DURHAM — The Tar Heels crashed Duke’s senior night party and denied the sixth-ranked Blue Devils an opportunity to solidify their postseason situation.
Meg Morris and Kealia Ohai each scored a goal, and Adelaide Gay recorded her third consecutive shutout as seventh-ranked North Carolina claimed a 2-0 soccer victory Thursday night at Koskinen Stadium.
UNC (9-3-2, 5-2-1 ACC) won for the eighth straight time against its ACC archrival to continue its domination of the series (35-2-1). The Tar Heels remain in a tie for fourth place in the ACC with Wake Forest, whom they will play Sunday.
Duke (11-4-2, 5-3-2), which stands third in the ACC, could have clinched a home game in the ACC tournament quarterfinals with a victory. Now the Blue Devils will have to wait and see what happens elsewhere next week.
Gay became the full-time starter in the past four games, all victories, when coach Anson Dorrance scrapped his three-goalie rotation. She made three saves as UNC outshot Duke 18-7. Tara Campbell had seven saves for the Blue Devils, who had one shot by halftime.
“Addie Gay is one of the smartest goalkeepers I’ve ever coached,” said Dorrance. “She has gotten it done.”
UNC has allowed eight goals all season to rank second in the ACC in goals-against average.
Although Duke controlled play early, a UNC counterattack led to the first goal and changed the momentum for good. The goal came from an unlikely source. Morris, a junior midfielder, scored her first goal of the season at 9 minutes, 53 seconds on a blast into the lower left corner from 22 yards.
UNC midfielder Katie Bowen had crossed the ball from the right side to forward Maria Lubrano in the box. Lubrano was marked by a Duke defender but managed to redirect the ball outside the penalty area to Morris, who registered her second career goal and first since her freshman year with the strike from distance.
“What made the goal was certainly Bowen driving the ball, and Maria Lubrano killing herself to get in front of the Duke defender,” Dorrance said. “And that obviously was a wonderful finish.”
Two minutes later Duke had an opportunity to tie it on Nicole Lipp’s corner kick. UNC defender Satara Murray appeared to have the ball hit her hand, but the referee signaled there was no violation and awarded UNC a goal kick.
Duke coach Robbie Church was disappointed the Blue Devils didn’t get a penalty kick on the play.
“That’s the second one (in two games),” he said. “We had one (Sunday) against Wake Forest. It would have been nice to get that opportunity. But there was still a lot of time left on the clock. That didn’t cost us the game.”
Ohai gave the Tar Heels an insurance goal almost eight minutes into the second half. Amber Brooks controlled a ball at the top of the box after a failed free kick clearance by Duke and found a wide-open Summer Green to the right of the goal. Green crossed to Ohai, who finished from close range for her fourth goal of the season.
