The North Carolina women's lacrosse team was pushed to the brink.
But on Saturday, No. 3 UNC picked up its third straight win over a top-five opponent with a 12-11 victory against No. 4 Syracuse at the Carrier Dome to clinch the ACC regular-season title.
The Tar Heels (12-2, 6-0 in the ACC) and the Orange (12-4, 4-2 in the ACC) battled in a shootout early in the first half. Syracuse got the scoring started, but Kelly Devlin and Sammy Jo Tracy netted goals just 34 seconds apart to put UNC on top, 2-1.
But less than two minutes into the game, Syracuse had already shoveled in a second goal of their own.
North Carolina opened up a 4-2 lead as Tracy scored her second goal of the game, followed by a quick goal from Marie McCool. But the hot-handed Tar Heels quickly went cold, going on a 20-minute scoring drought.
In that time, the Orange fired off five straight goals to pull ahead, 7-4.
The last two minutes of the first half saw UNC regain the scoring touch that it had in the first two minutes. The Tar Heels reeled off three goals -- including two from Ela Hazar -- to pull within one goal at halftime.
Syracuse stormed out to a 10-7 lead to start the second half, but the Tar Heels went on a 5-0 run -- including two goals from Carly Reed.
The final 10 minutes were a defensive standoff between the ACC's top two teams. After the Orange's goal at the 10:54 mark, both teams were held scoreless and the Tar Heels held on for the win.
