University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Duke
No. 3 Duke Edges No. 4 Tar Heels, 11-10
April 15, 2011 | Women's Lacrosse
April 15, 2011
CHAPEL HILL - Third-ranked Duke got four goals from Kim Wenger and defeated fourth-ranked North Carolina 11-10 in women's lacrosse actionon Friday night at Koskinen Stadium in Durham. Kara Cannizzaro scored a career-high four goals with one assist for a career-high five points in a losing effort for the Tar Heels.
With the win, the Blue Devils improved to 12-2, 4-1 in the Atlantic Coast Conference and broke a tie for second place in the conference standings behind top-ranked Maryland. Carolina, which lost at Maryland last Saturday, fell to 10-4, 3-2 in the ACC. The win was worth one point for Duke in the Battle of the Blues multisport competition sponsored by Continental Tire. Carolina now leads this year's competition, 11-10.
Becky Lynch added two goals and an assist for Carolina, which also got a goal and an assist from Corey Donohoe and single goals from Laura Zimmerman, Abbey Friend and Sarah Kuonen. Duke's defense held Donohoe without a shot in first half by marking her at all times to deny her the ball.
Emma Hamm scored twice for Duke. Christie Kaestner had a goal and an assist, Maddie Salamone and Virginia Crotty both scored goals and Caroline Spearman and Molly Quirke had assists for the Blue Devils.
Lauren Maksym allowed six first-half goals while making four saves but played well in the frenzied second half, saving six shots while allowing five goals.
Carolina jumped out to an early 2-0 lead. The Tar Heels struck first when Friend scored off a pass from Cannizzaro less than two minutes into the game. Less than a minute later, Cannizzaro scored unassisted from point blank range for a 2-0 UNC lead at the 27:18 mark of the half.
Just 24 seconds later, Thomas scored an unassisted goal for Duke to make the score 2-1 Tar Heels and begin a 4-0 Duke scoring run. Wenger knotted the score at 2-2 with an unassisted goal for Duke at the 22:36 mark. The Blue Devils took a 3-2 lead at the 20:16 mark on a goal from Hamm off a pass from behind the cage from Kaestner. Duke scored its fourth goal in a row at 16:28 on a fast break score from Salamone off a pass from Spearman, forcing a UNC timeout.
Five minutes later, Lynch wrapped around the cage and scored an unassisted goal to break the Duke run and make the score 4-3 Blue Devils. Duke got back-to-back goals from Kaestner and Wenger to up its lead to 6-3 with 6:49 to go before the break, taking advantage of Tar Heel turnovers to control possession for a stretch of the half.
Carolina responded with a Zimmerman goal off a pass from Lynch that made the score 6-4 Duke with 6:04 to go before the half. Lynch scored unassisted at 4:32 to make it 6-5 Duke after Blue Devil goalie Molly Mackler fell to the ground outside of the crease.
In the second half, Duke struck first on a goal by Hamm, who cut from the left, took a pass from Quirke and scored from 10 feet away for a 7-5 Blue Devil lead at the 26:47 mark. Less than a minute later at 25:58, Wenger scored her third goal of the game for an 8-5 Duke advantage.
Donohoe scored her first goal on her first shot of the game, a free position try at the 20:05 mark that cut the Duke lead to 8-6. Thomas scored unassisted for Duke less than a minute later to put Duke back up by three at 9-6 with 19:22 to go.
Carolina then proceeded to go on a 3-0 scoring run to tie the score. Twenty-two seconds after Thomas' goal, Mackler left the crease to pursue a loose ball that was recovered by Cannnizzaro, who scored on the empty net to make it 9-7 Duke. The Tar Heels cut the lead to 9-8 Duke when Donohoe passed from behind the cage to Cannizzaro for a goal at the 16:41 mark. Kuonen scored on a free position try at 14:22 for UNC's third consecutive goal, knotting the score at 9-9 and forcing a Duke timeout.
Duke responded with back-to-back goals. Wenger's fourth goal broke the 3-0 UNC run and put Duke back up 10-9 with 12:33 to go. At the 7:55 mark, Crotty raced past a Tar Heel defender from the top of the 12-meter arc and scored for an 11-9 Duke lead on the Blue Devils' second straight goal. Cannizzaro pulled the Tar Heels back within a goal on a free position score with 6:36 left that made the score 11-10 Duke.
UNC had chances to tie the score late, but Mackler saved a Lynch free position try, leading to a Duke ground ball. The Blue Devils slowed the tempo to run down the clock before Zimmerman intercepted a long crossing pass and raced down the field for a final Tar Heel offensive opportunity with under a minute to play. Duke forced a turnover with under 30 seconds left and ran out the clock.
Duke out-shot Carolina 27-19 and controlled 15 draws to UNC's eight.
The Tar Heels will return to action next weekend at the ACC Tournament in Cary, N.C. Pairings will be announced after the conclusion of Saturday's game between Maryland and Virginia Tech.
