North Carolina
Duke
Tar Heels Nip Blue Devils, 9-7, To Clinch ACC Tournament No. 2 Seed
April 17, 2009 | Women's Lacrosse
April 17, 2009
DURHAM, N.C. - Megan Bosica and Kristen Taylor scored late goals in a span of less than two minutes late in the game as fourth-ranked North Carolina beat sixth-ranked Duke, 9-7, on Friday night at Koskinen Stadium in Durham.
With the win, Carolina improves to 12-3 this season, 4-1 in the Atlantic Coast Conference and clinches the No. 2 seed in next weekend's ACC Tournament in Blacksburg, Va. Duke falls to 10-4, 3-2. As the No. 2 seed, UNC will receive a bye to the semifinals of the conference tournament.
The win was worth one point for UNC in the 2008-09 standings for the Carlyle Cup, the annual multisport competition between Carolina and Duke. The Tar Heels hold a 12.5 to 8.5 lead in the standings after Friday's win.
Bosica scored on a free position attempt from the left wing with 6:02 left in the game to break a 7-7 tie and Taylor followed with a goal off an assist from Lynch with 4:12 left to ice the victory.
Becky Lynch led the Tar Heels with two goals and one assist. Jenn Russell added two goals despite suffering a bloody lip midway through the second half, while Corey Donohoe had a goal and an assist. Chelsea Parks and Laura Zimmerman had single goals for UNC and Kristen Carr had an assist.
Junior Logan Ripley played very well in goal for UNC, recording 13 saves. Duke entered the game averaging nearly 16 goals per game but scored just seven times on Friday. The seven goals tied a season low for the Blue Devils.
Ripley and the UNC defense held Duke scoreless for more than 27 minutes, a stretch spanning the last 11:34 of the first half and the first 15:47 of the second half.
UNC jumped out to an early, 2-0 lead behind a pair of goals from Russell in the opening seven minutes of play. Duke responded by scoring five of the next six goals to take a 5-3 lead with 11:30 left before halftime. After a UNC timeout, Parks drew the Tar Heels to within a goal at 5-4 with a score on a cross off a pass from Donohoe with 32 seconds left before the break.
Goals from Donohoe, Lynch and Zimmerman allowed UNC to record the first three goals of the second half and take a 7-5 lead with 16:25 left to play. After a timeout, Duke scored consecutive goals to tie the game at seven goals apiece with 8:37 to go.
A UNC timeout led to the back-to-back goals from Bosica and Taylor that finalized the scoring on the evening.
Carolina will return to action on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. against Stanford in the Tar Heels' regular season finale at Fetzer Field in Chapel Hill.
