University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Virginia Tech
Tar Heels Eliminate Hokies, 18-12
April 23, 2015 | Women's Lacrosse
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. – Second-ranked North Carolina got a career-high four goals from Kelly Devlin and three goals and three assists from Sydney Holman to beat Virginia Tech, 18-12, on Friday at Klockner Stadium in the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament quarterfinals. The top-seeded Tar Heels led just 8-7 at halftime but scored 10 goals on 14 second-half shots to pull away after the break from the eighth-seeded Hokies.
UNC won its sixth game in a row and improved to 7-0 in the ACC quarterfinals all-time and 4-0 against Virginia Tech in ACC Tournament play. The Tar Heels advance to Friday's 1 p.m. semifinal against fifth-seeded Notre Dame which beat fourth-seeded Virginia on Thursday.
Although Devlin and Holman did much of the damage offensively, the Tar Heels got goals from eight different scorers, including three from Maggie Bill, two goals and an assist from Aly Messinger and a goal and two assists from Sammy Jo Tracy. Marie McCool and Carly Reed both scored twice, while Stephanie Lobb added one goal. Meg Bartley and Megan Will both had three goals and an assist for the Hokies.
UNC led 4-1 in the first 10:31 of the game, only to see Virginia Tech go on a 4-0 run over a span of 5:45 to take a 5-4 lead, forcing a Tar Heel timeout. Carolina responded with three goals in a row for a 7-5 advantage and eventually led, 8-7, at the break. UNC held a 24-10 shot advantage in first half but Hokie goalie Meagh Graham had 10 first-half saves. Seven different players scored the Tar Heels' first seven goals.
UNC went on a 4-1 run to start the second half, eventually leading by as many as seven goals at 17-10 and 18-11 before a Hokie goal with 0:01 remaining gave Tech its 12th score of the day.
“The biggest difference between the two halves is that shots started falling in the second half," Tar Heel head coach Jenny Levy said afterward. "I thought Meg Ward and Caylee Waters did a nice job of coming in and making saves. They scored 7 of their 9 shots in the first half, and that is not something that Caylee (Waters) has done much, but she will be better tomorrow.
"We were happy with the effort today. I thought we were sloppy in a lot of places and obviously tomorrow is a new day and we will play a lot better tomorrow than we did today.”
Overall, Carolina out-shot Virginia Tech, 38-24, and won 23 ground balls to the Hokies' 18. The Tar Heels controlled 17 draws to Virginia Tech's 13.
Caylee Waters started in goal for Carolina and played the first half, improving to 13-2 this season while allowing seven goals and making two saves. Megan Ward played the second half, recording seven saves and allowing five goals. Graham went the distance in the cage for the Hokies, finishing with a career-high 12 saves.
