North Carolina
Virginia
Virginia Downs Tar Heels, 10-9
May 17, 2014 | Women's Lacrosse
CHAPEL HILL - Virginia went on a 6-0 run in the second half and came from behind to beat North Carolina, 10-9, in the NCAA women's lacrosse tournament quarterfinals on Saturday afternoon at Fetzer Field. The Cavaliers held the defending national champion Tar Heels scoreless for over 22 minutes, turning an 8-4, second-half UNC lead into a 10-8 UVa advantage, then holding on for the victory.
The loss ends third-seeded Carolina's season at 15-5. The Tar Heels were seeking their fifth NCAA semifinal appearance in the last six years. Instead, sixth-seeded Virginia advances to the semis and will face second-seeded Syracuse, which beat Boston College on Saturday afternoon.
"Congrats to Virginia," UNC head coach Jenny Levy said after the game. "They have been a team that has been battling, and I thought that in the second half they made some plays, their goalie made some saves, and they made some plays offensively and on the draws to give them an advantage, but obviously we are heartbroken. Especially for our senior group who has done just such a great job leading. There's Abbey [Friend] and Sloane [Serpe], but luckily we get two back next year in Margaret Corzel and Brittney Coppa. Obviously we hate to see our senior class leave ever, whether it's this time of year or a week later. I'm very proud of them and of their leadership this year. They definitely left a legacy at Carolina that I am very proud of."
Virginia got two goals and three assists from Casey Bocklet, two goals and two assists from Liza Blue and two goals and one assist from Mary Alati. Kelly Boyd and Maddy Keeshan both also scored twice for UVa.
Carolina got three goals each from senior Abbey Friend and freshman Carly Reed, as well as a goal and two assists from freshman Maggie Bill. Senior Taylor George and redshirt freshman Carly Davis also scored for UNC.
Friend ends her record-breaking Carolina career as the school's single-season and career leader in goals. She set the single-season mark on Saturday with her first score, breaking a tie with Kellie Thompson, who scored 62 times in 2002. Friend ends her season with career highs of 65 goals, 16 assists and 81 points (Kara Cannizzaro set the single-season points record with 83 last year). Friend finished her career with 198 goals and 250 points (second in program history behind Corey Donohoe's 256 total points from 2008-11).
Carolina controlled much of the action in the first half, scoring in the first minute and building a 3-1 lead less than seven minutes into the game. Virginia wouldn't go away, however, keeping it close until UNC finished the first half on a 3-1 run to take a 7-4 lead into the lockerroom at halftime.
George scored off an assist from Bill to start the second-half scoring, and the Tar Heels seemed to be in good shape with an 8-4 lead and 26:30 left to play. Virginia proceeded to hold Carolina scoreless for a span of 22:13, scoring six times in a row for a 10-8 lead. Friend scored an unassisted goal with 4:17 left, but the Tar Heels couldn't take advantage of their opportunities in the final minutes.
"Carolina is a fantastic team," Virginia head coach Julie Myers said afterward. "They made us work really hard for it, and I feel like we got the momentum at just the right time in the game. I couldn't be more proud of how hard the girls have worked, how we played today, with us coming off with the win and taking us to the Final Four. You couldn't script it any better for Virginia, so we're super excited."
Liz Colgan made nine saves in goal for Virginia. Caylee Waters started and played the first half for Carolina, making two saves and allowing four goals. Megan Ward played the second half in the usual UNC goalie rotation, taking the loss after allowing six goals and making three saves.
As a team, Carolina led in most statistical categories, including a 27-17 shot advantage, a 19-13 edge in ground balls and an 11-10 lead in draw controls. Virginia won six of the nine draws in the second half, however, keeping the ball away from UNC time and time again during its 6-0 run by winning the draw, working methodically on offense and scoring without giving the powerful Tar Heel offense a chance to respond.
The loss snapped Carolina's 15-game home NCAA Tournament winning streak. UNC is now 16-2 overall in home NCAA contests, last losing in 2000 to Loyola.
The Tar Heels had won nine games in a row over UVa and had ended Virginia's season in the NCAA Tournament at Fetzer Field three times in the last four years. Carolina beat the Cavs 14-10 in Charlottesville, Va., earlier this year in March, but after starting the season 4-6, UVa has won eight of its last 10 outings.
