Growney Paces Tar Heels In Rivalry Win Over Maryland

Saturday, February 22

Chapel Hill, N.C.

1 p.m.

North Carolina

4-0

Maryland

1-2

Maryland

North Carolina

Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati

February 22, 2020 | Women's Lacrosse

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By: Pat James

CHAPEL HILL – Scottie Rose Growney scored a career-high six goals and Jamie Ortega added four goals and three assists as top-ranked North Carolina downed No. 3 Maryland 19-6 on Saturday afternoon at Dorrance Field.

UNC's 19 goals marked its most in 41 all-time games against the Terrapins, surpassing its previous best of 17, set on two occasions. The Tar Heels' 13-goal margin of victory was also their largest in the history of the rivalry, besting Carolina's 13-7 win in the 2016 national championship game.

Growney was electric for UNC, scoring her six goals on a career-high 12 shots. No Tar Heel had scored as many goals against the Terrapins since Erin McGinnis (1996-99) had six in a 19-17 overtime loss on April 24, 1999. Ortega was almost just as lethal for Carolina, finishing with seven points for the fourth time in as many games this season.

In addition to Growney and Ortega, UNC got four goals and an assist from Katie Hoeg and two goals from Tayler Warehime. Marisa DiVietro, Ally Mastroianni and Brooklyn Neumen also chipped in with a goal apiece. All three of their goals came in the second half, during which the Tar Heels outscored the Terrapins 12-2.

With the win, UNC improves to 4-0 for the first time since 2014. Maryland falls to 1-2, and has lost back-to-back games for the first time since dropping three straight to end the 2006 season.

Key moments

The Tar Heels faced some adversity early in Saturday's game, as the Terrapins seized a 1-0 lead on a goal by Brindi Griffin just 44 seconds into play. Carolina then committed its first shot clock violation of the season after winning the ensuing draw. None of that, however, deterred UNC, as Ortega, Growney and Hoeg scored the next three goals.
Maryland answered the Tar Heels' 3-0 run by scoring two of the next three goals, cutting Carolina's lead to 4-3 with 16:49 left in the first half. But once again, UNC responded with a 3-0 run, featuring two goals by Growney and one by Warehime. The Terrapins scored one more time before halftime, but the Tar Heels still entered the break with a 7-4 lead.
Coming out of halftime, Carolina took control of the game, thanks to a 5-1 run that began with a goal by Hoeg at the 26:28 mark of the second half. Hannah Warther eventually ended that spurt, scoring with 16:22 left to trim UNC's lead to 12-6. That, however, proved to be the Terrapins' final goal, as the Tar Heels finished the game on a 7-0 run.

Noteworthy

Carolina outshot Maryland 39-19.
UNC's 19 goals were the most surrendered by the Terrapins since they gave up 19 against Duke on April 28, 2006.
Through four games, the Tar Heels have outscored their opponents 80-21. They have yet to allow more than seven goals.
Growney's six goals broke her previous career high of four, set against Florida on May 12, 2019. Her six points were also a career high, besting her previous mark of four, set on two occasions.
With seven points, Ortega moved past Kellie Thompson (1999-2002) and into a tie with Becky Lynch (2009-12) for sixth on UNC's career points list with 228.
With four goals, Ortega moved into a tie with Thompson for fifth on Carolina's career goals list with 169.
With five points, Hoeg is now eight shy of Marie McCool (2015-18) for third on UNC's career points list with 238.
Hoeg's four goals matched her season high, set against High Point on Feb. 14.
Ortega and Hoeg combined for 216 of Carolina's 490 points last season, becoming the first pair of 100-point scorers in program history. Through four games this season, they've totaled 59 of UNC's 124 points.
Caroline Wakefield collected a career-high five ground balls, the most by a Tar Heel since Catie Woodruff had five against Syracuse on April, 13, 2019. Wakefield recorded her previous best of four ground balls on three occasions.
Freshman Julia Dorsey established a season high with three draw controls. She also gathered three ground balls, matching her season high, set against Davidson last Sunday.
Mastroianni set a season high with five draw controls, as many as she had in the first three games of the season combined.
After not scoring a goal in her first 22 career games, Neumen has scored one in each of her last two.

Quotable

UNC head coach Jenny Levy after the game: "Obviously, it's a big game for us. They lost a lot of kids last year and they're working through their young guys. But for us, it was a great day. We had a lot of good contributions. I thought we got off to a little bit of a slow start, and we made some adjustments at halftime. I thought once we started going a little harder in the second half, it broke open offensively for us. But credit our defense; they're really good and they played great today. Maryland goes hard at you and puts a lot of pressure on you, and I thought we did a good job there."

Growney after the game: "It's really surreal. I think you always dream about putting running time on a team like Maryland and getting our subs in. It was really a dream to come out here and (do so). It was a total team effort. We really killed it. I mean, it was fun. We really are still so high on adrenaline."

Up next

The Tar Heels will return to action next Saturday, when they'll travel to Charlottesville, Va., for their ACC opener against No. 8 Virginia. The opening draw is scheduled for 12 p.m.