On March 13, Katie Chrest's shot slid past North Carolina's goalie Kristen Hordy in the bottom left corner of the net to give the Blue Devils a thrilling 7-6 double-overtime victory. Now more than a month later, as regular season champions, Duke's women's lacrosse team will face the Tar Heels again, but this time in the ACC tournament.
The No. 7 Blue Devils (10-4, 3-0 in the ACC) will square off with the 15th-ranked Tar Heels (8-6, 0-3) Friday at 1:00 in Chapel Hill and look to add a first-ever ACC tournament championship to a season full of firsts.
"Everyone's really psyched, we've never been seeded No. 1 before," senior Meghan Walters said. "Both our defense and our attack has grown a lot of confidence in the past two or three weeks, and we're going to try to use that to our advantage and really take it to them on Friday."
Since their last meeting, Duke has played one of the nation's most difficult schedules, competing against six teams ranked in the nation's top 10. As a result, it has taken large strides on both sides of the ball.
"I think we've learned a lot of lessons from some of the top teams that we've played," Chrest said. "Something that we struggled with earlier this season when we were playing Carolina was holding on to the ball and just having control of the game. I think that's the major change that we've undergone."
In the season's first game, UNC out shot the Blue Devils 31-21. The Tar Heels were able to control the tempo of the game and slow down Duke's attack.
"Last time we played them we didn't control the ball at all, and we barely had possession," Chrest said. "I think we've improved on that throughout the season."
Offensively, the No. 1 seed has received contributions from a number of players, all of whom will have to be on top of their games Friday to earn a spot in Sunday's championship. Chrest, the team's leading scorer, is currently fifth in the conference, averaging just over two goals a game.
"I think our offense has really progressed and evolved," Walters said. "New people have started to step up, and we have a lot of different threats from all over so I think we can score a lot more."
On the defensive side of the ball, stopping North Carolina will not be an easy task for Duke, despite having had success earlier this season.
"I think we feel like we played really tough and really hard and our defense was really exceptional that day," head coach Kerstin Kimel said regarding the regular season matchup.
The Blue Devils spent much of their practice time this week preparing for the style of play they expect to see in the upcoming contest.
"We just practiced some tendencies that Carolina has. They like to pull out on the sides and challenge from the corners," Walters said.
"They are a really fast team so we just need to be prepared for that, and they really just take it to goal one on one."
Heading into this weekend's action, Duke is optimistic about its chances, having worked hard to earn its top seed.
"I think we have to look at [the ACC's] as an opportunity," junior Kristy Dirks said. "We are here for a reason, and we deserve to be here and we've been working really hard."
The winner of the Duke-North Carolina game will face the winner of the other semifinal between second-seeded Virginia and third-seeded Maryland Sunday at 1:00 p.m.
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