Charlotte North wins Unleashed Fastest Shot Competition at All-Star weekend
By Lauren Merola | Jul 13, 2024
Five Unleashed women’s professional lacrosse players – Charlotte North, Izzy Scane, Dana Dobbie, Alex Aust Holman and Emily Hawryschuk – competed alongside PLL All-Stars in skills competitions Saturday in Louisville, Ky.
North, a Boston College alumna and two-time Tewaaraton Award winner, defeated Hawryschuk, who finished her career at Syracuse as the program’s all-time leading scorer, in the Unleashed Fastest Shot Competition with an official fastest shot of 91 miles per hour. North also threw an unofficial 93-mph flame that bounced off the pipe.
Hawryschuk put up three shots of 81, 79 and 79 mph. North’s other shots hit 88 and 90 mph.
“It’s all about body control and getting it all going through your buildup, but it was fun,” North said after her victory.
“[There are] no better players in this game to showcase the skill of women’s lacrosse.”
Carolina Chaos defenseman Jarrod Neumann set the competition record last year in the men’s division, reaching a jaw-dropping 121 mph. He won again this year with his 116-mph fireball.
In the first round of the Fastest Shot Competition among the Unleashed Athletes, North started with an 87-mph shot off-target. Her next shot, hitting the net, registered a speed of 92 mph. Her next three shots were 92, 91 and 92 mph, securing her spot in the final.
“I don’t know if I can go much higher in the final, everybody out here shoots pretty hard,” North said after the first round. “Gotta work on hitting the net first.”
In the final of the Accuracy Challenge, North fell to Boston Cannons star Marcus Holman. North hit three targets in 30 seconds. Holman started slowly but hit two targets with money balls – worth two points each – to run away with the win in the final 10 seconds.
North, Aust Holman, Dobbie and Scane all took part in the Accuracy Challenge, with North topping the group in the first round with a score of four to advance and face Holman in the final.
Aust Holman hit zero targets in the preliminary round, drawing two syllables from Holman, her husband.
“Thank god," Holman said. “It took a lot of the pressure off me there. A Holman-to-Holman finals would’ve been high-stakes. It’s still nerve-wracking going out there, though.”
Holman hit seven targets against other PLL players in the first round to advance to the final. He's a three-time Accuracy Challenge champion.
Holman went on to score four goals in the 2024 PLL All-Star Game, earning MVP honors as the Eastern Conference defeated the West 15-12.