Andie Aldave is several years removed from taking the written test for her learner’s permit. She failed it two or three times, she confessed recently on “No Boundaries,” a USA Lacrosse Magazine Instagram show hosted by Dana Boyle.

Aldave laughed as she recalled her father’s reaction to her continued struggles. Then a student at the McDonogh School in Maryland, Aldave was in the middle of a four-year stretch in which she didn’t lose a single high school lacrosse game.

In the driver’s seat on the field, the written permit test seemed to be the only thing preventing her from being in the driver’s seat off it. At that point in her life, that was about the only bit of adversity that stood in the way of the jovial, charismatic teen.

“I’ve learned from it,” she told Boyle.

Aldave graduated from McDonogh and attended Notre Dame, where she was a catalyst for the Irish’s dramatic improvement. In four years in South Bend, Aldave became the program’s all-time draws leader and accumulated 162 points.

But her senior year was a struggle, a challenge that presented obstacles both physically and mentally. In the season’s first game — a 19-5 win over Vanderbilt — Aldave hyperextended her right knee and suffered an anterior tibial plateau fracture. It was something she could play through, and she didn’t miss any games because Notre Dame dealt with a three-week pause following the Vanderbilt win due to COVID-19 protocols.

Aldave’s injury required constant maintenance, though, and it hampered her on-field abilities. She rehabbed during the season and struggled to maneuver in a knee brace. She felt like she lost her step.

“It pushed me in ways I didn’t ask for,” she told USA Lacrosse Magazine two days after she scored four goals in a 16-15 win over defending national champion Boston College, now as a member of North Carolina.

Aldave’s transfer to North Carolina had more to do with what UNC could offer than it did with what Notre Dame could not. Accepted into the highly competitive sports administration graduate program that admits only nine full-time students per year, Aldave was “honored” to then hear from Jenny Levy about joining the Tar Heels.

The transfer has proved fruitful for both team and player. Through top-ranked UNC’s 11-0 start, Aldave is second on the team in goals (30), fourth in points (36) and first in shooting percentage (63.8). Most importantly, she’s completely recovered from her injury and is visibly having fun again playing lacrosse — her exuberance during each one of UNC’s 16 goals against Boston College in front of just shy of 6,000 fans a perfect example of that.

“My family has noticed it, too,” Aldave said. “It’s my first year here with these guys, but I just have a newfound joy for lacrosse this year. Starting a new journey has let me restart. You’re at a new place with a new team, so it’s been a breath of fresh air.”

SAM GEIERSBACH HAD ALREADY COMMITTED TO JOIN UNC AS A SIXTH-YEAR TRANSFER and was waiting with bated breath for Aldave to make her decision.

“I didn’t know she was looking to transfer until Jenny told me about it, then I was crossing my fingers hoping she’d come,” said Geiersbach, who spent the first five years of her career at Richmond.

Geiersbach always admired Aldave from afar. They had never met before this year, Geiersbach spending all those years in the Atlantic 10 while Aldave tore it up in the ACC. She recalled a group text with her Spiders teammates that would routinely gush over Aldave’s ability to play on a bum leg last season.

Aldave and Geiersbach now share an apartment about 10 minutes away from campus in Carrboro, a small town with craft galleries, indie music venues and other quaint attractions.

Strangers when they first became roommates, Aldave and Geiersbach now have an unbreakable bond. Both swear that they wouldn’t have been able to handle being transfers without the presence of the other. They enjoy exploring their new surroundings together and unwind with chips and salsa at the kitchen table.

“She makes you feel heard,” Geiersbach said. “She really listens and gives her feedback. I know what I’m going to get from her is going to be real and truthful. I don’t think anyone would take her words lightly.”

That extends to the field, where she’s already become a leader just 11 games into her tenure as a Tar Heel.

“Everything she says, you can see the passion in her face and through her words,” Geiersbach said. “Everything she sees and she communicates is worth saying. I don’t think she ever says anything to just talk.”

Geiersbach, Levy and Jamie Ortega, who recently joined the exclusive 400-point club, fawn over Aldave’s lacrosse IQ. It’s something she honed growing up in the Baltimore area in a lacrosse-playing family. She estimates that she had a stick in her hand from 2 years old.

Aldave harnessed her potential at Notre Dame. Even though the latter two years of her time in South Bend were mired in unfortunate circumstances — Aldave was on fire in 2020 before COVID-19 abruptly ended the season — she wouldn’t trade that experience for the world. It helped her grow as a person and player.

“I look back and I know I made the right decision,” Aldave said. “I wanted academics to challenge me like I hadn’t been challenged before, and I wanted to be part of something new and take a program places it hadn’t been before. Notre Dame was the perfect fit for me.”

Aldave has matured since then, and her on-field role as changed, too. Now an attacker because of UNC’s wealth of depth in the midfield, Aldave will face her old Notre Dame teammates for the first time on Saturday.

“I’m excited for it,” she said. “Those are some of my best friends still and some of the greatest teammates I’ve ever had. It might be a little awkward being a different side, but they’re new and have fresh faces, too.”

THE TRANSFER PORTAL CAN BE A FICKLE THING, and Levy is intentional about who she brings in. Prospective additions have to fit the UNC mold.

Levy has had reservations about other possible transfers in the past. Not Aldave. It became clear almost from the jump just how seamless the fit would be, even if her move to attack didn’t come about until January.

“She’s our glue,” Ortega said. “The second she steps on the field, she makes the offense all mesh together.”

It helped that North Carolina did not need Aldave to be the field general. On a veteran, battle-tested team with All-Americans up and down the roster, Aldave just had to find her niche. Her leadership role materialized organically.

And she’s had a blast putting on the Carolina blue. During the throes of that shot-for-shot thriller against Boston College, Aldave couldn’t help but revel in the moment.

“I think I turned to one of the BC defenders and was like, ‘This was incredible.’ What we’re doing for women’s lacrosse is insane,” Aldave said.

That’s just the way Aldave approaches lacrosse these days. She sees the bigger picture. Losing the 2020 season and limping through 2021 helped frame her perspective on the sport.

The end goal for Aldave is a national championship, something she’s chased since she became a college athlete. But maybe it’s the other way around. After some wrote off Aldave as an afterthought because of a forgettable 2021, maybe it’s the easy-going attacker with an infectious personality who will be the missing piece in UNC’s chase for its third NCAA title and first since 2016.

“If you don’t know who Andie Aldave is,” Geiersbach says emphatically, “that’s your own fault.”