CHAPEL HILL—For 30 minutes, Duke went shot for shot with the nation's fourth-best scoring offense.
But in the second half, a slew of turnovers cost the Blue Devils a chance at knocking off their rivals for the first time this season and ended Duke's 11-year streak of advancing to the NCAA tournament quarterfinals.
The Blue Devils fell 15-10 to No. 3 North Carolina at Fetzer Field Sunday afternoon in the second round of the NCAA tournament—the teams' third matchup this season. After getting routed 16-8 the first time around and falling 7-6 to the Tar Heels in the ACC tournament, Duke's offense poured in eight first-half goals Sunday to keep the team within striking distance of North Carolina.
But despite a career-high four goals from sophomore attack Grace Fallon and four from senior attack Kelci Smesko, six early second-half turnovers stalled the Blue Devil offense, allowing the Tar Heels to pull away for their 14th straight win and eliminate Duke from the NCAA tournament for the second straight year.
"We were trying to force the issue, I don't really know why," Blue Devil head coach Kerstin Kimel said. "We're young offensively, and it showed at times today with some of the mistakes that we made. The things that worked for us in the first half we kind of abandoned in the second half. I'm not exactly sure why, but we did."
After the teams' ACC tournament semifinal contest turned into a defensive struggle, both offenses looked determined to turn their NCAA tournament tilt into a shootout. The Tar Heels (17-2) consistently found openings against a defense that surrendered 8.3 goals per game entering Saturday, racing out to one- and two-goal advantages only to have Duke (11-9) respond.
The ACC regular season and tournament champions put the Blue Devils in their second straight 2-0 hole to start the game with goals from Sammy Jo Tracy and Aly Messinger, but Smesko and her fellow Duke classmate Emma Lazaroff responded to level the score in the early-going.
The rest of the half followed a similar script, with the Blue Devils matching North Carolina in every major statistical category and getting first-half hat tricks from Fallon and Smesko to keep pace with Tracy and Tar Heel attack Molly Hendrick, who also accomplished the feat.
"When we had the ball in the first half, we set the pace, we were running our sets," Smesko said. "We were shooting well. Us executing on our possessions was really important, especially against this team. When you have the ball, you have the power."
Duke was careless with the ball to start the second half, though, and three consecutive turnovers allowed North Carolina to stretch its lead to three for the first time at 11-8 with 24:22 left in the game following a goal by Ela Hazar, one of five Tar Heels with at least two goals Sunday.
Kimel called timeout to settle her team down, but after Fallon brought the Blue Devils within two with 22:29 left in the game, Duke went without a goal for the next 10:46, allowing North Carolina to control possession and stretch its lead to five.
"It's been the story of our season a little bit," Kimel said. "We've been able to compete with top teams then we kind of dig ourselves into little holes and struggle to gain momentum. We struggled to get momentum back today."
Smesko made the score 14-10 with her fourth tally of the day with 11:43 left, but the Blue Devils would get no closer as North Carolina won six of nine second-half draw controls and started milking the clock as the game wore on.
With the last goal—Tar Heel junior attack Carly Reed's second of the game—coming with more than 11 minutes left in the contest, Smesko and the rest of Duke's seniors could do little but watch the final moments of their college careers tick off the game clock.
“They got a lot of fast-break opportunities in the second half, and that’s a momentum thing,” Blue Devil senior goalkeeper Kelsey Duryea said.
Duryea finished her illustrious career with eight saves Sunday. The four-year starter and first-team All-ACC performer notched the second-most saves in a single season at Duke in her final year and will leave the program with the second-most saves in program history.
How the Blue Devils replace Duryea will be one of the major questions for a team that plans to return eight starters next season, including sophomore second-team All-ACC attack Kyra Harney—who was held to one goal and two shots Sunday—and freshman faceoff specialist Olivia Jenner, who set a program single-season record in draw controls won.
"It’s going to be strange not to have [Duryea] in the goal cage—she’s been our anchor for the last four years," Kimel said. "That will be our biggest change next year probably.”
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