With Jamie Ortega sidelined, the top-ranked North Carolina women’s lacrosse team needed a lights-out scorer to fill the void.
The Tar Heels aren’t short on stars, and luckily for head coach Jenny Levy, she had an up-and-coming playmaker waiting in the wings. Caitlyn Wurzburger, arguably the most hyped freshman in women’s lacrosse history, had five goals on seven shots with one assist as North Carolina staved off a furious second-half comeback from Duke in a 12-11 win at Koskinen Stadium.
Katie Hoeg had one goal and five assists, and Ally Mastroianni had three goals — including the game-winning tally with 17 seconds remaining.
North Carolina (15-0, 9-0 ACC) led 8-3 at halftime but was thoroughly dominated on the draw circle in the second half. Maddie Jenner was undeniably Duke’s best weapon in the final 30 minutes. All told, she won 12 draw controls and helped the Blue Devils close the gap.
Duke (9-6, 4-6 ACC) scored eight of nine goals in a blitz of a run spanning the end of the first half and the first 15 minutes of the second half, ultimately knotting the score at 9 on Gabby Rosenzweig’s unassisted goal.
UNC went up 11-9, but Duke answered. Olivia Carner scored with 3:37 left, and Catherine Cordrey followed just 35 seconds later, tying the score again.
With the minutes ticking away, Mastroianni won a key ground ball with 1:29 remaining to give UNC possession. A shot attempt by Scottie Rose Growney with 33 seconds left went wide. Another shot by Kerrigan Miller 11 seconds later was saved, but Mastroianni was there for the ground ball. She immediately took the ball off the turf and scored the winner.
A source said that Ortega is expected to play in next weekend’s ACC tournament after she was shaken up during last weekend’s game against Virginia. Elizabeth Hillman, another Tar Heel who has missed time recently and would be a huge addition to the Tar Heels’ draw team, could return next week, but it’s unclear at this point.
CHANTS UPSET JACKSONVILLE
The deck was stacked against Coastal Carolina.
The Chanticleers were facing Jacksonville, the No. 9 team in the country, on the road. They hadn’t beaten the Dolphins since April 21, 2017. Jacksonville outshot the Chants 32-23, won the ground ball battle 23-18 and came out on top on draws 16-11.
But Coastal Carolina’s defense locked in, and the Chants’ clutch gene kicked in.
Kayla Downey fed Abbey Buchanan with 1:40 left in overtime, giving Coastal Carolina a 13-12 win that just might make enough noise to warrant attention from the NCAA’s selection committee. It was Jacksonville’s first loss of the season, and the Dolphins are now 6-1.
Coastal Carolina is 9-6.
Nike / US Lacrosse Top 20
No. 1 North Carolina 12, No. 7 Duke 11
Coastal Carolina 13, No. 9 Jacksonville 12 (OT)
No. 10 Florida 17, Old Dominion 6
No. 12 Richmond 15, Davidson 11
No. 13 Drexel 17, Towson 7
Other Scores
Denver 18, Villanova 10
East Carolina 12, Cincinnati 11
James Madison 21, William and Mary 8
Liberty 18, Stetson 9
Marquette 18, Butler 5
Saint Joseph’s 10, Duquesne 9
Siena 13, Monmouth 12
Temple 13, Vanderbilt 12
UConn 15, Georgetown 14 (OT)
UMass 27, St. Bonaventure 2
USC 16, Arizona State 14
VCU 19, George Mason 9
Colorado at Oregon, PPD