North Carolina
Penn State
Tar Heels Sweep To Weekend's Second Win
April 6, 2008 | Women's Lacrosse
April 6, 2008
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - The North Carolina women's lacrosse team wrapped up a successful weekend on Sunday afternoon with a second win in the ACC/ALC Challenge, this one 14-9 over Penn State. The 10th-ranked Tar Heels beat Ohio State 22-12 Friday on the first day of the event, played at Fetzer Field, and are now 10-3 on the season. Penn State fell to 3-8.
The Atlantic Coast Conference swept the American Lacrosse Conference teams, with Maryland also winning both of its games. After beating Penn State 12-11 in double overtime on Friday, the No. 3 Terrapins beat Ohio State 21-6 on Sunday.
Sophomore Kristen Taylor led the Tar Heels in both of the weekend's wins. After scoring a career-high six goals against Ohio State, she had a team-high four against the Nittany Lions. Senior Erica LaGrow scored three, sophomore Megan Bosica and freshman Corey Donohoe had two each, and Chelsea Parks, Jenn Russell and Kelly Taylor each contributed one. Bosica also had a team-high three assists on the day and Donohoe, Parks and Kelly Taylor added one each.
Senior Jessi Lieb led Penn State with four goals and an assist on the afternoon.
Kristen Taylor scored UNC's first two goals, the opener assisted by older sister Kelly, as the teams traded scores in the first 14 minutes of play. Bosica's first goal, with 15:55 on the clock, started a run of six in a row for the Tar Heels, who led 8-2 after a goal by LaGrow with 10:48 remaining in the half. Lieb came up with an unassisted goal just under six minutes before halftime and the score stood at 8-3 at the break.
"Penn State is a team we lost to last year up there and they played Maryland tight (on Friday)," said UNC coach Jenny Levy. "I think they're still trying to figure out who they are, so we weren't really sure which team were were going to play. But, I thought our focus was more on how we wanted to play and on putting two solid halves together, both on the offensive and defensive ends. In the first half I thought we did a really good job of that. I was really happy with the mixture of transition goals, draw controls, and the settled offense looks that we got."
In the second half, LaGrow scored unassisted six minutes into the period and Parks, a junior, scored on a free position shot to put UNC up 10-3. The teams exchanged goals twice, with Russell and Kelly Taylor scoring for Carolina. The Tar Heels took their biggest lead of the afternoon on a goal by Bosica, again on a free position opportunity, to go up by eight, 13-5, with 14:38 to play. Penn State then scored three times in a span of just over two minutes to close to 13-8. Carolina got one final goal on a shot by Donohoe, assisted by Bosica, with 53 seconds remaining. Lieb's final goal, on a free position shot, drew Penn State within five at 14-9 with eight seconds to play.
Playing on a muddy and wet field after a rainy weekend in Chapel Hill, UNC outshot Penn State 28-16, with an 18-6 margin in the first half. Tar Heel goalkeeper Amanda Barnes, a senior, had five saves for Carolina. Starter Jess Boccio and substitute Stephanie Ellis, who played most of the second half, teamed to make six saves for Penn State.
Next up for UNC is the team's final home game of the season. Carolina will host Maryland on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Fetzer Field.
