April 18, 2003
Final Stats
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -
The University of Maryland women's lacrosse team advanced to the ACC championship game for the sixth time in seven years with a dominating 13-5 victory over the fourth-seeded North Carolina Tar Heels on a rainy afternoon at Klockner Stadium on Friday.
Recently announced ACC Player of the Year Kelly Coppedge and fellow All-ACC selection Sonia Judd each scored four goals and added an assist to lead all scorers with five points. All-ACC goalie Alexis Venechanos continued her sensational play with 11 saves while freshman Delia Cox also tallied a pair of goals and an assist.
"Today we played a very tough opponent and I am very proud of the way we played," said head coach Cindy Timchal. "We came out strong and kept getting stronger as the game went on. We don't know who we are going to play in the finals, but we know it is a tough road ahead and we look forward to it."
Maryland jumped out to a 4-0 lead just 17:33 in as Judd was on fire early, tallying three goals before 15 minutes had elapsed in the contest. Cox chipped in the other goal in the four goal run before North Carolina got on the board for the first time as Brooke Dieringer scored with 12:12 left in the first half.
Maryland poured on the offense again after the Tar Heels scored the first goal of the second half, netting the next seven goals including two by Coppedge along with single goals by Acacia Walker, Judd, Jessica Dorney, Cox and Annie Collins to take a 13-2 lead with 6:31 left in the game.
North Carolina mounted a mild comeback scoring the the next three goals to bring the Heels to within 13-5 with 1:30 left, but Maryland's lead was too big for the 14th-ranked Tar Heels to overcome.
The Terps, the nation's No. 2 team in the latest IWLCA poll, posted their best defensive outing in an ACC game since they held Virginia to just five goals in a 13-5 victory on April 25, 1999 in the ACC Tournament. It was also the fewest goals North Carolina has scored against the Terps since a 14-2 Maryland win on March 9, 1996.
The Terps will now face the winner of the No. 2 seed Duke/No. 3 seed Virginia on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. The game will be televised live on Comcast SportsNet in the Baltimore/Washington area.
