Duke Falls to Tar Heels, 15-10, in NCAA Second Round

Sunday, May 15

Chapel Hill, N.C.

1:00 PM

Duke University

North Carolina (Second Round)

Duke Falls to Tar Heels, 15-10, in NCAA Second Round

5/15/2016 4:38:00 PM | Women's Lacrosse

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By: Duke Sports Information

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The Blue Devils kept pace with No. 3 seed North Carolina in a high-scoring first half but saw their run in the 2016 NCAA Tournament come to an end Sunday with a 15-10 loss to the Tar Heels at Fetzer Field. Duke closed the season with a final record of 11-9.

The Blue Devils featured a pair of four-goal performances by senior Kelci Smesko and sophomore Grace Fallon, but were outscored 6-2 in the second half of the third meeting between the two squads this season.

“We played a great first half,” said head coach Kerstin Kimel. “Second half, we kind of dug ourselves into a hole pretty quickly, and had a hard time recovering from that, which is tough because I think we're capable of playing better than we did today. That had a lot to do with some of the things we did, but also certainly [North Carolina]'s play as well. Their depth, their midfield, their speed and their ability to score – we had hard time containing all their threats.”

Duke's defense was tested early, and surrendered a pair of goals as the Tar Heels controlled each of the first three draws. Smesko – who turned in a six-point performance in Friday's first round win over Loyola – and classmate Emma Lazaroff quickly evened the match at 2-2.

Scoring went back and forth over the next 10 minutes, with the Blue Devils preventing the margin from growing beyond two. Fallon and Smesko provided tallies while North Carolina's Sammy Jo Tracy completed a hat trick just over 15 minutes in. Fallon netted a second goal at the 11:56 mark and sophomore Kyra Harney capitalized on a Maddie Crutchfield caused turnover to knot the contest again at 6-all.

Following back-to-back markers by the Tar Heels, Fallon finished on a Crutchfield feed to complete the first hat trick of her career. Both teams found the back of the net again before the half, making it a 9-8 North Carolina lead at the intermission.

The Tar Heels took advantage of a pair of Duke turnovers to garner their largest lead early in the second period. Smesko and Fallon connected to bring the margin back to two, but turnovers continued to plague the Blue Devils, setting up North Carolina's Molly Hendrick for her fourth tally.

“They got a lot of fast break opportunities in the second half, and that's a momentum thing,” said senior goalkeeper Kelsey Duryea. “They have threats all over the field. They got a man-up opportunity – there were a lot of momentum plays that we were unable to combat. But I think in the first half, we were able to make some stops and come up with the ball, which allowed us to compete with them.”

The Blue Devils struggled at the draw over the next couple of possessions, allowing the Tar Heels to widen the gap to five with 14:58 remaining. Smesko then joined Fallon in netting her fourth of the day, but North Carolina tacked on another less than a minute later. Duryea made several stops down the stretch, but the Tar Heels ran out the clock to secure a spot in next weekend's quarterfinals.

Duryea rounded out the day with eight saves against 27 shots, while Crutchfield supplied four ground balls and three caused turnovers to lead all field players. Duke placed 15 of its 19 shots on goal and totaled 12 draw controls to 15 by the Tar Heels. The teams also combined for 26 turnovers, with the Blue Devils committing 14.

Meghan Ward and Caylee Waters split time in goal for North Carolina, with Waters making five stops en route to picking up the win. The Tar Heel attack was led by four tallies from Hendrick and three by Tracy.

Sunday marked the final contest for seniors Maddy Acton, Duryea, Kaki Jennison, Emma Lazaroff, Jordan McCarthy, Claire Scarrone, Smesko and graduate student Abby Beltrani. The group guided the Duke program to a 52-28 ledger over the past four seasons, as well as two NCAA quarterfinals appearances and a trip to the national semifinals last spring.

“They're a great group and we're certainly going to miss them,” Kimel said. “They've worked really hard with this team this year. We had a huge challenge, graduating as many kids as we graduated and as much scoring as we did last year. And then we have a class of 12 freshmen – that's a lot of work. These guys have put a ton of work into this team … These guys had a big job in front of them this year, and by and large, we got a lot out of ourselves … It's going to be strange not to have [Duryea] in the goal cage. She's been our anchor for the last four years.”

--- NOTES ---

- With eight saves on the day, senior goalkeeper Kelsey Duryea rounded out her career with a total of 613 stops. That ranks her second on the Blue Devils' all-time list behind only Megan Huether (646) and third among all goalkeepers in ACC history.

- Duryea's 181 saves this spring are second in program single-season history.

- Sophomore Grace Fallon recorded a career-high four goals and posted the first hat trick of her career.

- Freshman Olivia Jenner's 110 draw controls mark the most by any Duke player in a single season and tie her for 11th on the program's all-time career chart.

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