The Stony Brook women's lacrosse team challenged the nation's top team in the season opener on Sunday. Despite a spirited effort that included hat tricks from Ally Kennedy and Siobhan Rafferty, the program remains in search of its first victory against a No. 1-ranked opponent. UNC topped sixth-ranked Stony Brook, 14-7. The game only came together in recent days, after both teams lost their previously scheduled openers. Stony Brook coach Joe Spallina and UNC counterpart Jenny Levy are longtime friends and both members of the Team USA coaching staff. Kennedy, the preseason national player of the year, had two early goals — including the opening score 2:24 into the game — to help stake the Seawolves to a 3-2 lead. UNC then rattled off four straight goals before Siobhan Rafferty responded with a man-up goal to cut Stony Brook's deficit to 6-4. However, UNC produced three more goals to take a five-goal advantage into halftime. Yet Stony Brook came back firing after the break, getting consecutive goals from Rafferty, Kennedy and then Rafferty again to pull within 9-7, prompting a timeout from Levy with 23:29 remaining. The Seawolves were silenced the rest of the way. "Carolina is a great team and are No. 1 for a reason," coach Joe Spallina said. "They are a team that makes you pay for your mistakes. We showed some great signs and we also did things that resembles us not playing a game in a year. What better way to start your season than against the best team in the country and now have a full season to get better and strive for what this team has set out for? We went on a great second-half run to get the game to two and missed a few opportunities from that point that were big. Overall, it was just great to compete again with our players." Rafferty, a 50-goal scorer in 2019, was making her return to the lineup after missing last season while rehabbing from an ACL tear. Kennedy's trio of goals gave her 196 for her career, pulling with one of matching Dorrien Van Dyke's total from 2014 through 2017 for third on the program's all-time list. USC graduate transfer Kaeli Huff tallied one goal in her Stony Brook debut. Stony Brook previously had faced No. 1 Maryland three times in program history. The Seawolves return to action when they face another ACC member, third-ranked Syracuse, in the Carrier Dome on Feb. 27.