Tar Heels fall to Wildcats

Hoping to build on the momentum of a 17-7 quarterfinal victory against Virginia, the No. 3 seeded Tar Heels knew they would have to play near flawlessly if they hoped to defeat No. 2 Northwestern in Friday night’s NCAA women’s lacrosse semifinal matchup held in Towson, Md.

Going into the contest, UNC had the benefit of having defeated the Wildcats once previously this season, but it ultimately wasn’t enough to break Northwestern’s 23-game NCAA Tournament winning streak.

A few pivotal turnovers and the offensive productivity of Northwestern’s attackers helped the Wildcats avenge their April 18 loss to North Carolina in a 15-10 victory that advanced them to their sixth straight national title game Sunday.

“Unfortunately, it’s really hard to score without possession,” North Carolina coach Jenny Levy said.

“And I thought early in the game, unfortunately for us, we didn’t capitalize on a couple of opportunities that we had.”

The Wildcats dominated possession in the game, winning 17 draw controls to UNC’s nine and outshooting the Tar Heels 34-21. With diminishing opportunities to score, the Tar Heel offense proved too little too late as Northwestern pulled away in the final 10 minutes of the game.

“Hindsight 20/20, I would have told our players to make more of our offensive possessions because they were few and far between,” Levy said.

North Carolina midfielder Laura Zimmerman was first to score for the Tar Heels after a behind-the-goal pass from attacker Corey Donohoe.

Zimmerman would tally three goals for UNC in the contest, while Donohoe would go on to break the program’s single-season point record with two goals and two assists throughout the game.

Northwestern tied the game up a few minutes later, and after nearly 13 minutes of scoreless play, scored again to take the lead 2-1.

Both teams would continue trading goals until the last 30 seconds of the half, when UNC scored twice and Northwestern once to tie the game at 4-4 with another half to play.

The Wildcats dominated in the second half, taking a quick 6-4 lead over UNC that they would build upon for the remainder of the game.

The Tar Heels were able to narrow Northwestern’s lead to one at 10-9 when Donohoe scored her second goal with about 16 minutes left to play, but it would be the last time UNC remained within striking distance of the Wildcats.

Northwestern went on to score four consecutive goals in the final 13 minutes of the game, giving them a 14-9 lead that North Carolina would not overcome.

Kristen Taylor scored UNC’s last goal at the three-minute mark, and a Northwestern goal in the closing seconds brought the score at the final whistle to 15-10.

Northwestern would go on to lose in the title game 13-11 to ACC Tournament champion Maryland.

With the loss, North Carolina finished the season with an overall record of 17-3, which ties the school record set in 2002 for most wins in a season.

“We’ve had a great season; I’m very proud of my student-athletes,” Levy said. “They fought to the end.”

Moving forward, Levy said she hopes next year’s team can build on the successes of this season.

“As a program, we accomplished many of our goals,” Levy said. “We dominated on ground control, we put teams away on a consistent basis and we inspired a lot of people who watched us play.”

Five Tar Heel seniors have graduated, but a majority of the team will be returning for next season, including leading season scorers Donohoe and Becky Lynch.

“Although we’re really sad to see our seniors leave, it seems to me that we’ll have a really united, hard-working team next year that’s ready to grind,” Levy said.