CHAPEL HILL — On a beautiful Halloween evening, the No. 4 Tar Heels owned the soccer pitch against their rival, beating the Duke Blue Devils 3-0 in the regular season finale.
The opening minutes were dominated by Carolina as the offense kept the ball on the Duke side of the field with some aggressive play, continuing to challenge the Duke goalkeeper Megan Thomas. Seniors Kealia Ohai and Crystal Dunn established their dominant athleticism and crisp shot-making early.
The left foot of freshman Cameron Castleberry struck pay dirt first for the Tar Heels. She smacked the ball into the upper left corner of the goal to push Carolina ahead 1-0.
At the close of the first half, it was the home team Tar Heels with a 1-0 lead. Impressively, Carolina maintained a 16-1 edge in shots on goal.
It didn’t take long for Carolina to score in the second half. A quick score by junior midfielder Brooke Elby off some laser-like passes gave UNC at 2-0 cushion in the contest.
The Duke defense was having trouble keeping up with the frenetic pace of the Tar Heels.
With 18:49 left in the contest, Summer Green found the back of the net on a penalty kick to extend the lead to 3-0 over the Blue Devils.
The Tar Heels earned a satisfying 3-0 win over Duke to finish 16-3 on the season overall and 10-3 in the ACC. Duke fell to 8-7-4 overall.
Next up for the Tar Heels comes the ACC tournament quarterfinals in Chapel Hill Sunday at 1 p.m. against Boston College.
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