University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Notre Dame
Tar Heels Hang On, 9-8, At Notre Dame
March 29, 2015 | Women's Lacrosse
SOUTH BEND, IND.—Caylee Waters tied her career high with 13 saves and Brittney Coppa scored the game-winning goal with under four minutes to play as the North Carolina women's lacrosse team won, 9-8, at Notre Dame on Sunday afternoon. Carolina led, 7-1, in the first half before the Fighting Irish tied the score at 8-all late in the game.
Waters tied her career high with 13 saves on the day, playing all 60 minutes. She also had 13 saves in 2014 at Syracuse.
Molly Hendrick assisted on Coppa's game-winner and led the Tar Heels with four points on two goals and two assists. Sam McGee had a goal and two assists for UNC. Coppa and Marie McCool both scored twice, while Kelly Devlin and Sydney Holman both scored once.
Courtney Fortunato led Notre Dame with 2 goals and one assist. Casey Pearsall had two goals.
After the game was tied, 1-1, in the early going, Carolina went on a 6-0 scoring run to take control of the first half. The Tar Heels got two goals apiece from Hendrick and McCool during the run and Waters was tremendous in the goal in the first half, making nine saves. Notre Dame outshot the Tar Heels, 17-12, in the first half but UNC led 7-2 at the break by connecting on seven of its 12 shots.
After Carolina had taken its 7-1 lead, it was almost all Notre Dame, which went on a 7-1 run of its own to tie the game at 8-all with just over five minutes remaining in the game. UNC went scoreless for over 21 minutes of game time after Holman put the Tar Heels ahead 7-1 with a free position goal with 8:30 left in the first half until Devlin's goal with 17:02 left in the game
Devlin put UNC ahead 8-5, but the Irish responded quickly with a rebound goal only 34 seconds later that made it 8-6. Notre Dame's Fortunato scored unassisted, making it 8-7, and Rachel Sexton tied the game at 8-all with 5:08 remaining. Coppa took the pass from Hendrick and slipped it into the cage with 3:55 to go for a 9-8 Tar Heel lead that proved to be the final margin.
Notre Dame outshot Carolina, 31-18, overall in the game.
Having won at Virginia Tech last Wednesday, Carolina will complete its three-game road swing next Saturday at Louisville in the first-ever ACC meeting between the schools. The Tar Heels will host their final regular season home game on April 11 vs. Syracuse.
