University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Syracuse
Syracuse Beats Tar Heels For ACC Title In 2OT
April 26, 2015 | Women's Lacrosse
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. – Syracuse's Kayla Treanor scored with 1:44 left in the second overtime period to lift the sixth-seeded Orange (14-6) to a 9-8 win over top-seeded North Carolina (15-3) in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game on Sunday afternoon at Klockner Stadium.
The loss snaps Carolina's seven-game winning streak and marks the Tar Heels' first loss since March 21. UNC was making its fifth appearance in the ACC championship game in the last six years.
“Congratulations to Syracuse," UNC head coach Jenny Levy said afterward. "I thought we gave a great team effort today. I thought we played great on the defensive end of the field and had a lot of stops but struggled on the draw controls. I thought we did a tremendous job of creating possessions for ourselves through our ride and our defensive stops.
"Caylee (Waters) had a lot to do with getting stops defensively, but you can't shoot 8 for 30 and you can't shoot 3 for 9 off the 8-meter and expect to win a championship game. We came off a great offensive showing on Friday, but today whether it was pipes, shooting at their goalie, who we credit for having a great game, I thought we had some wide open looks that we didn't convert on.”
Treanor and Halle Majorana both scored twice for Syracuse, with Treanor adding an assist on her way to ACC Tournament MVP honors. The Orange also got goals from Erica Bodt, Taylor Poplawski, Riley Donahue and Kailah Kempney.
Aly Messinger led the Tar Heels with two goals and an assist. Marie McCool scored twice, while Maggie Bill and Carly Reed each had a goal and an assist. Kelly Devlin and Lindsay Scott also scored for the Tar Heels.
The Orange won 16 of 21 draws in the game. The Tar Heels connected on eight of their 30 shots in the game and three of their nine free position opportunities. As a team, Carolina scored 44 goals in its three ACC Tournament games, breaking the previous record of 42 set by Maryland in 2014.
Syracuse scored the first three goals of the game, winning most of the early draws and taking the 3-0 lead. The Tar Heels responded with a 3-0 run of their own in a span of 4:04, including two goals from McCool, to tie it at 3-3. Neither team scored in the final 11:05 of the first half. The Orange won five of the seven first-half draws.
Syracuse scored the first two and five of the first seven goals of the second half. The Orange led, 8-5, with 7:16 to go, before the Tar Heels went on a 3-0 run in 4:23 and tied it on a free position goal by Scott with 1:10 to go in regulation. Devlin and Messinger also scored during the tying rally. Devlin had a last-second shot that could've won the game, but Syracuse's Kelsey Richardson saved it to force overtime.
Neither team scored in the first overtime, though Syracuse's Taylor Gait had a last-second try to win it that Caylee Waters saved for Carolina. Treanor scored unassisted with 1:44 left in the sudden victory, second overtime.
Waters started in goal and went the distance for Carolina, making 11 saves. Richardson was in goal for Syracuse and made 10 saves.
Messinger, Waters, Devlin and Bill earned All-ACC Tournament honors for the Tar Heels. Carolina now awaits an NCAA Tournament bid, to be announced next weekend.
