April 17, 1999

NASVILLE, Tenn. - The sixth-ranked North Carolina women's lacrosse team earned a much needed victory Saturday afternoon as the Tar Heels defeated 19th-ranked Vanderbilt 10-5 in Nashville, Tenn.

Carolina junior midfielder Gray MacNair led the way for the Tar Heels by scoring four goals, including a pair on free position shots. Junior attacker Kristin Off added on two goals and an assist for the Tar Heels, while junior midfielder Meghann Mohler had a goal and two assists and senior attacker Erin McGinnis and junior midfielder Julie Kickham each had one goal and one assist.

The victory was the third in a row for Coach Jenny Slingluff Levy's team and lifted the Heels to 7-4 on the season, the first time this year that Carolina has been three games over the .500 mark. Vanderbilt fell to 5-8 with the defeat.

After the Commodores' Amanda Rice scored the opening goal of the game 1:06 into the first half, UNC rattled off three goals in a row -- one each by McGinnis, Off and Mohlerto take the lead for good. Vanderbilt twice cut the Tar Heel lead to one goal later in the first half but the Heels scored the last goal of the first half and the first two of the second half to lead 7-3 with 28:14 left in the game. The Lady Commodores never got closer than three goals again.

MacNair scored two of her four goals on free position shots in the final 6:42 of the game to extend the final margin to 10-5.

The Tar Heels dominated time of possession and outshot the Lady Commodores 27-15. In the goal, UNC's Debbie Castine was credited with seven saves while Emily Lough made 10 saves for Vanderbilt.

The Tar Heels will play Penn State this coming Wednesday at 5 p.m. at a neutral site in Baltimore, Md. before returning home to host the third annual Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament next weekend in Chapel Hill. Semifinal games at Francis E. Henry Stadium will be played on Saturday, April 24 with top-seeded Maryland playing fourth-seeded UNC at 1 p.m. and second-seeded Duke playing third-seeded Virginia at 3 p.m. The tournament championship game is on Sunday, April 25 at 1 p.m.