North Carolina
Georgetown
Women's Lacrosse Stuns Unbeaten Hoyas
April 7, 2002 | Women's Lacrosse
April 7, 2002
WASHINGTON, D.C. - North Carolina scored eight goals in the second half, including the game winner with just 48.7 seconds left on the clock, to lift the No. 5 Tar Heels to an 11-10 upset over the No. 1 Georgetown University Hoyas in women's lacrosse action on Sunday at Kehoe Field. The win marked the third time this season that Carolina has knocked off a team ranked #1 in the nation at the time. Carolina beat Maryland 13-11 on March 3 and Duke 10-4 on March 16 on the other two occasions.
The win snapped Georgetown's eight-game win streak this season and marked the first time the Tar Heels have defeated the Hoyas since the 1999 season. The Hoyas last loss came against Maryland in last year's NCAA championship game and Carolina had lost four successive times to the Hoyas since beating them 10-6 in overtime in Chapel Hill three years ago.
Carolina was led in scoring by Erin McInnes and Beth Ames who each scored three goals. Kellie Thompson had a goal and two assists, Christine McPike a goal and an assist, Lindsay Stone two assists and Kate Boyle and Allison Higgins added single goals.
Georgetown sophomore midfielder Gloria Lozano led all scorers with four goals and an assist. Georgetown fell to 8-1 (3-0 Big East) on the season, while North Carolina improved to 9-2 (2-1 ACC).
Carolina wasted no time in reeling off three unanswered goals to take the lead. McInnes began the run with a goal off an assist from Thompson at 26:37 and McPike notched the second tally at 25:56 unassisted. Thompson made it 3-0 just 54 seconds later.
The Hoyas' offense awoke and responded with six unanswered goals before halftime. Lozano got Georgetown's offense started with back-to-back unassisted goals, the first at 13:32 and the second one minute and 22 seconds later. Junior attacker Wick Stanwick tied the score at 3-3 when she capitalized off a free position shot from the eight-meter mark at 10:47. Senior attacker Erin Elbe fired off consecutive goals at 3:53 and at 16.7 seconds to give the Hoyas a 5-3 advantage. Freshman attacker Sarah Oliphant was credited with the assist on Elbe's second goal. Sophomore midfielder Michi Ellers closed out the first half scoring after winning the draw and racing downfield to find the back of the net with just 5.9 seconds remaining in the first half. Georgetown took a 6-3 lead into the intermission.
McPike put UNC on the scoreboard first in the second half when she scored at 25:06, however, Lozano responded 33 seconds later to make the score 7-4 in favor of GU. Senior midfiedler Kate Ahearn made it 8-4 after she scored off a Lozano pass from a free position chance at 21:55, but Ames pulled UNC back to within three goals at 8-5 when she scored off a free position shot at the 20:28 mark.
Sophomore midfielder Anouk Peters gave GU a four-goal lead at 15:08 with an unassisted tally. That would be the Hoyas' last goal until the 1:25 mark as the Tar Heels embarked on a five-goal run to take a 10-9 lead. Ames started the furious rally with a goal with 13:59 to play in the second half and she scored again with 11:18 to play to cut the deficit to 9-7. Boyle scored her goal with 10:37 left in the second half and McInnes tallied her second goal of the game with 6:35 to play to forge a 9-9 tie.
Carolina then took the lead for the first time in the second half as Higgins scored the biggest goal of her freshman season to date to put the Heels up 10-9 with 2:10 left on the clock. Lozano knotted the score at 10-10 with 1:25 to go when she picked up a pass from Peters to score. Carolina won the draw and with just 48.7 seconds remaining on the clock, Stone found McInnes cutting in front of the goal for the score. It was McInnes' third goal of the game and it gave the Tar Heels won with an 11-10 decision.
Senior Chandler Vicchio made nine saves in goal for the Hoyas, while giving up 11 goals. Sophomore goalie Katelyn Hoffman rejected 10 Hoya shots on the day and allowed 10 goals. Georgetown outshot North Carolina 25-20, while Carolina held a 27-20 advantage in ground balls. Georgetown edged out the Tar Heels 12-11 on draw controls, however, UNC held a 12-10 advantage in caused turnovers and a 6-5 edge in free position shots
The Tar Heels will play their final regular season home of the season next Friday when they host Vanderbilt at 7 p.m. at Fetzer Field. Carolina then plays at James Madison next Sunday before heading to the ACC Tournament in Durham April 19 where it will be the #2 seed and play #3 seed Duke in the semifinals.
