University of North Carolina Athletics
Possession Powers Tar Heels
April 5, 2014 | Women's Lacrosse
By Ben Brown
It was all about 50-50 balls in Saturday's ACC women's lacrosse showdown between the top ranked Tar Heels and the second ranked Maryland Terrapins. With two of the nation's most potent offenses on the field, having the ball was key, and the two teams battled the entire game to win as many possessions as they could.
Early in the game, Maryland was more effective at winning 50-50 balls when it jumped out to a commanding 8-3 lead. The Terrapins scored six straight goals due in large part to its domination of Carolina in draw controls. But Carolina could not be held down for long as the team made a few adjustments and went on a scoring run of its own to make it 10-9 at halftime.
"Everyone knows who plays lacrosse that the draw is the game," said junior defender Margaret Corzel. "If you win the draw then you're going to win the game because you need the ball. We all kind of flipped the switch and attacked the ball and we didn't set back if they got the ball, we sent doubles immediately. We just tried to make it a little chaotic if they got the ball so they couldn't get it easily down into their end."
While the first half was a scoring frenzy, Carolina gained control of the game early in the second half by stifling Maryland defensively. The Tar Heels held the Terps scoreless for the first 15:17 of the second half and in that time, Carolina went on a scoring run of its own by reeling off five straight goals.
Just as Maryland held an advantage over Carolina in draw controls, the Tar Heels made up for it by outgaining Maryland 22-10 in groundballs.
"Groundballs are key and you can't win big games without groundballs," said head coach Jenny Levy. "We challenged our team before the game to play tough and win the 50-50 balls and take the risks that you need to take to sacrifice for the team to get the ball. I thought overall our effort was tremendous all over the field."
After building a 17-12 lead in the second half, Carolina continued to lean on its defense to hold off Maryland and secure the biggest win of the season for the Tar Heels. Goalkeeper Megan Ward made sure Carolina would go home victorious as she fended off shot after shot to suppress any hopes Maryland had of a miracle comeback.
It was already proven that the Carolina women's lacrosse team was mentally tough after it won the national championship over Maryland last season, and Saturday's game was just another proving point that the will of the team can't be broken. Even while trailing 8-3 in the first half with Maryland scoring seemingly every time you looked up, Carolina wouldn't back down, which will make the team extremely difficult to beat heading into the conference and NCAA tournaments.
"The win just motivates you to play that way for the rest of the season," Corzel said. "The difference between playing Northwestern on Monday and playing Maryland today was night and day, and it was just so fun out there today. I think everyone from the starters to the sideline felt it and feeling it in a game like that is so much more fun than sitting there against Northwestern and kind of scratching your head the whole time. So I think we know that's how we want to feel when we play and that'll help us have a great week of practice heading into Syracuse next Saturday."
