No. 2 Duke Holds On For 10-8 Victory Over Rival No. 3 North Carolina

Wednesday, March 8

Chapel Hill, N.C.

7 p.m.

Duke University

North Carolina

No. 2 Duke Holds On For 10-8 Victory Over Rival No. 3 North Carolina

3/8/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse

By: Duke Sports Information

Chapel Hill, N.C. - No. 2 Duke battled with No. 3 North Carolina on Wednesday night in an ACC contest with the Blue Devils coming out on top, 10-8, at Fetzer Field. Duke took control early and held on to a close one goal lead late in the game before Katie Chrest sealed the victory, scoring with 55 seconds left to give the Blue Devils a two-goal win.

The game matched up the conference's leading scoring offense against the top scoring defense. Duke entered the game averaging a league best 16.25 goals per game (65 in four games) while the Tar Heels had allowed just 12 goals in three games for a 4.00 goals against average. The Blue Devils would win the contest between the two, scoring just two fewer goals than North Carolina had allowed in its first three games. Duke fired 32 shots while holding the Tar Heels to just 19 in the game.

Duke came out strong in the game and got on the board first when Caroline Cryer scored an unassisted goal five minutes in for her fourth goal of the year. North Carolina tied the score at 1-1 just over a minute later when Meg Freshwater took a feed from Christina Juras and put it past Blue Devils' goalie Megan Huether. Duke would answer in strong fashion, scoring the next five goals over a 14-minute stretch to take a 6-1 lead. The Tar Heels scored two goals to make it 6-3 but Kristen Waagbo set up Leigh Jester for a goal with 18 seconds left in the half to put the Blue Devils up 7-3 at the break.

The Blue Devils pour it on in the first half with a 24-8 advantage in total shots. Despite giving up seven goals, Kristen Hordy remained strong in net for the Tar Heels with 12 first half saves to keep the game within reach.

North Carolina came out firing on all cylinders in the second half, scoring three of the first four goals in the first 15:31 to cut the lead to 8-6. After Waagbo tallied her 12th goal of the season at the 13:34 mark, Freshwater and Stephanie Scurachio each scored for the Tar Heels to cut the lead to one. The Duke defe nse tightened up over the final 10 minutes of the game while the offense controlled the ball to keep North Carolina off the board.

Waagbo led Duke with a goal and three assists. Michelle Menser matched her season total with three goals in the game while Jester added two goals and an assist. Chrest and Cryer each finished with two goals as well. Huether finished with seven stops in the contest.

Duke stays undefeated on the year with a 5-0 record and improves to 2-0 in ACC games. The win was their third over a ranked team and second over an ACC team ranked in the top-five. North Carolina suffered their first defeat of the season, falling to 3-1 overall and 1-1 in league competition.

With the win the Blue Devils close the gap in the race for the Carlyle Cup to 10-7. The Carlyle Cup race is a yearlong competition between the Duke and North Carolina athletic departments sponsored by Carlyle & Co. of Greensboro, N.C. The Tar Heels took a 10-6 lead after the winter sports won seven of the eight points. The next point will be awarded at the men's lacrosse game on Saturday, March 18 when the two schools meet at 1 p.m. in Durham.

The Blue Devils have another tough game this weekend when they hit the road for a nonconference game against No. 6 Princeton on Sunday at 11 a.m. The game will be televised live by ESPNU with Dave Ryan handling the play-by-play and Theresa Sherry providing the color commentary.