All of Koskinen Stadium held its breath Saturday.
An intense 60-minute battle between the fourth-ranked women's lacrosse team (3-1, 1-1 in the ACC) and the eighth-ranked Tar Heels (3-3, 0-2) was decided in the last 30 seconds of play. A stroke of luck and a sneaky shot would seal the victory for Duke, however. After capitalizing on a Carolina crease violation, Duke sophomore Lauren Gallagher weaved her way through a defensive blockade and slipped the ball into the top corner of the net, finalizing Duke's 10-9 win.
Though head coach Kristen Kimel was very happy with the improvement in the teams play, especially defensively, she stressed the importance of learning from mistakes.
"It was a hard fought, tough played game," Kimel said. "We have to learn from our breakdowns. We play a very tight schedule this season and can't afford to make some of the errors we made today."
Although the Tar Heels opened the game by quickly racking up two goals, their luck ran out after the first two minutes of play. Duke's Kelly Dirks responded to Carolina's two-goal wake-up call at the 27-minute mark, finding
The Tar Heels did not see the lead the rest of the game. A streak of four goals contributed by Gallagher, Claire Sullivan, Franny Gordon and Meghan Miller widened the scoring gap to 6-2 in the first half.
North Carolina's Christine McPike finally broke the Duke defense with 3:45 left in the half, claiming the first of her four goals. Carolina still struggled as Duke goalie Kristen Foster came up with six big saves in the first half, one of which denied the Tar Heels a free-position shot with one second left. Foster tallied 13 saves for the game.
North Carolina continued to rally in the second half as both teams traded presses and shots in the first seven minutes. Dirks claimed her third goal of the day at the 23-minute mark, only to be avenged by Carolina's McPike four minutes later, who snuck in her second goal of the day.
Determined to maintain the lead, Duke sophomore Jessica Bennett weaved through several defenders to score her first goal of the season, putting Duke up 8-4.
With 15 minutes left to play and a four-goal lead, it seemed as though Duke's consistent domination over Carolina would lead the Blue Devils comfortably to victory. However, a series of Duke defensive fouls commenced a Carolina comeback. The Tar Heels grabbed three consecutive goals in the next three minutes, two of which resulted from free-position shots.
Stuck in their own defensive end with a mere one goal lead, the Blue Devils struggled to recharge their offense. McPike's fourth goal, the result of an end-to-end breakaway at the five-minute mark, was the final straw. After patiently passing and cutting in front of the Carolina goal, Duke sophomore Meg Barnet took a pass from Gallagher and fired a shot past keeper Melissa Coyne. Less than a minute later, Lindsay Stone of the Tar Heels evened the score again.
The last frantic two minutes of play saw numerous turnovers, as both teams scrambled for a final victory-sealing goal. Gallagher, who now leads the team in goals (10), assists (5) and points (16), claimed the game for Duke, with 14 seconds remaining on the clock.
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