Big Second Half Leads Tar Heels Past Cavs, 13-9

Saturday, March 10

Charlottesville, Va.

1:00 PM

North Carolina

4-2, 1-0ACC

Virginia

5-1, 1-1ACC

North Carolina

Virginia

Carolina is 4-2 overall and 1-0 in ACC play in 2018.

Photo by: Brian Westerholt/Sports On Film

March 10, 2018 | Women's Lacrosse

Box Score Final Stats

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA.—Fifth-ranked North Carolina went on a 9-3 run in the second half and handed sixth-ranked Virginia its first loss of the season, 13-9, on Saturday afternoon at Klockner Stadium.

With the win, Carolina improved to 4-2 overall this season and began 2018 Atlantic Coast Conference play with a victory. Virginia fell to 5-1, 1-1.

The Tar Heels have won 14 of the last 15 meetings against Virginia and improved to 25-13 all-time against the Cavaliers.

"This was a great win for our team today and just the way we wanted to start the ACC season," UNC head coach Jenny Levy said afterward. "It was a total team effort. The first half was ugly but I felt we were in the game and just needed to make a few adjustments to get into rhythm. In the second half we were scrappy, tough and together. The combination of draw controls and defensive stops gave us momentum and the opportunity to get into offensive rhythm."

Carolina won 15 draw controls during the game to Virginia's nine, including a 10-3 UNC advantage in the second half.

Marie McCool led UNC with three goals, six draw controls, five ground balls and two caused turnovers. Katie Hoeg had two goals and two assists and Maggie Bill had two goals and one assist. Ela Hazar added two goals, Kara Klages had a goal and an assist and Scottie Rose Growney, Charlotte Sofield and Marisa DiVietro all scored single goals.

Sammy Mueller led Virginia with three goals and Kasey Behr scored twice.

Redshirt freshman Taylor Moreno made her first career start in goal for Carolina and made a career-high 17 saves in going the distance in the cage.

"Obviously, the play of goalie Taylor Moreno was outstanding," Levy said. "She was great between the pipes and had a big impact on the game today."

Virginia led, 6-4, at halftime behind three first-half goals by Mueller. The Cavaliers out-shot the Tar Heels, 22-14, in the first 30 minutes but Moreno made 10 first-half saves in goal for UNC.

Carolina rallied with a 3-1 run to tie the score at 7-7 with 19:06 left in the game. Hoeg scored the first UNC two goals of the half, sandwiched around a goal by Virginia's Behr. Bill scored at the 19:06 mark to tie the score and force a Cavalier timeout.

Just over a minute later, the Tar Heels took the lead at 8-7 when Hazar took a pass from Hoeg and scored with 17:51 to go. Two minutes later, DiVietro scord on a free position shot to make it a 5-1 run to start the half. After another Behr goal, Carolina scored four more in a row, including two by McCool, to take a 13-8 lead.

The Tar Heels will return to action on Tuesday afternoon at Elon before visiting Northwestern and Boston College on the next two weekends.