North Carolina
George Mason
No. 5 Tar Heels Rally Past No. 11 George Mason, 10-6
March 19, 2000 | Women's Lacrosse
March 19, 2000
FAIRFAX, Va - The fifth-ranked North Carolina women's lacrosse team bounced back from a disappointing loss to 12th-rated Boston University Friday night by rallying past the 11th-ranked George Mason Patriots 10-6 Sunday afternoon at George Mason Stadium in Fairfax, Va. The Tar Heels improved to 5-2 on the season with the win over the Patriots, who lost for the first time and fell to 3-1.
The Tar Heels needed a second half rally to pull of the win, however. Carolina fell behind for the first time in the game at 6-5 with 19:03 to play but the Heels then ran off the final five goals of the game in the last 18:53 to pull off a much needed victory.
The victory was much needed because the Tar Heels' next two games come against Atlantic Coast Conference rivals and Top 5 foes Virginia and Duke. The Tar Heels play at fourth-ranked Virginia next Saturday before returning home for the first time in 17 days to host second-ranked Duke on Wednesday, March 29 at 7 p.m.
The Tar Heels started out Sunday's game well as Kellie Thompson scored a pair of unassisted goals to put UNC up 2-0. But George Mason reserve Liz Paoli scored a pair of unassisted goals of her own to tie the game at 2-2. UNC's Betsy Gaines and Paoli traded goals before Carolina senior Meghann Mohler, who led the Tar Heels with three goals and two assists, put the Tar Heels up 4-3 at halftime with a goal 1:37 before intermission.
The Patriots would come out strong in the second half and score three of the first four goals of the period as Kinsley O'Garrow assisted on all three goals for the Patriots. Katie Keegan of George Mason tied the game for GMU at 5-5 with 19:42 left in the game and then 39 seconds later Jill Toomey gave the Patriots their first lead of the game at 6-5.
The Tar Heels would not trail for long. Just 10 seconds after Toomey gave the Patriots the lead, UNC's Amy Havrilla took a feed from Lindsay Stone and tied the score. The Tar Heels took the lead for good with 16,25 left in the second half as Mohler fed Gaines for the goal. Mohler scored the next two goals for UNC, the second assisted by Gaines as the Tar Heels went up 9-6 with 3:53 left.
Kate Boyle then finished off the scoring for Carolina, taking a pass from Mohler and scoring with 36 seconds to play.
The Tar Heels had 26 total shots to 21 for GMU. Both goalies--UNC's Melissa Coyne and George Mason's Jamie Tiburzi--recorded 11 saves in the game.
| Line Score | 1 | 2 | Final |
| No. 11 George Mason | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| No. 5 North Carolina | 4 | 6 | 10 |
Goals--George Mason: Liz Paoli-3, Katie Keegan, Jill Toomey, Cara McFadden.
Goals--North Carolina: Meghann Mohler-3, Kellie Thompson-2, Betsey Gaines-2, Christine McPike, Amy Havrilla, Kate Boyle.
Assists--George Mason: Kinsley O'Garrow-3, Laura Thornburg
Assists--North Carolina: Mohler-2, Gaines, Lindsay Stone
Goalkeeper--George Mason: Jamie Tiburzi, 60 minutes, 10 GA, 11 saves
Goalkeeper--North Carolina: Melissa Coyne, 60 minutes, 6 GA, 8 saves
| Team | Shots | Ground Balls | Caused TO | TO | Draw Controls |
| George Mason | 21 | 28 | 13 | 15 | 8 |
| North Carolina | 26 | 28 | 10 | 14 | 10 |
