In its final game before ACC play, the No. 3 North Carolina women’s lacrosse team demolished Campbell, 16-5, on Tuesday afternoon at UNC Lacrosse Stadium.
What happened?
The Tar Heels (8-1, 1-0 ACC) used a series of runs to bury the Camels (3-5) well before the first half was even over. By the 24:31 mark, UNC’s leading goal-scorer, sophomore attacker Jamie Ortega had already scored three of her four goals to give the Tar Heels a 4-0 lead.
Campbell responded with its first goal of the game with 23:01 left to play until halftime. Camels senior midfielder Sarah Paul passed the ball to the left side of the net to senior attacker Ellie Allen, who zipped a ball by the right side of UNC sophomore goalkeeper Taylor Moreno.
But the Camels couldn’t build momentum off their goal, and the Tar Heels continued to exert their dominance. UNC scored four more unanswered goals in the next 7:22 — a stretch in which senior midfielder Kara Klages, Ortega, graduate midfielder Ida Farinholt and first-year attacker Tayler Warehime all found the back of the net.
Senior midfielder Melissa Placek scored Camels’ second goal to end their drought at the 14:24 mark of the first half, but the Tar Heels went to halftime on a 5-0 run and had a 13-2 lead.
Even when Campbell came out of the lockerroom with an aggressive approach in the final 30 minutes of play — Allen scored her second goal of the game 22 seconds into the second half — it was all but too late.
UNC went on cruise control for the rest of the game and only scored three more times to finish with an 11-goal win.