UNC storms past Old Dominion

Moments after firing a shot past Old Dominion’s goalkeeper, North Carolina’s Kara Cannizzaro ran and leapt into Corey Donohoe’s outstretched arms for a celebratory hug.

Cannizzaro’s goal put the Tar Heels ahead 9-3 with just less than 12 minutes remaining in the first half. It was the sophomore’s second goal of the day and one of UNC’s season-high 18 goals in the 18-7 rout.

“When I was coming down the field, I saw her just sprinting her butt off to get down the field,” said Donohoe, who had the assist on the play. “For her to get past her defender and work so hard to get that and just finish it — it was just really exciting.”

The Tar Heels (10-2) dominated the entire game, starting with a 4-0 run in the first three minutes to begin the contest.

North Carolina won 20 of 27 total draw controls, giving the Tar Heels more opportunities on offense and often allowing them to keep the ball after scoring.

“Possession is key to scoring, so it’s something that we’ve always focused on,” coach Jenny Levy said. “We were really dominating the draw in both games this weekend.

“We were really working on valuing possession, and when we get possession, doing something with that.”

As good as the offense was, the defense was as impressive for UNC. The defense caused 13 turnovers and hustled to grab 21 ground balls.

Many of UNC’s 31 shots were set up by passes from other attackers. Of UNC’s 18 goals, eight came off assists.

“It was basically just reading how they’re playing you and really showing and popping to the middle when you’re open,” said Donohoe, who tied Kellie Thompson as UNC’s all-time leading points scorer. “People were hitting the cutters in the first half and getting a lot of assisted goals.”

UNC’s attack was also aided by balanced scoring. Eleven different Tar Heels watched their shots hit the back of the net.

Abbey Friend led UNC with four goals and Laura Zimmerman added three of her own. All of Zimmerman’s goals and all but one of Friend’s came in the first half. UNC took a 14-3 advantage into the break, causing a running clock early into the game.

“I thought the first half was a great example of our ability to score goals in dozens, plus one — baker’s dozens — when we keep our focus and keep pushing,” Levy said.

“We scored in a lot of different ways and we shared the ball a lot.”

With meetings with No. 1 Maryland and No. 3 Duke on the horizon, the Tar Heels could have easily looked past 1-7 Old Dominion. But instead, UNC used this game to tune up for the upcoming ACC battles.

“Our bigger focus is on how we wanted to play the game,” Levy said. “It’s not really about our opponent, it’s about showing we can play this game.”

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