Tar Heels Eliminate Grief-Stricken Cavaliers
from staff reports
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The first rule of Project Mayhem: don't ask questions. |
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- The Virginia women's lacrosse team -- still mourning the May 3 murder of defender Yeardley Love, allegedly at the hands of UVA men's lacrosse player George Huguely -- saw its emotional season come to an end Saturday. Third-seeded North Carolina defeated fourth-seeded Virginia, 17-7, in the NCAA quarterfinals.
"The end of any season is a really hard, sudden ending,” Cavaliers head coach Julie Myers said. “I think that the end to this season, given all that we've been through, makes it especially hard. I am completely impressed and pleased with my team. I'm so proud of their families and I'm so grateful for who comes to Virginia to play for us and for all that they do to help us win.”
North Carolina held Virginia scoreless for nearly 22 minutes in the first half. Six Tar Heels scored multiple goals in the game, led by Laura Zimmerman's four scores. Corey Donohoe and Kristen Taylor tallied three goals and one assist apiece for UNC.
The Tar Heels advance to the NCAA semifinals in Towson, Md., against second-seeded and five-time defending national champion Northwestern, which beat seventh-seeded Duke, 18-8. Earlier this season, they handed the Wildcats their only loss of the 2010 season, 18-16, in Evanston.
Top-seeded Maryland will play unseeded Syracuse in the other national semifinal next Friday. The Terrapins beat eighth-seeded Penn, 15-10, and the Orange beat fifth-seeded James Madison, 7-3, on Saturday.
UNC advances to the NCAA semifinals for the second consecutive
year and the fifth time overall. The Tar Heels reached the national
title game in 2009 before losing to Northwestern. UNC also reached
the national semifinals in 1997, 1998 and 2002 prior to doing so in
each of the last two campaigns. Carolina improves to 17-2 with the
victory, tying the school record for wins in a season set in 2002
(17-3). Virginia falls to 14-6 with the loss
UNC's 17 goals are the most allowed by Virginia all season. The
previous high had been 15 by Loyola (Md.) on Feb. 20 in UVa's
season opener. The 17 Tar Heel goals were the most allowed by the
Cavaliers since they also gave up 17 to Maryland on March 6, 2009.
Carolina scored its 17 goals on just 24 shots.
After jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the first five minutes of play
and leading 2-1 at the 23:06 mark of the first half, the Tar Heels
held UVa scoreless for the next 21:55 until Kaitlin Duff broke the
scoreless run with a Cavalier goal with 1:11 left in the period.
UNC then scored two goals in the final 0:08 of the half, including
one by Taylor with one second left, to lead 11-2 at the break.
UNC's 11 goals were the most allowed by UVa in any half this
season. The previous high deficit for the Cavaliers at the half had
been two goals.
In addition to the offensive output of Zimmerman, Donohoe and
Taylor, Becky Lynch and Emily Garrity had two goals and one assist
each, Jenn Russell scored twice, Kara Cannizzaro had a goal and an
assist and Megan Bosica had an assist. Virginia got three goals
from Duff, two from Brittany Kalkstein and Charlie Finnigan and two
assists from Caity Whiteley.
Carolina jumped out to its 2-0 lead on unassisted goals by
Zimmerman and Taylor in a 27-second span. Virginia scored its first
goal at 23:05 when Whiteley passed from behind the goal to Finnigan
for a 2-1 score. Taylor scored her second goal a minute and a half
later, taking a pass from Garrity off a free position attempt to
make the score 3-1 UNC. Garrity scored off a loose ball in front of
the cage to make the score 4-1 with 17:19 left in the half.
Cannizzaro dished to Lynch for a goal to make the score 5-1 with
12:41 left before halftime, forcing a Virginia timeout. Just over
two minutes later, Zimmerman scored unassisted for her second goal
of the day on a fast break for a 6-1 lead with 10:24 left.
Donohoe's first goal came with 9:04 to go and made the score 7-1
with 9:04 to go before the break. Russell's first goal came with
7:55 left in the half as she cut from left to right across the
front of the cage for an 8-1 Tar Heel advantage. Cannizzaro made it
9-1 with a man-up goal off a pass from Donohoe at 1:43.
Duff scored with 1:11 left in the half to break a scoreless
period of almost 22 minutes for the Cavaliers, making the score 9-2
UNC. Donohoe scored with eight seconds to go and Taylor then scored
with one second left to make it 11-2 at the break.
Kalkstein started the second half with a UVa goal at the 27:57
mark that made the score 11-3 Tar Heels. Zimmerman responded 19
seconds later with her third goal that upped the lead back to nine
at 12-3. Zimmerman scored her fourth goal, this time off a pass
from Lynch, for a 13-3 lead with 26:23 to play. Lynch scored her
second goal less than a minute later, off a pass from Taylor, for a
14-3 UNC lead with 25:08 to go. Garrity scored her second goal at
23:35 for a 15-3 lead, forcing a UVa goalkeeper change.
Duff scored her second goal for UVa at 22:02 on a free position
attempt to make the score 15-4. Russell's second goal came at
17:41, making it 16-4 and bringing UVa starting goalie Lauren
Benner back in the game. Kalkstein scored her second goal at 13:07
to cut the UNC lead to 16-5. Donohoe's third goal came with 4:25
left and made the score 17-5. Duff scored with under two minutes to
play and Finnegan scored on a free position try with 34 seconds
left for the final goals of the game.
The Cavaliers were led by senior All-American Kaitlin Duff's three goals. Senior All-American and Tewaaraton Trophy Finalist Brittany Kalkstein and sophomore Charlie Finnigan each tacked on two goals, while senior Caity Whiteley rounded out the scoring with two assists.
Kalkstein once again paced the Cavaliers with a game-high five
draw controls to improve her ACC and UVa career record to 287 and
finish ranked fourth on the NCAA's all-time career record list. Her
single season total of 97 marks a school record and is the
sixth-best single-season total in NCAA history.
The midfielder also finished her career ranked eighth on UVa's
career goal rankings with 135 and tied with former Cavalier Jamie
Haas (1997, 99-01) for 10th in career points, finishing with
184.
