UNC women’s lacrosse falls to Northwestern in overtime

The No. 3 North Carolina women’s lacrosse team met a familiar foe at Fetzer Field, only to walk away with the same result.

In Friday’s rematch of last year’s final four, the No. 2 Northwestern Wildcats walked away victors, winning 7-6 off a goal scored with 15 seconds remaining in overtime.

The low final score starkly contrasts the offensive battle from last year’s final four that ended in a 15-10 Tar Heel defeat. UNC’s stifling defense was able to hold the Wildcats to their lowest scoring output in nearly three years.

“I’ve got a great defense. They played a really nice game,” UNC coach Jenny Levy said. “I thought a couple different times at the end of the game, regulation time and in overtime, they did a fantastic job.”

The Tar Heels earned 23 ground balls while goalie Lauren Maksym protected the net with nine saves.

Northwestern’s defensive effort was equally impressive, shutting down leading scorer Corey Donohoe. The senior attacker went scoreless from the field on two shots.

“Any time Corey had the ball they did a really nice job of sending a double out to her, so she was really someone who I thought they did a good job on her,” Levy said.

With Donohoe’s scoring ability limited by her defenders, her teammates filled her role.

“It was a type of game where our depth was really used — everyone on the field recognized that they were capable of also offensively contributing,” senior Kaitlyn Messinger said.

“Corey was face guarded for some time, and it made us realize that we all have strengths, we’re all quick, we can all take the ball if we need to. And we noticed that. When it looked safe we just went for it.”

Messinger had a team-high three goals, including one with 5:59 remaining in the second half to put UNC ahead 6-5.

Kara Cannizzaro not only added a goal for the Tar Heels, but her fast break balls helped her team get in scoring position.

“It was really important to get the ball in transition up to our offense,” Cannizzaro said. “Our defense made amazing stops, and I just happened to be the one who broke out and got the ball.”

The offense scored six goals and took 23 shots despite Northwestern’s pressure defense. UNC focused on adjusting to the Wildcats’ style of play in preparation for their defense.

“Luckily we have really good practice players and they just practice pressuring on us really hard on us in practice, clobbering us, doing whatever they could, and being as illegal as possible,” Messinger said.

The intensity of the game lived up to UNC’s expectations, as 68 total fouls were called and nine players received yellow cards.

In a battle where emotions ran high between two schools fighting to further cement their reputations as immovable forces at the top of the rankings, only Northwestern emerged with a victory.

“There are no moral victories here, we’re not happy about the loss at all,” Levy said. “I think it was a great game for our sport tonight, a very big defensive battle, but we’re not happy with the loss. Close isn’t good enough for us.”

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@dailytarheel.com.