Tar Heels Survive Notre Dame, 13-12

Saturday, March 31

Chapel Hill

Noon

North Carolina

8-3, 3-1ACC

Notre Dame

6-6, 2-4ACC

Notre Dame

North Carolina

Katie Hoeg

Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati

March 31, 2018 | Women's Lacrosse

Box Score Final Stats (.pdf)Photo Gallery

CHAPEL HILL—Jamie Ortega scored a career-high six goals to lead the fifth-ranked North Carolina women's lacrosse team a come-from-behind, 13-12 win over No. 22 Notre Dame at Kenan Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

With the victory, Carolina improved to 8-3 overall this season and 3-1 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Notre Dame fell to 6-6, 2-4.

Carolina outscored the Fighting Irish, 11-6, in the second half after trailing, 6-2, at halftime. The Tar Heels went on an 11-3 run coming out of the locker room to take a 13-9 lead with 7:11 to go before allowing the Irish to score three in a row to make it close in the final minutes.

Ortega's six goals surpass the five she scored against Liberty on February 18. Her six scores came on just nine shots.

Katie Hoeg finished with two goals and two assists for the Tar Heels, who also got two goals and one assist from Kara Klages and a goal and two assists from Ela Hazar. Maggie Bill had two assists, while Marie McCool and Taylor McDaniels each scored once.

Molly Cobb led Notre Dame with three goals and an assist, while Savannah Buchanan had two goals and one assist and Nikki Ortega had two goals. Andie Aldave had a goal and two assists.

"I'm getting used to these close games," UNC head coach Jenny Levy joked afterward. "Finding different ways to win against different teams certainly builds toughness. The score was a little closer than what I would've liked personally, but it is what it is and we'll use it to teach, guide and get better. Credit to Notre Dame for playing well."

Carolina out-shot Notre Dame, 30-26, but the Irish won more draw controls (15-12) and ground balls (17-16). The Tar Heels forced 16 turnovers while committing 12.

Elise Hennessey went the distance in goal for Carolina and made eight saves while allowing 12 goals. Samantha Giancolone made 10 saves in 60 minutes for the Irish, allowing 13 scores.

In the first half, Notre Dame scored first at the 27:11 mark and led 4-1 with 7:50 left until halftime. Carolina went over 15 minutes of game time without scoring, and the Irish led by a 6-2 score at the break. UNC's two first-half goals were its fewest in any half all season.

"We couldn't have played a worse half," Levy said. "The first half was the worst lacrosse I've seen us play in a really long time, whether it was turnovers in transition or throw-away balls in the offensive end. This is a team game, and you need to play well as a unit. We weren't doing a good job of that on the offensive end in the first half, which really caused us some issues."

The Tar Heels will return to action next Saturday at 3 p.m. against Louisville in Kenan Stadium.