the two-time reigning Atlantic Coast Conference Midfielder of the Year, tallied 117 goals with 23 assists over her 89-game career with the Tar Heels. She was a consensus First-Team All-America recipient in each of the last two seasons. A member of Team USA, the Martinsville, N.J., product set career highs with 48 goals, 57 points and 136 draw controls during her final season with the national champion Tar Heels.

A starter in all 88 games of her college career, Trenchard earned her second Atlantic Coast Conference Defender of the Year award after leading the Tar Heels to the NCAA title. The four-time First-Team Inside Lacrosse All-America pick also claimed a spot on the IWLCA’s All-America First Team three times and tallied 104 ground balls with 61 caused turnovers during her career. 

“I am thrilled to be playing alongside some of the best players in the world as part of Athletes Unlimited lacrosse with national coverage on ESPN this summer,” said Charlotte North.  “Playing for Boston College was an incredible experience for me and now I look forward to taking my game to the next level as part of the US National Team at the upcoming Women’s World Championship and starting my career as a professional lacrosse player with AU.” 

“Season two of Athletes Unlimited Lacrosse will set the benchmark for exciting and explosive women’s lacrosse this summer. Sixteen draftees, featuring two-time Tewaaraton Award winner Charlotte North, will join the world’s best players this summer at USA Lacrosse Headquarters,” said Abi Jackson, Director of Sport for Lacrosse, Athletes Unlimited. “We cannot be more excited for what’s in store for our fans and the lacrosse world in general this summer.”

In addition to North, 42 athletes have signed on to compete during the upcoming campaign, including 12 players who will participate at the World Lacrosse Women’s Championship in Towson, Md., from June 29-July 9. Representing Team USA will be Sam Apuzzo, Dempsey Arsenault, Becca Block, Lizzie Colson, Meg Douty, Ally Kennedy, Marie McCool, Kylie Ohlmiller and Caylee Waters. Brittany Read (English National Team), Lindsay McKone and Sammy Jo Tracy (Israeli National Team) will also compete. 

Like its other leagues, Athletes Unlimited Lacrosse features a range of scoring innovations to bring athletes and fans a unique and intense version of the sport. Individual athletes earn points based on both team wins and individual performance and become the champions in team sports. Points are earned on every play and the leaderboard will change constantly. In addition, teams change each week, with the top four athletes in the standings serving as captains and drafting their teams. At the end of the five-week season, the player with the most points is crowned as individual champion. Waters (#2), Apuzzo (#3) and Read (#5) were among the top five finishers in the 2021 Athletes Unlimited Lacrosse season. 

In addition to game coverage, ESPN and Athletes Unlimited are collaborating to create Going Pro: Athletes Unlimited Lacrosse. This four-part series will debut on June 27 on ESPN+, the industry-leading sports streaming service, and follows four Athletes Unlimited Lacrosse rookies from the inaugural season as they competed as professionals for the first time, experiencing challenges and lessons learned during their rookie season. The upcoming series focuses on Britt Brown, Mira Shane, Ella Simkins and Izzy McMahon. The episodes chronicle how lacrosse has shaped their lives, performances on the field week-to-week, leadership and team-building challenges faced, and their efforts to diversify lacrosse and bring the sport to new audiences.