The Oregon women’s lacrosse team knew No. 7 North Carolina was a dangerous team to defend in the open field.
But as the No. 18 Ducks found out Tuesday night, the Tar Heels are pretty good when they play patient lacrosse, as well.
Down a goal at halftime, North Carolina switched from its wide-open offense to a slowed-down attack in the second half, outscoring the No. 18 Ducks 7-1 and eventually winning 14-9 at Papé Field Tuesday night.
“I thought they completely dominated the first half with the scrappiness, draw controls and ground balls,” North Carolina head coach Jenny Levy said. “We wanted to settle down and gain control of ourselves.”
Oregon head coach Jen Larsen, a former North Carolina assistant to Levy, had the exact same idea in the final 30 minutes-but poor execution doomed any chance Oregon (6-2 overall, 1-1 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) had of beating its second ranked opponent in five days.
“The last 20 minutes we could not get the ball,” Oregon coach Jen Larsen said.
Possession wasn’t a problem for either team in the first half, however.
After North Carolina (6-1 overall) took a quick 2-0 lead in the game’s first five minutes, Oregon tied the game 3-3 from two goals by attacker Ilsa van den Berg and a free position shot by fellow senior Lindsey Killian.
Neither team led by more than a goal for the final 15 minutes of the half, with Jenny Browne, Alex Breiner, Jana Bradley and Jen May adding Oregon’s final five scores. The Tar Heels appeared to have the momentum when senior Julia Ryan scored with 16 seconds remaining, but the goal was waved off for a stick violation, keeping Oregon’s 8-7 lead intact.
The Ducks felt their transition offense caught the Tar Heels off guard.
“You could tell they were scared by it and started to make changes by it,” van den Berg said.
But as the pace of the game slowly ground to a halt at the beginning of the second half, so did the Ducks’ momentum.
A free position goal by senior Jana Bradley with just under 22 minutes left would be Oregon’s last, watching as North Carolina rattled off six unanswered goals – including five during a six-minute stretch.
“At the end, the last 15 to 20 minutes, possession was key and we couldn’t get that back,” Larsen said.
North Carolina used its advantage in both possession statistics – ground balls and draw controls – to keep the ball away from Oregon.
Van den Berg put the loss on Oregon’s inability to capitalize on its second half opportunities.
“We just had way too many turnovers that caused them to have the ball and they finished on their shots when we couldn’t and when we got it back again we turned it over again,” said van den Berg, who finished tied for the team-high with two goals.
North Carolina’s Ryan finished with four goals, tied with Corey Donohoe for the game-high; Donohoe and Ryan also had 2 assists apiece.
Levy’s team, which now holds a 3-0 series lead all-time against the Ducks, had high praise for the fourth-year team.
“By far this is the best Oregon team we’ve played and it’s definitely not a surprise,” Levy said.
Oregon’s next game is this Sunday at Papé Field at 3 p.m., against Columbia.
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