Triangle Sports Roundup: UNC, Duke WLAX squads post big wins

Atlantic Coast Conference, theACC.com

No. 2 Tar Heels down High Point, 19-5

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Thirteen North Carolina players scored goals as the second-ranked Tar Heels (3-0) defeated High Point, 19-5, on a cold Friday evening at Fetzer Field.

Molly Hendrick led UNC with four goals, while Aly Messinger had two goals and an assist and Brittney Coppa and Sammy Jo Tracy scored two goals apiece.

Carolina dominated statistically, out-shooting the Panthers, 38-8, and controlling 20 of the game’s 26 draws.

The Tar Heels led, 14-2, at halftime, and cruised the rest of the way.

Ela Hazar scored a goal and added three assists for UNC, while Maggie Bill, Marie McCool and Sam McGee both had a goal and an assist.

Sydney Holman, Alex Moore, Carly Reed, Kelly Devlin and Carolyn Paletta all scored single goals.

High Point got two goals from Allie Foard and a goal and an assist from Kristina Renner.

Stephanie Pazulski and Abby Berrettone both also scored single goals for HPU.

The Tar Heels jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the first 10 minutes, forcing a High Point timeout.

Hendrick had three of those goals and Coppa had two.

The Panthers scored two of the next three goals to make it 7-2 before Carolina closed the half with a 7-0 run to make it 14-2 at the break.

It was more of the same in a slower-paced second half. Carolina scored five of the first six goals of the period for a 19-3 lead before HPU scored two in the final minutes.

Sophomore Caylee Waters (2-0) started in goal for Carolina and played the first half, making two saves and allowing two goals.

Megan Ward played the second half for UNC.

Julia Burns went the distance in goal for High Point and made nine saves.

Carolina will return to action next Saturday on the road at top-ranked Maryland.

It will be the first matchup between the schools since the Terrapins left the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) for the Big Ten last year.

North Carolina 19, High Point 5

Scoring:

UNC goals – Molly Hendrick 4, Brittney Coppa 2, Sammy Jo Tracy 2, Aly Messinger 2, Maggie Bill 1, Sydney Holman 1, Ela Hazar 1, Kelly Devlin 1, Alex Moore 1, Marie McCool 1, Sam McGee 1, Carly Reed 1, Carolyn Paletta 1

UNC assists — Hazar 3, Maggie Bill 1, Aly Messinger 1, Marie McCool 1, McGee 1

HPU goals – Allie Foard 2, Stephanie Pazulski 1, Abby Berrettone 1, Kristina Renner 1

HPU assists —Leah Pace 1, Emily Meier 1, Renner 1, Erica Perrotta 1, Samantha Brown 1

Shots: UNC 38, HPU 8

Ground balls: UNC 26, HPU 17

Draw controls: UNC 20, HPU 6

Turnovers: UNC 17, HPU 20

Goalkeepers: UNC –Caylee Waters (W, 2-0, 30:00 minutes, 2 goals allowed, 2 saves), Megan Ward (30:00 minutes, 3 goals allowed, 0 saves; HPU – Julia Burns (60:00 minutes, 19 goals allowed, 9 saves)

No. 8 Duke drops Richmond, 17-4, in home opener

DURHAM, N.C. – Seniors Kerrin Maurer, Brigid Smith and Taylor Trimble combined for nine goals and a total of 10 different players scored for Duke in a 17-4 victory over Richmond in the Blue Devils’ home opener at Koskinen Stadium on Friday.

Head coach Kerstin Kimel’s squad outshot the visiting Spiders 37-11 and held a 13-9 advantage at the draw to improve to 2-0 on the season.

“Even though we scored a lot and had three different kids score three goals, we still feel like we have lot of room to grow,” Kimel said.

“Just from a fluidity standpoint and a chemistry standpoint – some of this is reflected in the fact that, at any given time, we’ve got four seniors in our offensive unit. Almost every one of our seniors has played over their four years. You see that and you see our scoring output reflected in that.”

Duke opened the contest with tallies by Maurer, Smith and senior Erin Tenneson before Anna Jeszeck put Richmond on the board with an unassisted goal at the 23:42 mark.

Junior Maddy Acton then capitalized on a turnover by the Spiders, sparking a 7-1 run by the Blue Devils to finish the half.

Trimble recorded two scores in that span while Maurer and fellow senior Chelsea Landon had one each and rookies Maddie Crutchfield and Jackie Perry notched the first goals of their collegiate careers.

“Maddie, Jackie and Kyra [Harney] really came in ready to play as freshmen,” Kimel said.

“We anticipated that we would use them. We also got good defensive minutes from Anne Slusser today. Two games in, we’ve been able to use a lot of players and our goal early in the season is to build more depth so we can keep going to them. For our freshmen, it’s great that they’ve been able to get experience early.”

The Blue Devils won six of the final eight draws of the period to take a 10-2 lead into the intermission.

Junior goalkeeper Kelsey Duryea posted a pair of saves to start the second half, allowing the home team to widen the margin to 12-2 on markers by Trimble and Smith.

Maurer paced Duke in the draw circle and sophomore defender Maura Schwitter added a career-best three draws from the wing.

The Spider attack broke through seven minutes into the second period as Emily Doyle fed Bailey Zerr for the team’s third goal.

Richmond also received strong play from goalkeeper Emily Boyce, who totaled 10 saves before switching places with teammate Michaela Aymong in the net.

However, the Blue Devils continued to distribute the ball efficiently on the offensive end, leading to additional scores by Landon, Smith and junior Emma Lazaroff that made it 15-3.

Doyle of the Spiders found the back of the net for a second time late in the game, but Duke capped its performance with perfect 10-of-10 clearing and two more goals by Maurer and sophomore Hayley Shaffer to round out the afternoon.

Smith led all scorers with five points on three goals and two assists and Maurer totaled four points to go along with six draw controls.

Duryea and senior Angel Thompson both saw time in goal, with Duryea collecting three saves in 55 minutes of action.

In addition, seven different Blue Devils accounted for a caused turnover in the win and the defensive unit held the Spiders to 0-for-3 on shots from the eight-meter mark.