University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Northwestern
Northwestern Ends Carolina's Season In NCAA Semis, 11-10
May 28, 2011 | Women's Lacrosse
May 27, 2011
Boxscore (PDF)
| 1 | 2 | Final | |
| North Carolina | 5 | 5 | 10 |
| Northwestern | 5 | 6 | 11 |
| G | A | Pts | S | SOG | |
| Laura Zimmerman | 4 | 1 | 5 | 10 | 6 |
| Becky Lynch | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 3 |
Stony Brook, N.Y. - All-America Shannon Smith scored with 18 seconds to play to give second-seeded Northwestern an 11-10 victory over third-seeded North Carolina in the NCAA Tournament semifinals on Friday night at LaValle Stadium in Stony Brook, N.Y.
Northwestern advances to Sunday's championship game to face top-seeded Maryland, which beat fifth-seeded Duke 14-8 in Friday's first semifinal contest.
Carolina battled back from three-goal deficits in both halves to tie the score in each case, including tying the score with 7:13 to play after trailing 10-7 with 12:09 to go.
The Tar Heels (15-6) end their season at the hands of Northwestern (20-2) in the final weekend of the season for the third year in a row. In 2009, the Wildcats beat UNC in the national championship game and Friday's loss was the second in a row to NU in the NCAA semifinals.
Laura Zimmerman led UNC with four goals and one assist. Becky Lynch had two goals and an assist and Corey Donohoe had a goal and two assists. Abbey Friend scored twice for the Tar Heels, Brittney Coppa scored once and Emily Garrity had two assists.
For Northwestern, Smith finished with four goals and an assist. Erin Fitzgerald scored three times and Jessica Russo, Brooke Matthews, Kelly Rich and Ali Cassera each scored once. Alex Frank and Gabriella Flibotte each dished out assists for the Wildcats.
Carolina fell behind early by scores of 3-0 and 4-1 but rallied to control much of the first half after the initial Northwestern scoring flurry in the first 13 minutes of play.
UNC won the opening draw but missed some scoring opportunities early, including two free position tries, before turning it over. Northwestern's Fitzgerald quickly scored for a 1-0 Wildcat lead at 26:56. Just over four minutes later, the Wildcats went up 2-0 when Rich scored off a pass from Smith. Less than a minute later it was 3-0 after Smith scored off a pass from Flibotte.
Lynch put Carolina on the scoreboard at 20:30, scoring off a pass from Donohoe to make it 3-1 Wildcats. Three and a half minutes later, NU's Matthews scored on a free position try to go up 4-1.
The Tar Heels then rallied to tie the score with three consecutive goals. Friend responded at 15:06 with a goal off a pretty pass from Lynch that made it 4-2 and came after a Northwestern foul. A Zimmerman free position goal five minutes later made it 4-3 Wildcats. Lynch tied the score at 4-4, taking a pass from Garrity and connecting at the 4:28 mark.
Northwestern retook the lead when Russo scored unassisted at the 2:52 mark, making it 5-4 Wildcats. Carolina nearly tied it in the final two minutes when back-to-back shots by Donohoe and Zimmerman hit the pipe in a frantic span with under 2:00 to play in the half. Zimmerman finally did tie the score with a free position goal with 0:07 left before the break.
Carolina took its first lead of the game at 28:18 of the second half when Donohoe scored unassisted after NU defender Taylor Thornton fell down. Smith quickly tied it again at six-all with an unassisted goal at 27:32. The Tar Heels responded shortly thereafter with a fast break goal from Friend off a Zimmerman assist at 27:11 for a 7-6 lead.
Northwestern then scored four consecutive goals to seize control. Smith's third goal of the game and second of the half for Northwestern came at the 23:50 mark and tied it again at 7-7. Fitzgerald scored unassisted off a restart after a Tar Heel foul at the 19:48 mark as Northwestern retook the lead at 8-7. Cassera scored unassisted for a 9-7 NU lead after back-to-back yellow cards were awarded to UNC's Lynch and Beth Ellis, forcing a Tar Heel timeout with 16:47 to go. Fitzgerald scored unassisted at the 12:09 mark for a 10-7 Wildcat advantage.
UNC finally stopped the NU rally and mounted one of its own, starting when Zimmerman scored off a pass from Donohoe at the 9:59 mark to make it 10-8. Coppa cut the Wildcat lead to one at 10-9 with a pretty move to the cage and an unassisted score at 7:56. Zimmerman tied it at 10-all with 7:13 to go, scoring off a pass from Garrity while Northwestern was playing two players down after a pair of yellow cards.
After UNC goalie Lauren Maksym made a pair of impressive saves with less than four minutes to go, Carolina regained possession and cleared it to its offensive end and called timeout with 3:18 remaining.
The Tar Heels couldn't capitalize and Northwestern regained possession, then held the ball until Smith dashed in from behind the cage and scored past Maksym with 18 seconds left for an 11-10 lead. NU controlled the subsequent draw and was able to run out the clock.
Carolina out-shot the Wildcats 30-19, had 14 draws to NU's nine and won 17 ground balls to Northwestern's 14. The Tar Heels connected on just five of their 20 first-half shots, however, and committed 15 turnovers to the Wildcats' nine.
