While Charlotte North and Courtney Taylor’s collegiate lacrosse careers ended following Boston College’s 12–11 loss to North Carolina in the National Championship on Sunday, their professional careers are only getting started.
North, a two-time Tewaaraton Award winner, was selected as the first pick in the 2022 Athletes Unlimited professional lacrosse league draft on Tuesday. The draft consists of 15 picks. Four players from North Carolina earned the next four spots behind North. Teammate Taylor, who transferred to BC from Temple ahead of the 2022 season, was chosen with the seventh pick in the draft.
North and Taylor will have the option of making their debut on July 21 at the USA Lacrosse headquarters in Maryland if they decide to join the league.
But North and Taylor weren’t selected to any particular team in the league. Athletes Unlimited Lacrosse runs on a player-driven format. Players earn points based on individual and team performance, and at the end of each week, the four players with the most points become captains and draft entirely new teams for the upcoming week of games.
The league utilizes a fast-paced game format, consisting of eight-minute quarters, 10-versus-10 gameplay with a 60-second shot clock on a 90-by-60-yard field. For comparison, Division I collegiate women’s lacrosse is played with 15-minute quarters, 12-versus-12 gameplay, and a 90-second shot clock on a 120-by-70-yard field.
This is only the second season of the Athletes Unlimited Lacrosse league. Last year, North Carolina’s Katie Hoeg, a standout of the Tar Heels, was selected first overall.
In the last five years, two other professional women’s lacrosse leagues—Women’s Professional Lacrosse League and the United Women’s Lacrosse League—have gone under, leaving Athletes Unlimited as the only professional women’s lacrosse league.
Whether or not North decides to join Athletes Unlimited, she will be playing as a member of Team USA this summer in the World Lacrosse Women’s World Championship, which is set to take place from June 22 to July 9 in Towson, Md.
Two former BC lacrosse players—2019 graduates Sam Apuzzo and Dempsey Arsenault—will join North on Team USA. There are currently 12 players on Team USA’s roster confirmed to play in Athletes Unlimited Lacrosse league’s upcoming season.
North was also named the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association Player of the Year and Attacker of the Year for the second season in a row on Wednesday after finishing her collegiate career with an NCAA-record 358 career goals.
