CHESTER, PA. — No one on the North Carolina women's lacrosse team averages more than 1.9 goals per game, but that doesn't matter when everybody on the attack scores.
Aly Messinger had three goals to lead nine other players with at least one in Friday night's NCAA Division I tournament semifinal as the second-seeded Tar Heels easily got past archrival and No. 3 seed Duke, 16-7, at PPL Park.
North Carolina (18-3) took advantage of 11 Blue Devils turnovers and a 15-10 advantage in draw controls to dominate possession and outshoot Duke 34-19. In addition to Messinger's three goals and two assists, the Tar Heels got two goals apiece from Marie McCool, Maggie Bill, Sydney Holman and Lindsay Scott.
"That's something that we love to see as a team," Messinger said. "One of our biggest things when we play is, 'Let's work as a team. Let's make this a team effort, a team win,' so to see that many players go to goal and score is amazing. We really love seeing that."
North Carolina, aiming for its second national championship in three years, will meet the winner of the late semifinal between defending champion Maryland, the top seed, and No. 4 seed Syracuse at 8:30 p.m. Sunday at PPL Park.
Friday's game went back and forth until late in the first half, when the Tar Heels scored three straight goals for a 7-4 halftime lead. Duke's Taylor Trimble got one back to open the second half. Then North Carolina's Sammy Jo Tracy rolled the crease and flicked the ball from a low angle over the head of Duke goalie Kelsey Duryea (10 saves) to spark a six-goal spurt.
Before Duke's Brigid Smith finally ended the run, the Tar Heels had a 13-5 lead with about 10 minutes left.
The Blue Devils were held to seven or fewer goals for only the third time all season. North Carolina won their regular-season matchup, 12-6, and in the NCAA tournament quarterfinals, Duke defeated Princeton, 7-3.
The Blue Devils, who now have been to the semifinals seven times without making it to the championship game, didn't take good care of the ball throughout the game. North Carolina was strong on defense, but only five of Duke's turnovers were caused.
Brittney Coppa (North Carroll) gave the Tar Heels extra momentum going into halftime when she scored with 6.5 seconds left.
Coppa, a senior, worked the crease with confidence despite playing with a torn right anterior cruciate ligament after missing all of last season with a torn left ACL. She slipped inside her defender on the crease to make it 7-4.
"It was awesome," Coppa said. "It's not exactly the end of the year that I anticipated to have personally, but I think my team's done an awesome job. Today, it wasn't about me or anyone in particular. It was just at that moment, I had the ball, and there was only about 10 seconds left when Syd [Holman] passed me the ball, and I knew it was my time to go and make the play that I'm used to making."