Women’s lacrosse loses due to last-second defensive lapse

For more than 65 minutes, the North Carolina women’s lacrosse team shut down Northwestern’s dangerous offense.

But with just 15 seconds left in overtime, a defense that was steady for the entire game fell apart.

The Wildcats took advantage, finding Taylor Thornton streaking down the right side of the field. Thornton fired a shot and netted the winning goal, putting Northwestern ahead 7-6.

Despite the costly defensive lapse, it was the UNC defense that kept the Tar Heels in the game for so long.

The Tar Heels only managed to score six goals after two consecutive games of throwing 14 into the back of the cage. Senior Corey Donohoe, the team’s leading scorer, was held scoreless on just two shots.

“It’s our fault if they’re not playing well,” senior defender Katy Fitzgerald said. “We just needed to step up and play better. Because if we play better, we’re going to fire up the attack.”

The Tar Heel attack needed firing up as it fell behind 2-0 in the first half, going more than 21 minutes without mustering a goal.

But goalkeeper Lauren Maksym stood tough in goal when UNC couldn’t click offensively. The sophomore blocked five shots in the first half and finished the game with a total of nine saves.

“She’s a game-changer,” UNC coach Jenny Levy said.

“She was very confident, and the defense in front of her is really confident in her.”

UNC used a mixture of pressure defense and a box-and-one to frustrate Northwestern offensively.

The strategy worked, as Northwestern’s six goals in regulation were the least the second-ranked Wildcats have scored since the 2005 season.

More important than the formation was the way the Tar Heels played as a unit.

“We were focusing on communicating and just playing strong and hard,” Fitzgerald said. “The past few games, we had a little trouble with communicating and just holding strong, hard d-sets. I definitely think we accomplished what we wanted to do today.”

Even though Northwestern’s Shannon Smith scored four goals, the Tar Heel defense didn’t make it easy for her.

UNC defenders harassed Smith the entire length of the game. It took Smith seven shots to get her four goals and often the Wildcats’ leading point scorer would make a drive just to be bumped back out away from the crease.

And when Northwestern was holding the ball for the last shot in overtime, the Tar Heels weren’t going to allow Smith to rip one.

“We were taking away who we thought would be their top two kids,” Levy said. “They went to their third key kid who just happened to be a defender behind the line.

“We didn’t give them anything — they had to make a play.”

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@dailytarheel.com.