After Duke got out to an early 2-1 lead, top-ranked UNC scored the game's final three goals to advance to the finals of the ACC Tournament.
CARY — As her shot rippled into the lower right-hand corner of Duke’s net, North Carolina forward Jaime Gilbert stopped in the middle of the box, staring straight out into the SAS Soccer Complex crowd. With her teammates celebrating around her, Gilbert began to slowly walk away, a triumphant look rapidly coming across her face.
The goal, her second of the night, gave the No. 1 Tar Heels (18-0-2) a 3-2 advantage that they would not relinquish on their way to a 4-2 victory over the No. 17 Blue Devils (13-7) in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament Friday night.
“After [head coach Anson Dorrance’s] halftime speech, I just realized that I just really wanted to go out there and finish them off in the second half,” Gilbert said. “It’s just something about playing a school that hates you as much as you hate them that just gets you up so much more than any other game.”
North Carolina went on to lose to Virginia 5-4 on penalty kicks Sunday, only the second time the Tar Heels have failed to win the tournament.
Gilbert’s game-winner, her second against the Blue Devils in as many games, capped off the Tar Heels’ second-half comeback, which included three UNC goals scored in the span of 12 minutes. Duke took its first halftime lead against North Carolina in five years but was ultimately unable to overcome the Tar Heels’ stifling defense and overpowering attack in the second half.
“I thought we had a really good game plan and the girls came out and executed it well,” head coach Robbie Church said. “It’s tough falling behind. It wasn’t anything we did, [the Tar Heels] came out and took the game over at the beginning of the game. But, I was proud at how we settled down. I thought our goalkeeper made a couple of saves early that kept us in the game and you see the team’s confidence starting to grow after that.”
From the start, the game had all the markings of yet another dominating Tar Heel performance. North Carolina began pressuring Duke’s defense, consistently sending back any balls that the Blue Devils tried to clear away from their zone. After several missed shots in the first five minutes, UNC finally broke through on Elizabeth Guess’s goal from 14 yards out at the six-minute mark.
Instead of imploding like in years past, the Blue Devils regrouped and began to aggressively attack the UNC defense. After receiving a pass at the top of the box from Casey McCluskey, Carolyn Riggs dribbled past two Tar Heel defenders and fired a rocket into the upper right corner, knotting the score at 1-1.
Less than two minutes later Riggs had the ball back in the North Carolina zone again. After Ford’s pass snuck between two UNC defenders, Riggs took the ball and one-timed a shot past goalie Aly Winget from eight yards out, giving Duke a 2-1 lead that it would take into the break.
“I think we came out this time with a lot of confidence,” Riggs said. “We really showed our confidence in the beginning. It wasn’t as much as we dropped our level of play or we dropped our game at all after half. I think they stepped it up. We broke down a few times, but I’m pretty happy with everyone else’s efforts on the field.”
In the second period the Tar Heels returned to their basic strategy, attacking the Duke back line relentlessly. Five minutes into the half, Gilbert had only Duke goalie Allison Lipsher to beat and shot the ball into the lower-right corner to level the score at 2-2. Gilbert would score the eventual game-winner off of Anne Morrell’s third assist of the night five minutes later.
The Tar Heels only allowed Duke’s attack to get off two shots in the entire second half, both of which came in the final 10 minutes. UNC also forced the Blue Devils offside seven times and drew 11 fouls during the game.
“I think they respected our strengths a lot more,” Riggs said of the Tar Heels in the second half. “They played a little bit deeper, and they didn’t give us as many opportunities for the counterattack. They did a great job defensively.”
In the 73rd minute, Guess scored her second goal of the game off of a feed to the far post, putting the Tar Heels up 4-2 and effectively removing any chance for a Blue Devil comeback.
“I think this was a good tournament for us. I thought we played really well,” Church said. “We’re looking forward for the NCAA Tournament. We feel that we can go very deep in. It’s up to us—we could play [UNC] back again here. Maybe that could happen, we’ll see.”
The Blue Devils, who expect to earn an at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament, will find out their seed, schedule and playing location today.
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