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Women's Lacrosse
vs North Carolina
Top-Seed Blue Devils Top North Carolina, 12-11, In ACC Semifinals
4/23/2004 1:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse
April 23, 2004
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Led by a career-high five goals by freshman Leigh Jester, the top-seeded Blue Devils slipped past fourth-seed North Carolina, 12-11, in a tightly-contested battle Friday afternoon in the ACC Women's Lacrosse Semifinals at Henry Stadium. With the victory, Duke (11-4) advances to the championship game for the second time in school history.
Duke came out strong in the opening 10 minutes, scoring on a pair of free position attempts by Katie Chrest and Meghan Walters to take a 2-0 lead. North Carolina countered with three straight goals beginning at 18:53 when Melissa McCarthy tallied her 22nd goal of the season, while Beth Ames added a pair of goals to give the Tar Heels a 3-2 lead.
Walters collected her 19th goal of the season at the 10:10 mark to again tie the contest as the Wyndmoor, Pa., native beat a Tar Heel defender down the left side and fired a shot into the upper left corner of the cage. However, North Carolina regained the lead with 6:30 left in the half when Christina Juras netted her sixth goal of the season.
A pair of freshmen connected for the Blue Devils to tie the game at 4-4 with just over three minutes remaining in the half. After a Tar Heel turnover, Kristen Waagbo hit Leigh Jester with a pass in front of the North Carolina cage. Jester slipped by one defender and skipped a shot by Tar Heel goalie Kristen Hordy.
Nicki Barnes gave the Tar Heels a 5-4 lead with 1:50 remaining in the half. She received a Juras pass in front of the cage and bounced a shot into goal while being knocked down by a Duke defender. Lindsay Higgins tacked on an eight-meter goal with 11 seconds left in the half and North Carolina took a 6-4 lead into halftime.
The Blue Devils got back on the board immediately after the break as Jester scored 32 seconds into the second half, bringing Duke within one goal at 6-5. McCarthy scored for the Tar Heels less than a minute later to push the margin back to two goals.
Corinne Broesler cut the Blue Devils' deficit to one, driving to the goal after a pass from Stefanie Sparks. Just 11 seconds later, North Carolina scored off the draw as Ames lobbed it to Allison Higgins for her first assist of the season.
Awarded a free-position attempt with 21:18 remaining on the clock, Jester notched her third goal of the game. Just 17 seconds later, the freshman again slipped one past Hordy to tie the game at 8-8.
The Tar Heels went back on top at the 17:40 mark, as Ames tallied her third goal of the day on an assist by Juras. Jester responded just 35 seconds later with her fifth score of the game to again tie the contest. Chrest helped Duke take the lead on a Sparks-assisted goal with 15:26 remaining, but Allison Higgins scored again for the Tar Heels for the sixth tie of the game.
Chrest's third goal of the game put Duke back on top, 11-10, as she spun past a defender in front of the cage and fired a shot into the back of the net. Duke's lead was short-lived however, as McCarthy recorded her third score of the day to knot the score at 11-11.
With 6:38 left in the game, freshman defender Meghan Ferguson scored the first goal of her career, taking the ball straight to the goal after gaining the ball on the defensive end. It proved to be the game-winner, as the Tar Heels were held scoreless for the remainder of the contest. Duke goalkeeper Megan Huether, who finished with seven saves, blocked a North Carolina shot in the closing seconds of the game to seal the Duke victory.
The Blue Devils move into Sunday's final against the winner of this afternoon's semifinal between second-seeded Virginia and third-seed Maryland. Game time is 1:00 p.m. at Henry Stadium.
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