University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Notre Dame
Third-Ranked UNC Stays Unbeaten In ACC With Win Over Irish
April 3, 2016 | Women's Lacrosse
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Behind four goals from junior Molly Hendrick, the third-ranked North Carolina women's lacrosse team beat No. 5 Notre Dame 14-8 Sunday at Fetzer Field. The Tar Heels improved to 10-2 overall and stayed undefeated in Atlantic Coast Conference play at 4-0. The Fighting Irish fell to 10-3 overall and 3-3 in ACC play.
Hendrick, coming off a career-high six goals in UNC's last outing, had a hat trick in the first 14 minutes of play and then added one more in the second half. Sammy Jo Tracy, Marie McCool, Charlotte Sofield and Carly Reed scored two goals each, and Aly Messinger and Gianna Bowe added one each.
Alex Dalton and Rachel Sexton scored two each for Notre Dame, which came into the game ranked second in the nation in offense with an average of 16 goals per game.
“A really good team win for our group,” UNC coach Jenny Levy said. “We've been working hard at getting better and playing a full game. I still think we have a little bit to go with that – it got sloppy at points. We had opportunities to even do better. But I'm excited about the performance and looking forward to getting better.
“Notre Dame is a really good team. We felt like it was going to take a total team effort for 60 minutes with everyone contributing and locked in for the whole entire time. I thought for the most part we did that.”
After the teams were tied at 1-1 early, The Tar Heels went on an 8-0 run that spanned the next 13 minutes and gave them a 9-1 advantage. Notre Dame scored two goals within a minutes late in the first half to pull to 9-3 at halftime.
“We've been working really hard in practice and we wanted to emphasize fast breaks in this game in particular,” Hendrick said. “It was good to get up 9-1 early.”
In the second half, UNC opened with a quick goal by Tracy, who scored on an assist from Hazar just 49 seconds into the period. With the home team up 10-3, Notre Dame went on a three-goal run in just over two minutes to pull within four, 10-6. Tar Heel keeper Caylee Waters made three saves to slow the Notre Dame momentum before the Irish added one more, pulling within three at 10-7 with 15:57 to play.
Carolina answered quickly, with an unassisted goal by Sofield just 32 seconds later. But Notre Dame's Sexton scored again, assisted by Cortney Fortunato, to again draw within three. The Irish would get no closer, though, as UNC closed with a three-goal run, the final one by Reed with 6:50 to play. Waters had her fourth save of the period on a shot by Fortunato with just over a minute remaining, preserving the Tar Heels' cushion.
For the game, UNC led 28-21 in shots, with 18 of those in the first half. (Notre Dame led 13-10 on shots in the second half.) Waters finished with eight saves, while Irish goalkeeper Samantha Giocolone had nine, six of those in the first half.
Next up for UNC is another highly-ranked opponent as the Tar Heels host No.6 Louisville on Saturday (April 9) at noon.
