The No.1 North Carolina women’s lacrosse team (15-0, 8-0 ACC) defeated No. 5 Duke (15-2, 6-2 ACC) 18-4 at Dorrance Field on Thursday night to clinch the ACC regular season title.
What happened?
Duke attacker Maddie Jenner won her first of many draw controls to begin the game, but Duke could not handle the Tar Heels’ ride as stifling defense by senior attacker Scottie Rose Growney forced a turnover on the first Duke possession.
Off the turnover, redshirt junior midfielder Elizabeth Hillman broke away from her defender and opened the night’s scoring with a unassisted goal past the reach of first-year goalkeeper Kennedy Everson. Soon after, North Carolina padded the lead with a goal from Growney off a pass from fifth-year senior attacker Jamie Ortega.
The Blue Devils quickly answered with two goals within the span of a minute to even the score at 2-2 with 10:16 remaining in the first period.
Following both teams’ scoring bursts, the game’s defensive intensity amped up and resulted in a 9-minute scoring drought until Growney snuck her second goal into the back of the net with 48.9 seconds left.
North Carolina dominated the second period scoring six unanswered goals. Graduate midfielder Ally Mastroianni led the charge with a hat trick in the period while Ortega added two more goals, and Growney had one.
Stellar reflexes by graduate goalkeeper Taylor Moreno and air-tight defense by the Tar Heels perfectly complimented the offensive onslaught as the defensive unit relinquished no goals to the No.1 scoring offense in the nation and forced four turnovers.
Riding the second period’s momentum, North Carolina never took their foot off the gas and continued to pile on goal after goal. Four different Tar Heels scored in the third period, but it was the defense that sealed the game early.
