UNC women’s lacrosse falls prey to Eagles

Down 10-9 to No. 4 Boston College with barely a minute left in overtime, the No. 3 North Carolina women’s lacrosse team needed a score. Badly.

And with an open net in front of her, senior midfielder Kelly Devlin had her chance. She received a pass from junior attacker Aly Messinger and rocketed the ball toward the goal, but it never reached the net.

In a flash, the Boston College goalkeeper dove to her right and stopped the ball. The Eagles retained possession and drained the clock – game over.

Boston College’s 10-9 victory over the Tar Heels (8-2, 1-1) was the Eagles’ (9-0, 4-0) first win in Chapel Hill and just the second time the program has ever beaten UNC.

“We had some opportunities that we didn’t finish,” said Coach Jenny Levy. “We have to keep putting the ball in the back of the net. BC just made more plays than we did.”

In the first half, the Tar Heels could not generate any offense. Boston College opened up with a 2-0 lead and eventually took a 4-2 advantage into the locker room. UNC managed just two goals despite having 14 shots.

In the second half, the fireworks began for UNC. The Tar Heels lit up Boston College with seven goals in a little over 11 minutes to take an 9-7 lead.

“We were paying attention to the game plan and following through,” Levy said. “That helped us to get to where we wanted to be in the game.”

But UNC’s control would not last for long. The Eagles erased that lead and sent the game into overtime. Boston College’s Mikaela Rix wrapped around the net from the right side and pushed the ball past the goalkeeper to help the Eagles grab the lead.

And Boston College’s goalie made a diving spot later in overtime to seal the victory – her ninth and most important save of the game.

“It was a great play on her part,” senior midfielder Brittney Coppa said. “Aly Messinger scooped the ball up, and she was on the side of the cage, so she passed it to Kelly Devlin in the middle to just finish and out of no where the goalie came. She shot it low, but the goalie just dove back in the cage.”

Sophomore attacker Molly Hendrick led the way for the Tar Heels with four goals, and sophomore midfielder Maggie Bill added two of her own. On the season, the Tar Heels are now 3-2 versus top-10 opponents.

Despite the loss, Hendrick said nothing major needed to change. Draw controls and finished possessions — those are the keys to maintaining success.

“We just need to clean up the small stuff,” Hendrick said. “We need to get one full, consistent game under our belt.”

sports@dailytarheel.com