No. 2 North Carolina Hands No. 14 Elon WLAX First Road Loss of 2017

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Elon University women’s lacrosse dropped a 15-5 decision to defending national champion and second-ranked North Carolina on Tuesday night, March 14, at Fetzer Field.

BOX SCORE

Shannon Horan was the only Phoenix (6-2) to score more than once, tallying twice in the game on six shots to go with a ground ball. The trio of Sloane Kessler, Nicole Sinacori and Cami Lynch each scored once. On the defensive end, Rachel Ramirez tied the program record she previously set last season with seven ground balls to go with two caused turnovers. She made eight saves between the pipes. Alexis Zadjura also added four ground balls and four caused turnovers.

Molly Hendrick led North Carolina’s attack with four goals on seven shots while also adding four ground balls and a caused turnover. Sydney Holman and Maggie Bill each tallied twice on the evening with Holman also causing two turnovers and a ground ball and Bill netting two ground balls and a caused turnover. Seven other Tar Heels found the scoreboard, each scoring once. North Carolina won 17 of the game’s 22 draw controls with Sammy Jo Tracy grabbing 12 of them – two short of tying her career high and program record.

The Rundown
North Carolina (7-1, 1-0 ACC) got off to a hot start in taking a 4-0 lead in the opening 10 minutes of action. Kessler got the 14th-ranked Phoenix on the board nearing the midway point of the first half with her 16th tally of the season. Though North Carolina quickly got the goal back, Horan responded with 10:27 to go in the first half to cut the Carolina lead to just three at 5-2.

Down the stretch of the opening 30 minutes, though, the Tar Heels opened up their lead with a 5-0 run over the remaining 9:42 of the frame. In the end, UNC went to the locker room leading the Phoenix 10-2.

Out of halftime, North Carolina made it a nine-goal lead at 11-2 with an early goal before Elon started to climb back into the contest. With 28:52 to play, Sinacori got on the board and her goal was quickly followed by Horan’s second of the day. After more than 14 minutes of game action without a tally, Cami Lynch recorded her first collegiate goal with 8:10 to go to cut the Tar Heel lead to six at 11-5. That was as close as Elon would come with the Tar Heels going on a 4-0 run to end the game.

Up Next
With Spring Break coming up, Elon will take a 10-day break before returning to action Friday, March 24, at 6 p.m. at Rudd Field against Coastal Carolina. The Phoenix and Chanticleers have meet each of the last three seasons with Elon earning victories on all three occasions. Last year, Elon defeated CCU 5-4 in Conway, S.C. The five goals in the win is the lowest total in a Phoenix victory in program history.