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The Daily Tar Heel

UNC drops third straight ACC title

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The UNC womens lacrosse team lost 13-10 against Maryland in the final round of the ACC tournament.

On April 7 in Chapel Hill, junior midfielder Kara Cannizzaro tormented Maryland, scoring five goals in a 14-11 victory against the Terrapins.

But Monday in the ACC championship game, it was the Terrapins who did the tormenting, as they passed the ball around the Tar Heels at will, stalling for three minutes before they scored a final goal to clinch a 14-10 win — their third straight championship win against the Tar Heels.

Maryland wasted no time getting on the scoreboard, as Karri Ellen Johnson scored for the Terrapins just 42 seconds into the game.
But Becky Lynch said the Tar Heels didn’t let that early deficit take them out of it.

“When they score in the first minute, it’s always kind of tough, but then you have to look at the clock and realize that you still have an entire game,” Lynch said. “I don’t think that the person that scores first necessarily has an advantage.”

The Terrapins would hold the lead throughout the first half, never letting the Tar Heels gain their confidence back, and Cannizzaro couldn’t find a hole in the defense. UNC took 25 shots in the game, only 14 of which were on goal.

“They doubled her early today. We anticipated that they would do that,” coach Jenny Levy said. “We moved the ball the way we normally do, and we just didn’t get the opportunities that we were looking for.”

Maryland coach Cathy Reese said the five goals Cannizzaro scored against them earlier this month made her a priority on Monday.

“She’s somebody who’s going to come out and go hard,” Reese said. “We wanted to step up and play better one-on-one offense on her.”

UNC found opportunities with other scoring options as Jessica Griffin scored on a free-position shot with 6:10 left in the first half to reduce Maryland’s lead to 3-2. But the Terrapins responded with a goal 14 seconds later, and one more just a minute after that.

In the second half, UNC matched the Terrapins goal for goal. But building off its early lead, Maryland leaned comfortably on a four- or five-goal lead for most of the period.

Junior Emily Garrity provided a spark, scoring two more goals during a 4-0 run late in the second half, but with the lead down to three, the Terrapins turned to stall tactics to keep the ball in the Tar Heels’ defensive end. Even when they had open looks, the Terrapins held possession, scoring one last goal to cap the game at 14-10.

Maryland now leads the all-time series against the Tar Heels 19-10. The Tar Heels are 1-6 all-time in the ACC championship.

Lynch said the team will focus on improving after the frustrating loss, as it looks ahead to the NCAA tournament.

”If you didn’t have that dynamic off of a loss, it would be really tough and you wouldn’t be able to try to learn and improve with every day,” she said.

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@dailytarheel.com.

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