Photo by: Ian Soileau, The Cronicle

The DU women’s lacrosse team started their season with two away games over the weekend and lost 11-16 to No. 3-ranked Duke and 9-15 to No. 8 University of North Carolina, both of which are top competitors of the No. 16-ranked Pioneers.

Denver (0-2) took on Duke last Thursday and was only down by 7-6 at halftime but couldn’t manage to gain the lead during the second period. However, junior Karen Morton, who is from Australia, had a hat trick and both junior Steph Coyne and senior Megan Carver had two goals apiece.

“We did a really good job Friday against Duke,” said head coach Liza Kelly. “I think what would have helped us more would have been to be more consistent with draw controls.”

Denver outnumbered Duke in saves 12-8, which is probably because Duke out-shot DU 40-24. The Blue Devils’ (1-0) leading scorer was Carolyn Davis with five goals, and in the second period Duke outscored the Pioneers 9-5. At the start of the second half Duke really took control of the game by scoring five goals in just over five minutes and expanding their lead for good.

On Sunday at 11 a.m., Denver fell once again. this time it was to the North Carolina Tarheels (2-0). Morton had her second straight hat trick and Carver scored four goals, three of which were in the second period.

“On Sunday’s game we had way too many turnovers and gave too many second opportunities going to goal for North Carolina,” said Kelly.

Denver was 5-11 in free position shots compared to the Tarheels 2-8 free position shots. The two teams were tied 13-13 for draw controls in the match, and North Carolina had 42 fouls compared to DU’s 33. There were also two yellow cards given out during the contest, one to each team, for DU it was Ali Flury who received the penalty. One highlight of the game was freshman Tulley Stapp’s first collegiate goal off a free position shot in the second half.

“The settled defense and settled attack played well,” said Kelly of Pioneers strengths in these two games. “And I think that we had a number of nice performances from several players.”

Even though the team played fairly well together against two of the top competitors in the league, there were several players who stood out.

“Defensively, I think the two captains, Natasha Davies and Kelly O’Connell,” said Kelly of the outstanding players of the weekend. “Offensively, I think Megan Carver, Karen Morton and Steph Coyne all showed good leadership, going hard to goal and setting the pace for attack.”

The women’s lacrosse team returns to Barton Lacrosse Stadium this week for seven consecutive home games, beginning with Stony Brook on Friday at 4 p.m.