Women's Lacrosse ACCtion: Saturday, April 11
Maryland, Duke win.



April 11, 2009

No. 2 Terps topple No. 4 Tar Heels, 13-8, for top seed in ACC Championship 

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - If there were any lingering doubts what this year's Maryland women's lacrosse team is capable of, they were erased Saturday, as the second-ranked Terps captured its third-straight Atlantic Coast Conference Regular Season Championship with a win over No. 4 North Carolina, 13-8, at a rain-soaked Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex.

Maryland (14-0, 4-0 ACC) and UNC (11-3, 3-1 ACC) battled to a 5-5 stalemate in the first half. Caitlyn McFadden started the scoring with 3:26 elapsed in the period before the Tar Heels regained the lead with a pair of goals from Jenn Russell and Megan Bosica. Brittany Jones equalized the score for the Terps with a free position hit at 20:11. Russell supplied the Tar Heels with the lead two minutes later when she connected on an assist from Kristen Taylor. Reigning ACC Player of the Week Laura Merrifield then tied the score with her first of three goals in the game with 17:07 left in the period.

UNC claimed its biggest lead of the game as Bosica and Taylor stretched the score to 5-3 with less than 10 minutes remaining, but Maryland was able to recapture the momentum with two goals from the youth-laden attacking tandem of Sarah Mollison and Karri Ellen Johnson to close out the stanza. Mollison, a sophomore, scored in traffic while Johnson, a freshman, generated her wide open shot off a spin move. It was only the third time this season that Maryland has headed into the locker room at the half with a tie score.

Davis Scores Six As Blue Devils Down Boston College

NEWTON, Mass. – Six goals from senior Carolyn Davis – to go along with strong second-half defense – propelled the No. 5 Duke women’s lacrosse team to a 14-9 victory over ACC rival Boston College Saturday afternoon at a rain-soaked Newton Campus Field in Newton, Mass. The Blue Devils move to 10-3 (3-1 ACC) with today’s road win.

The Blue Devils erased a slow start – and Boston College’s early 3-0 lead with just three minutes elapsed in the contest – to take a 7-6 lead into halftime. Davis got the Blue Devils on the board with a free position goal at 26:08 and Duke posted a 4-0 run in the first half to start taking control.

The Eagles had opted for a slow tempo, holding onto possession of the ball for several minutes before Kim Imbesi came up with a big save to give it back to Duke. The Blue Devils would take their turn holding the ball to find a good shot, before receiving their second score from junior Lindsay Gilbride. Gilbride worked a cut through the right side and was fed a perfect pass from Caroline Cryer from behind the cage.

Ducks dampen Tech's first trip out west

EUGENE, Ore. – The Virginia Tech women’s lacrosse team hit the road for one last time this season, but the home-team University of Oregon Ducks came out on top of a 15-10 decision in a non-conference match played at Pape’ Field on Saturday afternoon. Rachel Culp (Sr., Kent, Ohio) paced the Hokie attack with three goals and an assist, while Allie Emala (So., Baltimore, Md.) and Jessica Nonn (Fr., Catonsville, Md.) added two goals and an assist and three goals respectively.

The long travel didn’t appear to affect Tech early in the match as the Hokies staked a 4-1 lead in the opening 15 minutes of the game. Dylan Garner (So., Cornelius, N.C.) scored Tech’s first goal off an assist from Joanna Kiser (So., Severna Park, Md.) four minutes into the match and free position goals from Emala and Nonn completed the Hokies’ run.