Connect 3: Humphrey Sisters Helping Lead No. 1 UNC's Revenge Tour

This article appears in the April edition of USA Lacrosse Magazine. Join our momentum.

The Humphrey sisters have long had something of a charmed, prototypical lacrosse life. 

All three sisters played for Lisa Lindley at Darien, a high school juggernaut with 19 Connecticut state titles. In 2019, they became the first trio of sisters to play for three separate teams at the Under Armour All-America Games. Fresh off eighth-grade graduation, Chloe Humphrey was named MVP of her division, Ashley Humphrey was on her division’s all-tournament team and Nicole Humphrey was doing one final victory lap before she booked it to North Carolina.

Today, all three sisters are in Chapel Hill, but their journeys there were hardly charmed. There are no silver spoons in this story. But there is a silver lining that required comebacks from a pandemic, a pair of moves to California and injuries that upended the 2024 season for all three sisters (and Carolina).

If the Humphrey home in Darien’s walls could talk, they would likely tell you that lacrosse is their love language and perhaps help you locate missing balls.

“They love to play catch in our living room. Very hazardous,” said Sarah Humphrey, their mother. “We also have a setup in our backyard that has a goal. These girls are not the best at tracking their ball after they've lost it, so we just keep buying new buckets of balls. My husband and I laugh thinking about the next people who will buy our house, because it's literally a graveyard of lacrosse balls throughout this property. They're just going to think, ‘What on earth went on here?’”

The story starts with Ashley, the middle of the three sisters, who is a year younger than Nicole. She picked up a stick at 8 years old and quickly fell for the sport. Nicole was committed to gymnastics but got into lacrosse in junior high, getting cut from her club team while Ashley made the top team. “She was helpful and encouraging as I made the switch,” Nicole Humphrey said. “It lit a fire under me competitively. It was like, ‘Oh, that’s cool. I think I can do this, too. Let’s see how far we can go with this.’”

The oldest Humphrey sister transferred from Greens Farms Academy to Darien to see it through. Nicole wore No. 1. Ashley wore No. 2. When they teamed up for a goal, the public address announcer boomed, “Humphrey-to-Humphrey connection.” They won a pair of state championships together before Nicole — who shed her “late bloomer” status rather early to become a USA Lacrosse All-American and get recruited by the top college programs — left for Chapel Hill.

All the while, Chloe Humphrey was watching, learning. Sometimes from behind a window.

“I remember her being so small with this lacrosse stick watching Ashley and me outside,” Nicole Humphrey said. “She would be watching us do these drills. Then she would go out and do them by herself.”

Chloe Humphrey credits the front-row seat she had to her sisters’ development for her love of the game. But at the time, she was more interested in soccer. While she played lacrosse, it became more of a passion in junior high. Before then, Ashley was begging Chloe to play along. Then, as the demands on Ashley increased, the two switched roles: Chloe wanted to play with Ashley, who needed to rest after practice.

Lucky for Chloe, she had another person to pal around with in the summers: Kate Levy, the daughter of North Carolina head coach Jenny Levy, who also remembers Chloe as the little kid with the giant stick.

“Chloe was little and would come to the clinics we ran in Connecticut,” Levy said. “Kate was always tagging along, and Chloe and Kate became buddies. Every summer, Kate would look forward to seeing Chloe.”

Chloe Humphrey’s commitment to Carolina was a way off. Her sisters, however, visited the school together. Ashley decided on Stanford, but Nicole opted for the Tar Heels. “That was the beginning of having Humphreys at UNC,” Levy said.

While Nicole and Ashley Humphrey share a last name and a love for lacrosse, they’re different people. Nicole is a workhorse, always seeking out new challenges. Ashley is pragmatic and tactical, which serves her well as a feeder. (For her part, Chloe is always running full speed like she’s trying to keep up even if she’s ahead.) It wasn't surprising that they chose different paths for college.

“I was the underdog in lacrosse and wanted to challenge myself athletically,” Nicole Humphrey said. “UNC was someplace I knew would help me develop and get the most out of me.”

Always one step ahead — of opposing defenses, of her teammates and apparently in life — Ashley Humphrey was laser-focused on life after lacrosse.

“At that point, lacrosse was very much a four-year thing,” Nicole Humphrey said of her sister. “There wasn’t much of a pro league. If she could excel at Stanford — I mean, how could you not take advantage of that and go to literal Stanford?”

Ashley and Chloe Humphrey did not have to beg each other to play entering the spring of 2020. Finally, they were teammates at Darien.

Meanwhile, Nicole Humphrey’s dreams of playing top-tier college lacrosse were off and running. UNC raced out to a 7-0 start. She saw action in each game and got to learn from the likes of Ally Mastrionni, Jamie Ortega and Katie Hoeg. The Tar Heels were preparing for a game against also-undefeated Notre Dame when you-know-what happened.

The NCAA canceled the 2020 season because of COVID-19. Darien’s season also ended prematurely, as did the younger sisters’ chance to put their spin on the Humphrey-to-Humphrey connection.

Suddenly, all three were home again.

“That was a rough one,” Sarah Humphrey said. “Nicole’s team was poised — clearly the frontrunner. Chloe was so young that it didn’t impact her as much, but Ashley was so disappointed not to have her senior year and the chance to play with Chloe.”

It was emotionally rough for the sisters — and the lamps. “We just played more lacrosse during COVID in our house,” Sarah Humphrey said. “It was like, ‘We have half of a lacrosse team, so let’s go play.’”

The Humphreys also include a younger brother, Brett. Their parents brought the total to six.

Nicole Humphrey did get to experience a full freshman season in 2021, playing with a North Carolina team that made the final four. That the Tar Heels were still playing Memorial Day weekend was normal. The season, however, was not due to pandemic restrictions.

After speaking with Stanford coach Danielle Spencer, Ashley Humphrey opted to redshirt that year so she could have a true freshman season as an academic sophomore. Meanwhile, Chloe Humphrey won a state championship with Darien.

The following year was a banner year for the Humphreys. Darien produced an undefeated regular season and Chloe Humphrey committed to North Carolina as the nation’s No. 1-ranked recruit. Ashley Humphrey set the NCAA single-season record for assists (88) as Stanford won a Pac-12 championship. Nicole Humphrey scored the most coveted prize: an NCAA championship with the undefeated Tar Heels.

“I just remember Ashley’s eyes were as big as saucers watching Nicole win the national championship,” Sarah Humphrey said.

Always the strategist, Ashley Humphrey played another year at Stanford but figured out how to graduate early and transfer to North Carolina. Perhaps a chance to play with her sisters was in the cards, after all.

But Nicole Humphrey had California dreams of her own. After the 2023 season, she transferred to USC.

“I didn’t know Ashley was going to transfer,” she said. “I had won a national championship at UNC, and a lot of my classmates were graduating. It felt like it was my time to go somewhere else. LA was someplace that even my parents remember talking about wanting to go, see and live when I was younger. It wasn’t so much about lacrosse as much as it was about personal development and taking a new step in life, finding a new identity.”

Ashley Humphrey, however, was dead set on coming east even as her older sister went west.

“Stanford had a lot of promise and was getting stronger every year, but it didn’t look like they’d make a final four run during her years,” Sarah Humphrey said. “If she wanted to play in the final four, she’d need to make a move.”

That move was to North Carolina, where she knew she could unite with Chloe, at least.

But the plot twists continued. On the first day of practice at USC, Nicole Humphrey tore the Lisfranc ligament in her foot. “It was traumatic,” she said. “It was a hard and weird situation, especially after the pandemic. It was like, ‘What else could go wrong?’”

Bookmark that for a second.

Ashley Humphrey, who made her way to Chapel Hill that winter after missing fall so she could finish her degree at Stanford, had a more glass-half-full approach. She sees plays unfold before they happen.

“I called my mom and was like, ‘Oh my God, can Nicole come back to Carolina?’” Ashley Humphrey said. “It was like the stars aligned.”

Then the stars crossed and went down. Chloe Humphrey was one of three prominent North Carolina players to sustain season-ending ACL injuries before the first game of 2024. (All-American defender Brooklyn Walker-Welch and attacker Marissa White were the others.) She rehabbed with teammates, and Ashley Humphrey drove her to appointments. The oldest sister was only a phone call away.

“Chloe and Nicole are so supportive of each other,” Sarah Humphrey said. “They could listen together and vent. When they were home, everyone just helped get the other what they needed — an ice pack, a roller, advice, what worked and what didn’t.”

It was like they were sharing tips on new stick tricks all over again, except not remotely as fun.

“I was so frustrated,” Chloe Humphrey said. “She was out on the West Coast traveling to incredible places — not letting the injury completely tear apart her life. She took it as a learning experience and adventure. So I tried to make the most of my time here at UNC on the sideline, listening and learning.”

Ashley, meanwhile, carried the Humphrey mantle and a significant load. She was North Carolina’s top scorer with 38 assists and 57 points despite missing the Tar Heels’ NCAA tournament game against Florida.

And it turned out Nicole Humphrey wasn’t ready to hang up her cleats just yet. Fun as California was, the chance to vie for another NCAA championship alongside not just one but both her sisters brought her back to Chapel Hill.

Levy remembers the call well. “She says, ‘Jenny? You’re going to laugh, but I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, and I’m just not ready to give up lacrosse,’” she said. “‘I’m not done.’”

It had been a while since Nicole had formally played with Ashley, and neither had ever played with Chloe on an organized team. “They balance each other well,” Levy said. "And they tell each other hard sister truths.”

If any of the sisters throws an errant ball that would’ve broken a lamp or ended up in the backyard black hole, she’s sure to get an earful.

“We’ll whip our heads around and be like, ‘Dude, what was that?’” Ashley Humphrey said. “That reminds me of the backyard a lot.”

Another backyard-style perk for Sarah Humphrey: She can see all her daughters at once. “I've only got one schedule,” she said. “I used to have these complex spreadsheets trying to keep everyone straight, and now we're all on one page.”

The sisters are all on the same page, alright.

“Oh, our goal is to win a national championship, obviously,” Chloe Humphrey said. “We talk about it. We visualize it. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity not only to win a national championship, but also to win one alongside two of my sisters. It's something you can tell your kids for years and years.”

As a team, North Carolina took receipts of those who reveled in their misfortune last year. After beating Boston College on Saturday, they are the new No. 1 in the nation.

“We have checks that we want to cash,” Ashley Humphrey said. “We're remembering all the teams that celebrated in our face last year like they won the national championship. We remember that pain of last year and that disappointment and that feeling, and we're doing everything in our power not to feel that way again.”