The No. 2 North Carolina women’s lacrosse team pulled away in the final nine minutes of the game to take care of High Point, 13-9, on Friday night at Kenan Memorial Stadium.
UNC defeated High Point for the fifth consecutive year and the Tar Heels (2-0) now lead the all-time series with the Panthers (1-1), seven wins to none.
What happened?
High Point senior attacker Allie Little scored the first goal of the game at the 25:53 mark of the first half, but the Panthers didn’t enjoy the lead for long.
Just 21 seconds later, UNC sophomore attacker Jamie Ortega struck.
The reigning National and ACC Freshman of the Year scored twice in 25 seconds: at the 25:32 and 25:07 marks of the contest. She also assisted on the Tar Heels’ next two goals, before scoring the team’s final goal of the opening half.
With 24:24 left to play until halftime, Ortega hit junior attacker Olivia Ferrucci with a pass on a fastbreak that led to UNC’s third goal of the contest. Then, with 6:21 left before the intermission, she found first-year attacker Tayler Warehime, who pump faked before slinging a ball past the feet of High Point goalie Sarah Zeto to give UNC a 4-2 advantage.
The Panthers quickly responded with a goal from junior midfielder Ashley Britton at the 5:55 mark. And even when Ortega found the top right corner of the net for her third goal of the contest, High Point answered with two more goals of its own to tie the game, 5-5, headed into halftime.
UNC looked to put the game away in the early minutes of the second half. By the 26:44 mark, first-year Elizabeth Hillman, Ortega and junior attacker Katie Hoeg had all scored. But just like in the first half, the Panthers had an answer.
