Balanced Attack Leads Tar Heels Past Hokies, 17-8

Sunday, May 13

Raleigh, N.C.

1 PM

North Carolina

16-3

Virginia Tech

14-7

Virginia Tech

North Carolina

The Tar Heels advance to the NCAA quarterfinals to face Northwestern.

Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati

May 13, 2018 | Women's Lacrosse

Box Score Photos Interactive Bracket Final Stats (.pdf)

RALEIGH, N.C.—Second-seeded North Carolina (16-3) got multiple goals from six players and beat Virginia Tech (14-7) by a score of 17-8, in the NCAA Tournament second round on Sunday afternoon at Cardinal Gibbons High School.

The Tar Heels advanced to next weekend's quarterfinal round, where they will face Northwestern. The Wildcats won, 21-17, at No. 7 seed Towson on Sunday.

Carolina improved to 27-0 all-time against the Hokies and advance to the NCAA quarterfinals for the 14^thconsecutive season.

"Congratulations to Coach Sung and his staff and team at Virginia Tech," UNC head coach Jenny Levy said afterward. "From what he inherited two years ago to where they are today, they've just done great things. They've been a good team all season.

"I was really happy with what our team did today. We gave up eight goals, but some of that was self-inflicted damage. Our shooting percentage was really good today, we had a lot of assisted goals and the play of Marie McCool was just outstanding all over the field. It was a great team win overall, and we're really happy with what we did."

McCool led the Tar Heels with three goals, two assists and 13 draw controls, also causing two turnovers. Katie Hoeg had two goals and four assists, Jamie Ortega and Maggie Bill each had three goals and an assist and Ela Hazar added two goals and two assists. Olivia Ferrucci had two goals and one assist, while Scottie Rose Growney and Marisa DiVietro each had single goals for the Tar Heels.

Paige Petty led the Hokies with three goals, with Emma Crooks adding a goal and an assist.

Taylor Moreno (6-1) started for Carolina in goal and played well in picking up the win, making 11 saves in going the distance on a hot afternoon. Meagh Graham (14-7) had four saves for Virginia Tech.

UNC only out-shot the Hokies by a 28-25 margin, but the Tar Heels connected on 17 of those shots for a team shooting percentage of .607. Carolina had a 17-10 edge in draw controls, while Tech had a 20-13 advantage in ground balls.

The Tar Heels jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first 12:12 of the game, getting goals from five different scorers in a strong opening to the game. The Hokies clawed back with three consecutive goals in under seven minutes to make the score 5-3, before UNC closed the half on a 3-1 run for an 8-4 lead at the break.

After the Hokies scored first after halftime, the Tar Heels scored four of the next five goals to take a 12-6 lead and force a Viginia Tech timeout with 17:18 to go. Two more UNC goals later and the score was 14-6, and the Hokies never got closer than seven goals the rest of the way.