WOMEN’S LACROSSE: Tar Heels spoil Cavs’ NCAA hopes

By Bart Isley

Published: May 12, 2008

Virginia coach Julie Myers was worried about one of North Carolina’s attackers catching fire against her Cavaliers. It looks like she had good reason.
Freshman Corey Donohoe did just that Sunday afternoon while pouring in five goals and, in the process, brought No. 4 Virginia’s season to a screeching halt with an 11-7 upset in the NCAA tournament’s first round.
“We just happened to not play that well today,” Myers said. “We knew Carolina was going to be really good and they shot incredibly well today.”
The loss ended a number of Cavalier seniors’ successful careers earlier than they anticipated. Senior goalie Kendall McBrearty, who was the ACC Tournament MVP the last two seasons, wrapped up her career with a five-save effort. According to Myers, many of the Tar Heels’ goals came in traffic, making the shots particularly tough on McBrearty.
“It’s definitely shocking,” said Virginia’s Blair Weymouth. “The only positive thing I can say is that I have another year and it sucks to sit here and look at Kendall and know that she doesn’t have another year. That’s the heartbreaking part for me.”
Donohoe and Megan Bosica spearheaded a Tar Heel offense that recovered from an early 3-0 deficit. Boscia had two goals and three assists, with both goals coming after the break as North Carolina traded goals with Virginia in the late stages of the contest to hold on for the win.
Senior Meg Freshwater’s fastbreak tally, which was just her fourth of the year, got North Carolina’s offense started with just over 23 minutes to play in the first half. The goal led to a 6-0 run by the Tar Heels and a 6-3 lead at halftime.
“That’s how I get my goals from the defensive end, usually a great save or a great defensive turnover,” Freshwater said. “I was really glad that it generated a spark, but I know if I didn’t do it someone else would’ve stepped up. We just needed to loosen up, we were a little tight at the beginning.”
The St. Anne’s-Belfield product, who serves largely as a defensive midfielder for the Tar Heels, also had a pair of ground balls in the win that redeemed UNC’s last meeting with Virginia. The Tar Heels’ 16-5 loss back in March seemed to be a day where nothing went right for North Carolina. Sunday, little went right for the Cavaliers.
“We definitely weren’t having our best day today,” McBrearty said. “We weren’t tight, just nothing was going our way.”
Virginia did open the
second half with two goals that pulled the Cavaliers within one score at 6-5. But, UNC extended the lead back to two with an unassisted goal by Kristen Taylor, and then things got quiet. There was no scoring for more than 14 minutes from there.
Virginia couldn’t gain control of the ball throughout that stretch as North Carolina kept melting critical chunks of time off the clock. Whenever the Cavaliers did manage to take possession, a dropped ball or an errant pass would put the ball back in North Carolina’s hands. With under 10 minutes to play, Boscia broke through and put UNC up 8-5.
Virginia’s last gasp came when a final flurry closed out the scoring. In a window of 24 seconds, the teams traded goals. A Blair Weymouth score off a Brittany Kalkstein assist pulled Virginia within 9-7. But less than a minute later, UNC regained control when two straight Donohoe goals off of Boscia assists closed out the Cavaliers.
“What [Donohoe] really killed us on today was the ground balls,” Myers said. “Her second opportunities with those ground balls were critical. Carolina did a great job of answering back when they really needed to dig in.”
The Tar Heels were able to melt the clock from there as Virginia again struggled to gain possession from North Carolina’s delay game.