No. 25 Vanderbilt and East Carolina came up short against top-25 opponents Sunday as the Commodores ran into top-ranked North Carolina and the Pirates fell to No. 8 Duke.
NO. 1 NORTH CAROLINA 17, NO. 25 VANDERBILT 6
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The No. 25 Vanderbilt lacrosse team fell by a 17-6 final score in Sunday’s road game versus No. 1 North Carolina at Dorrance Field.
Vanderbilt is now 2-2 on the season with losses at No. 1 UNC and No. 2 Notre Dame.
Coming off a five-goal performance last time out against Central Michigan, Elizabeth Scarrone posted two goals against the Tar Heels (5-0), while goalkeeper Paige Gunning tied her career high with 13 saves for the Commodores.
UNC flexed its offensive muscle with two goals in the first 6:01 before Scarrone got the Dores on the board with her first goal of the game.
After the Tar Heels answered, Scarrone scored again when she cut to the cage and Maddie Souza hit her in stride to trim the UNC edge down to 3-2 with 21:50 to go before halftime.
A 5-0 run for North Carolina put the score at 8-2 with just over 12 minutes left in the half. Souza halted the UNC run with a free position goal from the right side of the cage. Two more goals for UNC made it 10-3 at the half.
The Tar Heels outscored Vanderbilt by a 7-3 margin in the final 30 minutes.
Sophomore Kayla Rieu scored her first career goal on a free position shot with 21:41 to go in the game after two UNC goals to open the second half.
Trailing late in the game, Kate Murphy and Nellie Blaze tallied goals for the Dores. It was Blaze’s first collegiate goal.
Bri Gross eclipsed 100 career draw controls, finishing with three on Sunday to bring her career total to 101.
The Commodores will return to Nashville for three-consecutive games at home beginning with a March 3 showdown with Mercer.
NO. 8 DUKE 16, EAST CAROLINA 4
GREENVILLE, N.C.- A gap in possession was too much for the ECU lacrosse team to overcome as the Pirates fell to No. 8 Duke 16-4 on Sunday afternoon.
ECU drops to 2-3 on the season and suffers its first home loss in three games while Duke improves to 4-1.
In the early going, the Pirates were right in the game with the Blue Devils. Payton Barrgot draw controls on two of the first three draws and ECU turned both of those into goals. After Barr collected the opening draw, Ally Stanton slammed a goal home after less than a minute of play to give ECU a 1-0 lead. Duke came back and scored just over a minute later when Caroline DeBellis fed Catherine Cordrey. But Barr once again gave ECU the ball and Megan Pallozzi earned a free-position shot, which she promptly buried to make it 2-1.
Unfortunately for the Pirates, the offense could not get much going for the rest of the half, with the Pirates turning it over 14 times in the opening 30 minutes. The ECU defense helped keep the game within reach, as the Pirates allowed just three more Blue Devil goals and forced eight Duke turnovers themselves. By the time the half came to an end, ECU trailed just 5-2.
After it was 4-4 in draw controls in the first half, Duke began to assert its dominance in the draw circle. The Blue Devils won the first seven draw controls of the second half, turning most of those into goals. Duke rattled off a 7-0 run before Barr got a hold of a draw control and then raced in for a solo goal. That made it 12-3 with 20:51 remaining.
After more than 10 scoreless minutes, Duke turned an ECU turnover into a goal to push the lead back to 10. ECU answered one more time, as Frances Kimel scored off a feed from Brittany Borchers. It is the second straight year that Kimel has scored against the Blue Devils who are coached by her mother, Kerstin Kimel.
Kimel's goal was the final tally for the Pirates with Duke adding a trio of goals in the final six minutes to make the final score 16-4.
Duke had a 15-7 advantage in draw controls and forced 23 ECU turnovers to just 14 for the Blue Devils. ECU did have the edge in saves, as Ashley Vernon made nine stops for the Pirates while Sophia LeRose made four for Duke.
Barr had four draw controls for ECU. CeCe Bartley and Jordyn Cox each caused a pair of Duke turnovers while Liz Blumthal scooped up three ground balls.
ECU will close out the non-conference portion of the scbedule next Saturday when the Pirates host Jacksonville. That game will get started at 12 noon and will be broadcast on ECUPirates.com