Slow start can’t deter UNC women's lacrosse team

In typical North Carolina fashion, the Tar Heels won the opening draw of their Wednesday night matchup against No. 4 Duke, and leading scorer Corey Donohoe broke away for the goal.

In eight of UNC’s 12 previous games, the Tar Heels have scored in the first three minutes of play.

But not this time.

Donohoe had an open path to the goal on the first possession of the game but suddenly dropped the ball before taking the shot.

Despite playing a sloppy first half, the No. 2 Tar Heels cleaned up their act in the second period, beating their ACC rival 9-6.

“I think we had some opportunities that we either didn’t capitalize on or we were a little impatient,” UNC coach Jenny Levy said. “We didn’t touch the ball that much. That affected our rhythm.”

Duke led 2-0 before the North Carolina got on the board. With 5:31 left in the first half, attacker Becky Lynch scored the first goal for UNC unassisted. The almost 25 minutes of waiting for a score was the longest for the Tar Heels all season.

“During the first games of the season we had a little trouble getting into the games,” Lynch said. “We’ve been in the situation before, so we knew that as long as we got into our rhythm, it would stay there.”

But the rhythm wouldn’t come until the second half. Before Wednesday’s game, the Tar Heels averaged 17 shots in the first half. Against Duke, they had only five.

The Blue Devils were on attack for most of the first half, keeping the Tar Heel defense on their toes. But UNC goalie Logan Ripley wasn’t fazed.

“Our defense was holding them to weak shots. They weren’t getting a lot on cage,” she said. “It made my job pretty easy.”

The Tar Heels took 11 shots on goal in the second half and scored six times in just more than 14 minutes. Lynch led UNC with three goals and an assist, placing her third-best on the team in goals scored with 28.

 “This year she’s just exploded,” Levy said. “She’s a great player, and she’s an even better person. She’s never too high and never too low. She’s just happy to be on the team and contributing to our success.”

The Tar Heels, now 12-1 (4-1), finished their conference schedule tied with Virginia for first place. UNC will possibly meet Duke again in the upcoming ACC Tournament.

And Levy hopes that next time, the game goes a little better.

“I don’t think we played particularly well,” she said. “Duke did a great job and affected some of the things we like to do. But I was really happy that we got ourselves focused, we fought back and we showed resilience and poise.”



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