CHAPEL HILL - In the first Duke-North Carolina matchup since last Saturday's event in Cameron Indoor Stadium, the Blue Devils took some revenge Wednesday night in Chapel Hill, defeating the No. 3 Tar Heels, 10-8, at Fetzer Field.
The trio of Michelle Menser, Kristen Waagbo and Leigh Jester led No. 2 Duke (5-0, 2-0 in the ACC) to victory. The juniors combined for six goals, four assists and 10 ground balls as the Blue Devils ousted the Tar Heels (3-1, 1-1).
"Waagbo had a lot of assists and handled the ball great on offense," head coach Kerstin Kimel said. "Michelle Menser had a great game and Leigh Jester played really well with nice composure. We just had really balanced scoring."
With the game tied at one, Menser took a pass from Rachel Sanford and beat goalie Kristen Hordy to jump-start a 5-0 Duke flurry seven minutes into the game from which the Blue Devils never looked back.
Duke controlled the next 14 minutes as Waagbo slowed down the offense and kept the ball behind the Carolina goal. She assisted on the next two scores, first feeding Katie Chrest, who quick-sticked it to the top left corner of the goal. Waagbo then found Michelle Menser for another goal with 15:51 left in the half.
Caroline Cryer ended the spurt, emerging from a crowd to take a pass from Jester in front of the goal and buried a quick shot past Hordy to put the Blue Devils up 6-1.
"I guess I expected [UNC] to maybe come out a little harder than they did out of the gate," Kimel said.
Though Duke led the rest of the evening, the game was back and forth for the remainder as the Tar Heels stepped up their intensity and attempted to come back.
Meg Freshwater responded with a goal straight off the next draw, and then whipped an assist to midfielder Kelly Taylor on the next Tar Heel attack to make it a 6-3 Duke advantage. They could not cut the lead further, however, as Waagbo set up Jester in front of the goal for a quick-strike with just 18 seconds left. Duke went into the half up 7-3.
Although the Blue Devils had 24 shots in the first period, only seven got past Hordy.
"Their goalie is really great, she was probably their player of the game," Kimel said. "I thought we took some bad shots, and I thought that was part of what kept them in the game. If we had finished on some of our shots in the first half, I think there could have been a greater score differential."
The Tar Heels continued an attempt at a comeback, opening the second half with a bang, scoring just 35 seconds into the period. The Blue Devils started slowly, and took over ten minutes to get their first score of the half, with Menser taking an open lane to the goal for her third score of the game.
"I just think our overall consistency needed to be improved," Kimel said. "I want the girls to feel more confident in our ability to sustain that intensity and momentum into the second half, which we didn't do. Now, Carolina came out really hard and strong, to their credit, but we have to be able to get our level back up there too."
The Tar Heels made one last bid for victory with 13 minutes remaining in the game and trailing, 9-6. Carolina rallied behind another Freshwater score and Stephanie Scurachio took a pass from Taylor just left of the goal to beat Megan Huether and make it a one-goal game with 10:27 remaining.
"This game is always a one or two goal game, either way, it doesn't matter. It's like throw out all the rankings, throw out who's supposed to win," Kimel said. "I know we're closely ranked this year, but it's always that kind of game with them."
Duke finally finished off the Tar Heels as leading scorer Katie Chrest took the ball to goal and scored on a wide open shot with just 55 seconds left to solidify the Blue Devil win.
"What [Carolina] did in the second half, I totally expected. I felt like we definitely let down in the second half which I was disappointed in," Kimel said. "But, you know, it's Carolina, and it's a great win, and we feel really happy to have come out on top."
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