England’s Alice Ripper became a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) champion for the first time on Sunday after her University of North Carolina side defeated Northwestern University 12-8 to lift the 2025 NCAA Women’s Lacrosse Championship.
It’s a fourth national title in 12 years for Carolina who gave as good as they got on Sunday afternoon at the Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts in front of 14,423 spectators, a record attendance for an NCAA Women’s Lacrosse Championship match.
The Humphrey sisters, Chloe and Ashley, were the outstanding performers for the Tar Heels on the day with four goals and five assists between them.
This latest title makes Carolina the third most successful side in National Championships’ history with four but they’ll be hard pushed to catch up to 2025 runners-up Northwestern who have eight and Maryland who have a massive 14 titles to date.
Ripper, who plays in midfield for England and already has one European Championship title to her name, has represented UNC eight times since she moved to the United States last year to study for her masters after three years at Exeter University.
After winning the title, Ripper said:
“I feel so incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to be part of the UNC team this year. I have met the most amazing coaches and teammates, who I have learnt so much from both on and off the field, and winning the National Championship together was the cherry on top of a phenomenal experience.”
Ripper has now completed her studies at UNC and will return to England shortly where she’ll be preparing for the 2026 World Lacrosse Women’s Championship in Japan with the rest of the England senior team.