The women's lacrosse team journeyed to Chapel Hill Tuesday night to open yet another chapter in the tobacco road rivalry as they faced No. 14 North Carolina. The game was played before a filled grandstand at Fetzer Field as the two teams, each in their first year at the varsity level, squared off.
The night started off well for the Blue Devils as they scored the first goal of the game-a close-range blast by sophomore Lorrie Meyercord, assisted by freshman Meghan McLaughlin. Unfortunately for Duke, it was all downhill from there, as UNC went on an 8-0 run and cruised to a 15-3 victory.
Duke controlled the game early as it worked the ball around on offense, waiting for a good shot opportunity. As the game wore on however, UNC's speed literally ran the Blue Devils into the ground. The Tar Heels held an advantage in the area of athleticism as their starting lineup included women from their varsity soccer and field hockey programs as well as two transfers.
"They were such a fast team in transition that once they got the ball they just took off and they really used their speed against us," freshman attacker Payton Black said.
"I think for the most part we just ended up really tired getting up and down the field," sophomore defender Heather Keeney said. "I think maybe they were able to play on that a lot."
After the Meyercord goal, UNC drew even on a charging goal by Amy Fine, who finished the game with two goals and two assists. The Tar Heels followed that up with a series of three goals by Fine and attackers Lori Pasquantonio and Erin McGinnis. Midfielder Sharon Moore then pushed the score to 7-1 as she added three consecutive unassisted goals. Pasquantonio capped off the Carolina run with another unassisted goal.
"We were turning the ball over on offense and they were recovering the ground balls," Black said. "We were making a lot of turnovers and they just kept capitalizing on them."
Duke's Amy Murnick stopped the run with a goal following a UNC penalty to send the Blue Devils to the half down 8-2.
When the second half began, UNC's star player, McGinnis, took over-scoring three straight goals. Duke responded by mounting several strong scoring attempts, only to have them denied by Tar Heel goalie Debbie Castine.
"Their goalie played a really good game today," Keeney said. "We knew going into the game that they had a really talented goalie and we'd been working all through practice this week, working on our shots, getting the fakes in there. I think that our attackers did that and she just came up with some really good saves."
As if the score wasn't painful enough for the Blue Devils, their attack was crippled as Black went down with an injury at the 13:01 mark and had to be assisted off the field. She suffered a possible broken nose when she was struck in the face by an errant Tar Heel shot on goal. X-rays tomorrow will determine the extent of the injury.
When action resumed, UNC continued the onslaught with two goals by senior Carla Nappi and one apiece by midfielder Aubrey Falk and McGinnis, bringing her total to five goals on the night. Duke managed to squeeze its third goal of the evening in between the UNC barrage-this one by McLaughlin.
The victory ran the Tar Heel winning streak to eight games and upped their record to 9-1 on the year. The loss dropped the Blue Devils to 2-8.
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