North Carolina
Penn St
Women's Lacrosse Overpowers No. 13 Penn State 19-9
April 1, 2001 | Women's Lacrosse
April 1, 2001
STATE COLLEGE, PA. - On a cold morning at PSU's Bigler Field, the No. 7-ranked North Carolina women's lacrosse team defeated No. 13 Penn State, 19-9. The Tar Heels (7-3) got three goals and three assists from Betsy Gaines and four goals and one assist from both Kellie Thompson and Amy Havrilla, en route to downing the Nittany Lions (3-6).
The Tar Heels came out firing early, as Kellie Thompson scored at 58:56 and Lindsay Stone found the back of the net on the restart, putting UNC up 2-0 in the opening two minutes. PSU quickly responded with a score from Ali DeCecco (Newtown Square, Pa.), but a Thompson free position goal put the Tar Heels up 3-1. Less than a minute later, Penn State's Molly Ford (West Trenton, N.J.) scored on a pass from Colleen O'Hara (Ardmore, Pa.), cutting the deficit to one, but Carolina responded with goals from Erin McInnes and Betsy Gaines. The Nittany Lions fought back, making the score 5-3 with a O'Hara goal from co-captain B.J. Lucey (Springfield, Pa.). After a pair of goals from Christine McPike stretched the North Carolina lead to 7-3, Penn State called time out, yet the Tar Heels retained momentum, getting goals from Amy Havrilla and Stone to close out the half leading 9-3.
Penn State's Kristin Wood (Wilton, Conn.) opened the second half with a goal just over a minute into the period. After the teams traded two goals apiece, making the score 11-6, UNC's Stone scored again, giving the Heels a 12-6 advantage and North Carolina never looked back, outscoring Penn State 7-3 down the stretch. Penn State got two second half goals from Katie Jeschke (Ellicott City, Md.), but UNC's Amy Havrilla led her team with a second half hat trick, notching her fourth goal of the day with only two seconds remaining in the contest.
North Carolina also got hat tricks from Christine McPike and Lindsay Stone. Penn State's Ford, Jeschke and Lucey all tallied two goals each.
Penn State goalkeeper Megan Ames (Alexandria, Va.) had 13 saves on the day while North Carolina's net-minder Melissa Coyne turned away seven Nittany Lion shots.
UNC returns to action next Saturday at 1 p.m. when the Tar Heels play host to Georgetown at Fetzer Field.
