University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Penn State
Tar Heels Down Penn State For Semifinal Berth, 11-8
May 16, 2015 | Women's Lacrosse
CHAPEL HILL – Sydney Holman had a season-high four goals and six points as the North Carolina women's lacrosse team came from behind to beat Penn State, 11-8, in the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals at Fetzer Field on Saturday afternoon. Carolina trailed 8-4 in the second half, tying its biggest deficit of the season, before closing the game on a 7-0 run to win.
Carolina advances to next weekend's NCAA semifinals in Chester, Pa., and will play Duke, which beat Princeton on Saturday afternoon in Durham, N.C. The Tar Heels move on to the NCAA semifinals for the eighth time overall and the fifth time in the last seven years (2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2015). Carolina improves to 18-2 at home in NCAA Tournament play and has won 17 of its last 18 home NCAA contests. UNC is now 8-8 all-time in NCAA quarterfinals.
“Congratulations to Penn State on a great year,” Tar Heel head coach Jenny Levy said afterward. “First ever Big Ten champion comes in unranked in this tournament, which is really hard to believe, and had a really tough road. They obviously gave us everything we could handle in the first half, where I thought we just looked a little tentative, a little nervous and were kind of playing as individuals out there.”
Penn State went on a 5-0 run in the first half after the Tar Heels had taken a 3-1 lead on Holman's second goal at the 19:55 mark. PSU went on its 5-0 run over the course of a 12:16 scoreless span for Carolina. UNC trailed, 7-4, at halftime, marking its third halftime deficit of season (and tying its biggest of the season, a three-goal deficit at Maryland on Feb. 22).
Penn State then scored first in the second half to take an 8-4 lead with just under 29 minutes remaining, but it was all Tar Heels from that point forward on their 7-0 run. Carolina dominated after halftime, outscoring the Nittany Lions 7-1, out-shooting them 13-3 and winning eight of nine draws after the break.
“You've really got to put it all together and play as a team,” Levy said. “And we did that great in the second half. I think, obviously, the play of Sammy Jo Tracy on the draw impacted us greatly with 8 to 1 in the second half, and I thought possession off of the draw was key for the second half. And obviously we just really started taking care of business and executing on the offensive end. We had opportunities to do that in the first half and we didn't, and it was great to see our offensive get into some rhythm.”
Holman tied her season high with six points on the day, leading a Tar Heel attack with four multi-goal scorers. Marie McCool scored three times, Aly Messinger and Sammy Jo Tracy scored twice each. Messinger added an assist, as did Maggie Bill. Tracy and McCool led Carolina with four draw controls apiece. Madison Cyr led Penn State with two goals and an assist. Maggie McCormick also scored twice.
Carolina's defense held Penn State to its lowest scoring output of the year. The Nittany Lions had scored at least 10 goals in every game all season prior to scoring eight on Saturday, including just one in the second half. UNC out-shot Penn State, 29-14, and won 15 of 21 draws in the game.
Caylee Waters started in goal for the Tar Heels and played the first half, allowing seven goals and making three saves. Megan Ward came off the bench and saw her first action in four games, picking up her second win of the year by allowing only one goal in the second half.
Carolina advances to an NCAA semifinal game next Friday against Duke at either 5 or 7:30 p.m. at PPL Park in Chester, Pa. The NCAA championship game will be played on Sunday night, May 24. Syracuse also has advanced to the semifinal round. Top-seeded Maryland and eighth-seeded Northwestern will meet on Sunday at 1 p.m. in College Park, Md., for the final spot in the national semis.
