UNC women’s lacrosse defeated by Maryland in ACC championship

CARY — The North Carolina women’s lacrosse team got a taste of ACC tournament glory when it led first-seeded Maryland for more than 36 minutes Sunday in the tournament final.

But an 8-0 second-half run by the Terrapins made sure the Tar Heels didn’t get a full bite.

Despite a 6-3 halftime deficit, Maryland held UNC to just one goal in the second half en route to its third straight ACC championship with a 12-7 victory.

“In the second half, we didn’t stick to our game plan,” senior Corey Donohoe said. “We didn’t work like a team.”

The first half was all North Carolina (12-5), as Maryland entered the locker room trailing for the first time all season. Becky Lynch, who finished the game with four goals and tied a tournament record with 11 goals on the weekend, netted three of them in the first half.

UNC goalkeeper Lauren Maksym recorded eight first-half saves and held Maryland (17-0) to a season-low three goals before the break.

But then the wheels came off for the Tar Heels.

“We got a little lax, and maybe a little anxious, and kind of comfortable with it,” Lynch said.

The momentum changed behind tournament MVP Laura Merrifield of Maryland. Merrifield scored the Terrapins’ first two second-half goals, the second of which kick-started the run that ran the Tar Heels out of contention.

During the run, Maryland had a 6-3 advantage in draw controls and caused five Tar Heel turnovers. Those advantages allowed Maryland to keep the ball out of the hands of North Carolina, which scored 33 goals in the previous two tournament games.

“Defensively, we really stepped it up,” Maryland midfielder Katie Schwarzmann said. “We always say our defense starts our offense. That was the difference in the second half.”

Lynch’s four goals highlighted a Tar Heel attack that was otherwise shut down by the Maryland defense.

North Carolina only had two assists on the game and no other Tar Heel scored more than one goal. Donohoe, UNC’s all-time leading point-scorer, was held to zero goals and one assist.

“They aren’t going to create offense for you,” UNC coach Jenny Levy said. “We played into their hands in the second half with not moving the ball as well.

“The shots that we were getting were being changed … we didn’t have a lot behind those shots a lot of times.”

The Maryland offense, which leads the ACC with an average of 16.4 goals per game, couldn’t be stifled for more than one half.

While Maksym denied the Terrapins eight times in the first half, she could only muster two saves while allowing nine goals on 14 second-half shots by Maryland.

“In the second half we had to generate more offense, move off the ball, move through each other and work with each other, and we did that,” Maryland coach Cathy Reese said.

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