Women's lacrosse downs UMd. for win

The Maryland women’s lacrosse team has to be growing weary of facing ACC rival North Carolina.

Led by Kristen Taylor’s four goals and goaltender Logan Ripley’s career-high 13 saves, the No. 3 Tar Heels defeated the previously undefeated No. 2 Terrapins 13-9 Saturday afternoon at Fetzer Field.

The UNC (11-1, 3-1 ACC) victory handed Maryland (12-1, 3-1) only its second loss in its last 35 games, the other also to the Tar Heels in last year’s national semifinal.

“What was nice about this game is they’ve had a lot of, I guess you could say excuses about they didn’t play well, they didn’t show up to the final four,” UNC senior defender Kristen Carr said. “So it was really awesome for our team to come out and to make a statement and be like, no, this is who we are.”

UNC led 6-4 going into the halfway point after the two teams played a tight first 30 minutes that featured great defense and fantastic goaltending by both teams. Ripley made eight first-half saves, and Maryland’s Brittany Dipper had five of her own.

At the start of the second half, UNC began to increase its lead. The Tar Heels were able to score the first three goals of the half due in large part to their ability to control possession off the draw. Carr’s work on the draws led to a 15-9 draw control possession for UNC in the game.

“We’ve really been practicing the draw this year throughout the whole season and we’ve really made it an emphasis,” Carr said.

UNC’s lead swelled to six with less than 10 minutes to play, but the Terps did not quit, scoring three straight to cut the lead to three at 12-9.

With 4:45 left, UNC’s Laura Zimmerman was able to get off a pass while falling to Taylor, who ripped a shot from 10 yards out to give the Tar Heels a 13-9 lead that would eventually be the final.

“I thought it was a really important goal actually because I think up by three is fool’s gold,” UNC coach Jenny Levy said. “I think it’s anyone’s game still if you’re up by three.”

While the offense was key in putting the game away, it was defense and goaltending that allowed the Tar Heels to take down the undefeated Terps.

“Our focus on (defense) was to stick together as a unit and just not to give up,” Carr said. “Maryland has a powerhouse offense, and we were able to stop them.”

Ripley was key in stopping the vaunted offense, making numerous close saves by stuffing Maryland players.

“It’s always nice to come up with those saves,” Ripley said. “That’s something we do every day in practice as part of the warm-ups, so I think getting those shots a lot really helps.”

With the victory, UNC is expected to move to No. 2 in the polls but will have to work to maintain that spot as they face No. 5 Duke on Wednesday and then travel to play defending champion No. 1 Northwestern on Sunday.



Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.