April 21, 2002
Final Stats
DURHAM. N.C. -
For the first time in school history, the second-seeded and fourth ranked North Carolina women's lacrosse team won the ACC Championship on Sunday with an 11-10 victory over fourth-seeded and 12th-ranked Maryland at Koskinen Stadium in Durham, N.C.
The Tar Heels were led by ACC Player of the Year Christine McPike, who tied a career-high with five goals on the afternoon. In the two ACC Tournament games, McPike scored seven goals and was named ACC Tournament Most Valuable Player (MVP).
North Carolina put the first points on the board in the first minute of the game as Lindsay Stone scored her 36 goal of the season. Maryland would connect on two of the next three goals and the match remained tied 2-2 until North Carolina sophomore Rachel Szakmary registered her first goal of the season and her second career goal at the 8:32 mark.
The Tar Heels would never trail the rest of the way as North Carolina scored five goals in a row to take a 7-2 lead with less than four minutes remaining in the first half. Maryland's Kelly Coppedge and Kristie Leggio each posted goals prior to halftime, but with 10 seconds remaining North Carolina's Erin McInnes connected on her 27 goal of the season with two seconds left to give the Tar Heels an 8-4 halftime advantage. At the end of the first half, North Carolina held a 19-12 shot advantage.
Maryland came out in the second half scoring two goals by Coppedge and Katie Robinson, but North Carolina was able to counter with two goals of its own by Kellie Thompson to put the Tar Heels up 10-6. The two squads would then exchange goals and then the Terrapins mounted a comeback scoring three goals by Leggio, Coppedge and Acacia Walker to cut the North Carolina lead to 11-10 with 46 seconds remaining. Maryland had a couple of opportunities in the final seconds to even the score, but Tar Heel goalkeeper Katelyn Hoffman was able to control the ball.
For the game, North Carolina outshot Maryland 31-26 and held a 27-26 shot advantage. Hoffman finished the day with four saves, all of which came in the second half. Coppedge led the Terrapins with three goals on the day. With the victory, North Carolina improves to 13-2 overall, while Maryland falls to 9-7 overall.
