Comeback brings WLAX into the championship game

Comeback brings WLAX into the championship game

Sports News / By /

BALTIMORE, Md. – UNC’s Sam Geiersbach scored the deciding goal with 1:03 left in Friday’s rainy NCAA women’s lacrosse semifinal game to beat Northwestern 15-14, earning Carolina a spot in Sunday’s championship. The top-ranked Tar Heels improved to 21-0 this season and will be playing for their third NCAA title.

It is UNC’s first appearance in the championship game since 2016, which was also the last time the Tar Heels won the title.

The Tar Heels meet No. 3-seeded Boston College for the third time this season in the title game on Sunday. The Eagles beat No. 2 seeded Maryland 17-16 in Friday’s second semifinal.


Carolina needed an epic comeback to progress. Northwestern scored the first six goals of the game, beating the Tar Heels 10-4 in the first quarter. At 1:11 in the first quarter, a weather delay of one hour and 36 minutes began for lightning in the area. NU led 6-0 after the first period.


UNC didn’t get on the board until a goal from Jamie Ortega early in the second quarter put Northwestern 6-1 with 13:25 by halftime. Ally Mastroianni added another for UNC before the Wildcats scored two more to lead 8-2 at halftime. It was the lowest-scoring half of the season for Carolina.


After failing to gain ground in the third quarter when Northwestern held a 5-4 lead, UNC was 13-6 in the fourth quarter. Mastroianni scored to make it 13-7, then the Wildcats responded to go up again by seven, 14-7, 10-15 to play the game.


The last 10 minutes belonged to Carolina, who finished the game with an 8-0 run. Caitlyn Würzburger scored unaided with 9:15 to go to start the attack. Ortega added another a minute later to reduce the lead to five. Geiersbach then scored their first goal of the game at 5:27.


A goal by Scottie Rose Growney, assisted by Ortega, reduced Northwestern’s lead to three, 14-11 Northwestern after five minutes. Geiersbach scored the last four goals, all without assists, on track. Their game winner gave UNC the first lead of the afternoon.


Ortega finished the game with three goals and three assists for the Tar Heels, and Mastroianni also had three goals. The Tar Heels, who defeated Northwestern 20-9 at Chapel Hill in March, had a 40-29 advantage in shots and a 16-11 lead in balls. They forced the Wildcats to 17 turnovers, including eight in the fourth quarter when UNC signed just two.

“First of all, congratulations to Northwestern on a great season and a great game today,” said UNC head coach Jenny Levy afterwards. “They came out and hit us in the mouth, sure, and that’s on me. I didn’t have the team ready to roll and luckily I have fabulous student athletes who found a way to win today.

“Overall just an amazing game. We scored 10 of the last 11 goals of the game with so much input from so many players and a lot of effort and a refusal to walk away. I’m incredibly proud and grateful that we’re getting two more days with this one Crew.”


Lauren Gilbert led Northwestern with five goals.


UNC has won 21 straight games, the second-longest winning streak in school history. Carolina’s 21 wins break the program record for most wins in a season (20 wins in 2016 and 2021). Carolina has won 48 of their last 49 games and 56 of their last 58 overall.


The Tar Heels have improved to 30-10 in NCAA tournament play over the past 13 years (since 2009), reaching 10 Final Fours and five national finals during that span.

Carolina trailed by eight goals on two occasions in the game, the Tar Heels’ biggest deficit of the season. The eight-goal comeback is the biggest by any team in an NCAA championship weekend since Virginia came from a nine-goal deficit to beat Duke in the 2007 semifinals.

Tar Heel goalie Taylor Moreno struggled early and allowed 13 goals that day in 52:13. Freshman backup Alecia Nicholas came on in the second half to Moreno’s relief, playing 7:47 and conceding just one goal before Moreno returned to the game. Moreno made one of the biggest saves of her decorated career as she stopped a Gilbert close shot with 38 seconds left to maintain UNC’s narrow lead. The Tar Heels were able to run out the clock after Moreno’s saving save.


REMARKS:

team
• The win moves the Tar Heels into their fifth NCAA championship game (2009, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2022). Carolina is 5-9 in the NCAA semifinals.
• Carolina has won 48 times in 49 games and 56 wins in 58.
• UNC is 30-10 in the last 13 NCAA tournaments (as of 2009).
• The win was UNC’s 21st win of the season, a new UNC season record.
• The current UNC senior league (2018-22) improved to 82-9 in five seasons.
• Carolina improved to 15-0 against ranked teams this season.



Individually
• Taylor Moreno improved her career record in goal to 69-6. She has started 75 consecutive games in the cage dating back to 2018.
• Jamie Ortega has scored at least a point in 84 straight games and 89 of 90 in her career.
• Ortega has 464 career points, the most in ACC history and second in NCAA history.
• Ortega started her 90th career game, most starts in school history and broke Katie Hoeg’s UNC record for most games played in school history.
• The win gave head coach Jenny Levy her 39th NCAA tournament win of her career and overtook recently retired Princeton’s Chris Sailer for the third-most in the sport’s history.




Follow the team for the latest updates on Carolina women’s lacrosse Twitter and Instagram.