 "Photo: Casey Prather/ The Towerlight")
Towson’s second straight NCAA Tournament appearance ended in a similar losing fashion, as the Tigers got blitzed from the beginning and never recovered, falling 15-4 at the hands of third seeded North Carolina in Chapel Hill.
The Tigers offense was never able to get going, mustering just 13 shots on goal for the contest. They were able to stick with North Carolina midway through the first half when senior standout Britt Woodfield scored, bringing Towson to within 4-2 with 10:24 remaining in the first half, but that was as close as the Tigers would get for the rest of the game. North Carolina head coach Jenny Levy’s squad would begin to pull away with three goals after the Woodfield tally, taking a 7-2 lead into halftime after Chelsea Parks’ second goal of the game with 52 seconds left in the opening half gave the Tar Heels the five-goal advantage.
“It’s hard to win a game when you are never on offense and that was something that we struggled with today,” Towson head coach Missy Doherty said. “Our defense overall did a really great job, we just couldn’t get the ball down the field. Carolina forced us into a lot of turnovers and they were able to come up with the 50-50 balls all game.”
The Tar Heels came out in the second half with their foot still on the gas pedal, scoring the first six goals of the period--three in the first six minutes--led by Corey Donohoe. The sophomore scored all three of her goals in the first 11 minutes of the second half, the third of which came with 19:46 remaining in the contest, giving the Tar Heels an 11-2 lead. Donohoe, Kristen Taylor and Chelsea Parks all had hat tricks for North Carolina. Megan Bosica also scored twice, while Becky Lynch added a goal and two assists.
Junior Nikki Marcinik continued her standout season for Towson in the loss. Marcinik scored two more goals for Towson, giving her 50 for the season. Marcinik finished second on the team with 70 points, while senior Meggie McNamara led the team with her school record 43 assists. McNamara finished with a team-high 77 points, while the versatile Woodfield finished with 53.
“Nikki has been a great player for us all year,” Doherty said. “She’s a player that keeps getting better and better. She’s always stepped up in big games and she’s a hard player to stop so it’s nice that she’ll be back for another year.”
The Tigers ended the season with a 13-6 record and won the CAA conference for the second straight season under Doherty. The team accomplished all of that while playing most of the season without All-American Hillary Fratzke, largely considered the best player in the conference. Doherty said the team’s chemistry helped them overcome the loss and get into the NCAA Tournament.
“No matter what our adversity, we’ve always had great team chemistry,” Doherty said. “The girls really rallied together and when you have strong values in place it helps to fight through an adverse situation. They have rebounded well from the loss of Hillary to an 0-2 start in conference play and we finished with an amazing season.”
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