No. 3 Duke Holds Off No. 4 North Carolina, 11-10, For Crucial Victory

Friday, April 20

Durham, N.C.

7 p.m.

Duke University

North Carolina

No. 3 Duke Travels To Boston College For Last Regular Season Road Game

No. 3 Duke Holds Off No. 4 North Carolina, 11-10, For Crucial Victory

4/20/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. -- The Duke Blue Devils (12-2, 4-1 ACC) pulled out an 11-10 win over the North Carolina Tar Heels (13-3, 3-2 ACC) on Friday night in Koskinen Stadium. With the win the Blue Devils clinched at least a share of first place in the ACC and a bye in next week's conference tournament. It was the sixth time in the last seven meetings and the 10th time overall that the game between the two rivals was decided by two goals or less. Duke leads the series now 11-7, including four consecutive victories. The Devils improved their perfect home record this season to 6-0.

On a clear and warm night in front of their largest home crowd of the season, Duke played one of their most complete games of the year. The Blue Devils outgunned the Tar Heels in the first half, 9-7, and then held on with arguably their most solid defensive half of the season in the second frame to seal the win. Sophomore goalkeeper Kim Imbesi recorded seven saves on the evening in one of her best performances of her young career.

The game was back and forth from the get-go, with neither team ever taking more than a two-goal lead at any point. There were eight ties throughout the contest, as neither team seemed able to get the upper-hand. It was also an extremely physical contest, with 51 fouls being called and three yellow cards being handed out.

UNC used their multi-faceted attack as seven players tallied goals throughout the game, but no player had more than two scores or two assists. Duke also had seven players notch goals in the game, but relied on their season stalwarts: senior attacker Kristen Waagbo (two goals and four assists) and junior attacker Caroline Cryer (three scores and one assist). Senior midfielder and captain Rachel Sanford added two goals of her own. The Tar Heels were led by the two goals and one assist of senior attacker Chrissy Rude.

The biggest contrast in the game was between the two halves. In the first half both teams could not seem to stop the other from scoring, and as a result almost all of the offensive damage in the game was done. Duke took an 8-6 lead with 5:25 left and then a 9-7 edge going into the locker room, but gave up two goals in the first 6:49 of the second half to see the game knotted, 9-9. North Carolina dominated possession for much of the second half, but the Duke defense refused to yield them enough to take a lead.

Freshman Lindsay Gilbride struck paydirt on a pass from Waagbo with 12:53 left to break the 17-minute Blue Devil scoring drought and take a 10-9 lead. That would not last long, as Carolina freshman attacker Kristen Taylor converted a free-position shot with 11:10 left to tie the game again. At that point, UNC was a perfect 4-4 on free-position shots.

That would set the stage for the dramatic final 10 minutes of the game. With 9:30 left in the game Tar Heel junior midfielder Meg Freshwater struck the crossbar on a shot from the right side of the crease. Duke got the ball on a turnover and turned that into what would be a long possession and the game-winning goal by Cryer on a feed from behind the net by senior attacker Leigh Jester with 5:59 remaining.

The Blue Devils would win the ensuing draw control but turn the ball over seconds later. UNC senior midfielder Melissa McCarthy-- who had already converted one free-position shot in the game--- was awarded a free-position attempt with four minutes remaining. Imbesi promptly made a clutch save and Duke recovered the ball. The Devils were unable to run out the clock, however, and turned it over once again with just under two minutes left to give the Tar Heels one more chance.

After a foul with :58 seconds remaining in the game, UNC's senior attacker and leading goal-scorer Christina Juras--- who had also tallied a free-position goal earlier in the evening--- was given another free-position chance after another Duke foul. Once again, Imbesi made a spectacular point-blank save. This time Duke recovered the loose ball and was able to clear the ball, run out the clock, and commence the rush of the bench to Imbesi for the on-field celebration.

Waagbo set the all-time Duke assists record on Feb. 18 this season against Stanford and now has 104 career assists after tallying 32 in 14 games. She leads the ACC in assists per game with 2.29 and points with 4.65. Waagbo is within range of other school records this season as well. With her four assists on Friday night she tied her own single-season record of 32 in 2006. Waagbo currently has 148 career goals which are good for fourth place behind former Duke player Kate Kaiser with 154. Katie Chrest holds the school record with 216. Waagbo's 246 points are second on the all-time Duke list with Chrest in first with 287.

Cryer, with 50 goals on the season, leads the ACC and is third in the NCAA in goals per game with 3.58. At that pace, she could break Chrest's all-time Duke season record of 70 in 21 games. Her 46 draw controls this season lead the Blue Devils in that category.

The seventh annual Carlyle Cup competition between Duke and North Carolina concludes this weekend. Duke now leads 11.5 to 10.5 after their win Friday night. The other four remaining points are in the ACC rowing championship, Saturday at Clemson, the ACC men's golf championship at the Old North State Club Friday- Sunday; and the ACC men's and women's track and field championships, Friday-Sunday at Maryland.

Duke will next take on Longwood on Sunday at 1 p.m. in Koskinen Stadium. The ACC women's lacrosse tournament will be held Thurs., April 26 through Sun., April 29 in Chapel Hill, N.C.

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