With 58 seconds left in the game and No. 5 Duke hanging onto an 11-10 lead over No. 4 North Carolina, Blue Devil goalkeeper Kim Imbesi stared down her toughest challenge of the night.
After already converting on her first attempt, UNC senior attack and leading goal-scorer Christina Juras was given her second penalty shot of the evening. When the whistle blew, Juras maneuvered to get a good, clean look at the goal and rifled a shot at point-blank range-only to have the ball deflected out, giving Imbesi her seventh save of the evening.
Duke (12-2, 4-1 in the ACC) held on, running out the clock and storming the field to celebrate their 11-10 victory over the Tar Heels (13-3, 3-2) Friday night at Koskinen Stadium. With the win, the Blue Devils clinched a first-round bye in next week's ACC tournament.
"The seniors held a meeting yesterday to talk about how much this rivalry means to us," senior attack Kristen Waagbo said. "It couldn't have worked out any better."
The game was highly contested from the beginning, as neither team had a lead larger than two at any point in the contest.
North Carolina struck first with a Juras goal giving the Tar Heels an early lead three minutes into the first half. Duke, however, answered 11 seconds later with Rachel Sanford's unassisted goal.
The quick scoring set a trend for the first half, as both teams continued to attack at will. The Blue Devils took a 9-7 edge into halftime after Allie Johnson found the net with 17 seconds left in the first.
The second period was an entirely different story. Both teams struggled to find any kind of offensive rhythm. Neither team scored for a ten-minute stretch in the middle of the half.
Duke freshman midfielder Lindsey Galbride ended the scoring drought after capitalizing on a Waagbo assist to give the Blue Devils a 10-9 advantage. The lead lasted less than two minutes, however, as North Carolina's Kelly Taylor scored on the Tar Heels' fourth penalty shot of the night to knot the score at 10.
After a five-minute offensive drought, Duke leading scorer Caroline Cryer took a pass from behind the net and banged in what turned out to be the game-winning score with 5:59 left. The Blue Devils then relied on their defense to record their fourth consecutive victory over North Carolina.
"I think that we did our best to anticipate what UNC would do after halftime," head coach Kerstin Kimel said. "Our defense did a great job of sliding and doubling."
Leading the defensive effort was Imbesi, who was solid in the net. The sophomore made two clutch saves in the last four minutes to preserve the win.
"I knew that our team worked really hard," Imbesi said. "I didn't want the game to go into overtime."
The match turned out to be extremely physical, with 51 fouls called and three players given yellow cards. The most serious of these occurred when Duke midfielder Carolyn Davis collided with the Tar Heels' Caitlin Young at 20:36-mark in the first half. Both players were motionless on the ground for several seconds.
In the end, however, the team believes the physical nature of Friday's game was good practice for its upcoming postseason run.
"We definitely expected an incredibly physical game," Kimel said. "It's great preparation for the ACC tournament."
Duke followed up Friday's emotional win with a 22-6 drubbing of Longwood (3-12) Sunday afternoon at Koskinen Stadium. The Blue Devils took a 16-3 lead into intermission and continued their dominance after halftime to remain unbeaten at home this season.
Waagbo, who now has 34 total assists on the season, broke her own single-season assists record during the contest.
With two more wins this weekend, Duke continued to gain momentum for the conference tournament, which starts Thursday.
"We're playing our best lacrosse of the season," senior defender Michelle Menser said. "We feel very confident."
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