University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Duke
Blue Devils Defeat Tar Heels, 12-11
April 23, 2004 | Women's Lacrosse
April 23, 2004
Chapel Hill - The top-seeded Duke Blue Devils defeated No. 4 North Carolina 12-11 in the first semifinal game of the 2004 ACC Women's Lacrosse Championship at Henry Field on the campus of the University of North Carolina. Duke advances to the championship game for the second time in program history and will face Virginia, which defeated Maryland 9-7 in Friday's second game.
Duke came out strong in the opening ten minutes, scoring on a pair of free position attempts to take a 2-0 lead. The Blue Devils' Katie Chrest scored the first eight-meter goal at the 22:49 mark and senior Meghan Walters followed up with a goal from the eight-meter mark with 21:45 remaining in the opening half.
North Carolina countered with three straight goals beginning at 18:53 when Melissa McCarthy tallied her 22nd goal of the season. Midfielder Beth Ames added goals with 16:30 and 13:36 remaining in the half to give the Tar Heels a 3-2 lead. Allison Higgins assisted on the second goal by Ames.
Following a Duke timeout, Walters collected her 19th goal of the season at the 10:10 mark to again tie the contest.
North Carolina regained the lead with 6:30 left in the half when Christina Juras netted her sixth goal of the season.
A pair of freshmen connected for the Blue Devils to tie the game at 4-4 with just over three minutes remaining in the half. Kristen Waagbo hit Leigh Jester with a pass in front of the North Carolina cage for Jester's 14th goal of the season.
Nicki Barnes gave the Tar Heels a 5-4 lead with 1:50 remaining in the half. She received a Juras pass in front of the cage and bounced a shot into goal. Lindsay Higgins tacked on an eight-meter goal with 11 seconds left in the half and North Carolina finished the half with a 6-4 lead.
Duke's Jester scored 32 seconds into the second half, bringing Duke within one goal at 6-5. McCarthy scored for the Tar Heels less than a minute later to push the margin back to two goals.
Corinne Broesler cut the Blue Devils' deficit to one, driving to the goal after a pass from Stefanie Sparks. Just 11 seconds later, North Carolina scored off the draw as Ames lobbed it to Higgins for her first assist of the season.
Awarded a free-position attempt with 21:18 remaining on the clock, Jester notched her third goal of the game. Seventeen seconds later, the freshman scored again to tie the game at 8-8.
The Tar Heels went back on top at the 17:40 mark, as Ames tallied her third goal of the day on an assist by Juras. Jester responded 35 seconds later with her fifth score of the game, a new single-game career high, to keep the Blue Devils alive. Chrest helped Duke take the lead on a Sparks-assisted goal with 15:26 remaining, but Higgins scored again for the Tar Heels for the sixth tie of the game.
Chrest's third goal of the game put Duke back on top, as she spun past a defender in front of the cage and fired a shot into the back of the net. North Carolina's McCarthy recorded her third score of the day to knot the score at 11-11.
With 6:38 left in the game, Duke freshman defender Meghan Ferguson scored the first goal of her career, taking the ball straight to the goal after gaining the ball on the defensive end. It proved to be the game-winner, as the Tar Heels were held scoreless for the remainder of the contest. Duke goalkeeper Megan Huether, who finished with seven saves, blocked a North Carolina shot in the closing seconds of the game to seal the Duke victory.
The Blue Devils advance to final against second-seeded Virginia, which defeated Maryland 9-7 in Friday's second game. Game time is 1:00 p.m. at Henry Stadium.
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