Second-Half Blitz Sends Tar Heels To ACC Final, 16-11

Saturday, April 27

Chestnut Hill, Mass.

Noon

North Carolina

14-3

Duke

10-8

Duke

North Carolina

Carolina advances to its fifth ACC title game in a row.

Photo by: ACC

April 27, 2019 | Women's Lacrosse

Box Score Final Stats (.pdf)Photos

CHESTNUT HILL, MASS.—The script is growing very familiar for the North Carolina women's lacrosse team.

The second-seeded Tar Heels eased away from rival Duke in the second half for a 16-11 win in Saturday's Atlantic Coast Conference Championship semifinal game at Alumni Stadium, earning the chance to play for their fourth consecutive league title.

UNC will face an unbeaten and top-seeded Boston College squad for the second consecutive year in Sunday's 1 p.m. title game. The Tar Heels handed the Eagles their first defeat of the 2018 season in last year's championship game with a 14-11 victory in Durham.

Boston College defeated the Tar Heels 14-8 in this year's regular-season meeting at Chapel Hill on March 23. The Eagles enter Sunday's game ranked No. 1 nationally, while the Tar Heels hold the No. 3 spot in both major polls.

Sunday will mark the fifth consecutive appearance in the ACC Championship final for the Tar Heels, who have won 11 consecutive games in the tournament since falling to Syracuse in overtime in the 2015 title game at Charlottesville.

Midfielder Olivia Ferrucci stepped up big for UNC on Saturday with a career high six points on three goals and three assists. The Naples, Florida, junior scored two goals and assisted on another during a key stretch of the second half that saw the Tar Heels turn a tie game into a 12-9 lead that they never relinquished.

Kara Klages added a season-high four goals, and Jamie Ortega also scored four times for UNC (14-3) to push her season total to an even 70.

Olivia Jenner's scored all four of her goals in the first half for sixth-seeded Duke (10-8) and reached double-figures in draw controls for the third time this season with 12. Katie Cronin added a hat track, and Charlotte North scored twice. North's 96 points this season tie the Duke school record.

Duke held a 7-6 edge at the end of an opening half that featured four ties and three lead changes. The Blue Devils' final lead of the game came at 27:02, when Catherine Cordrey scored unassisted to make it 8-7.

UNC defeated Duke for the second time in a week after posting a 19-5 victory in last Saturday's regular-season finale. The Tar Heels own 10 consecutive wins over the Blue Devils and have taken 18 of the last 21 meetings in the series.

NOTABLES
•               The game was originally scheduled for Friday night but was moved to Saturday due to stormy weather on Friday night.
•               Jamie Ortega followed her 12-point performance in Wednesday's ACC quarterfinal vs. Virginia Tech with four goals and an assist against Duke. In five career ACC Tournament games, Ortega has tallied 33 points (27 goals and six assists).
•               Hoeg had four assists vs. Duke to bring her career total to 119, second-best in school history to Ela Hazar's 121.
•               Hoeg's 60 assists this season are a school record, surpassing her own UNC single-season school record of 50, set last year.
•                Senior Elise Hennessey (1-0) played the final 33:20 for Carolina to pick up her first win of the season in goal, making a season-high nine saves and allowing four goals.
•               Carolina now leads the all-time series with Duke, 25-14.  The Tar Heels have won 10 in a row over the Blue Devils, 13 of the last 14 and 18 of the last 21 meetings in the series.
•               UNC improved to 8-4 against Duke in the ACC Tournament.
•               UNC advances to Sunday's ACC championship game to play top-seeded and top-ranked Boston College at 1 p.m.