Women's Lacrosse Routs Vanderbilt

The No. 8 Commodores were frozen on the tracks, and the No. 4 North Carolina express train ran right over them for its fifth win in a row.

In its regular-season home finale, the women's lacrosse team won 14-6 at Henry Stadium on Friday. But the final score wasn't indicative of the actual competitiveness of the game.

Vanderbilt (7-3) scored three goals in the final nine minutes of a game that was sometimes sloppy, but dominated by the Tar Heels (10-2) throughout.

The Commodores' offense was out of sync for most of the game. They dropped passes, missed uncontested shots and failed to convert on six free-position shots.

Even when a Commodore decided to make a run for a shot, a Tar Heel defender was usually there to mark her.

"We played really feisty today," said UNC defender Jazmine Norton. "Our best defense is team defense.

"We weren't playing individually, we were helping each other and talking a lot. We play got-your-back lacrosse."

UNC coach Jenny Slingluff Levy lauded her defenders' play.

"Our core defense is very strong," Slingluff Levy said. "They're all really good one-on-one defenders, and they're starting to play great as a unit."

The UNC offense also played well, with senior midfielder Christine McPike leading a balanced attack.

McPike scored four goals while wearing a face mask to protect her nose, which she broke three weeks ago in UNC's loss to Virginia.

"I just wanted to do whatever I could to help our team win," McPike said.

The offense did have its hiccups, though.

After UNC scored five goals in the game's first 10 minutes -- including senior Lindsay Stone's first of her three strikes just 40 seconds in -- the team lost its rhythm and began dropping passes and missing shots. The Tar Heels went into the half on top 7-2.

UNC responded in the second half with Stone and fellow senior Kellie Thompson each scoring unassisted goals early in the second half. The Tar Heels never looked back.

"This team does better thinking it's the underdog," Slingluff Levy said. "So every second half, we go out with a mindset that we're down three goals. It was nice to reestablish what we were doing in the second half."

Tar Heels Stop James Madison

HARRISONBURG, Va. -- Sunday, North Carolina won its sixth straight game, topping No. 11 James Madison 5-4. Erin McInnes scored three goals, including the game-winner, to lead UNC.

The Sports Editor can be reached at sports@unc.edu.