Comeback puts women’s lacrosse in championship game
With a 15-14 win over Northwestern, the top-ranked Tar Heels improved to 21-0 on the season and will play for their third NCAA title.
Carolina’s Sam Geiersbach scored the game-winning goal with 1:03 remaining in Friday’s rainy NCAA women’s lacrosse semifinal to give North Carolina a 15-14 win over Northwestern and earn the Tar Heels a spot in Sunday’s championship game. The top-ranked Tar Heels improved to 21-0 on the season and will play for their third NCAA title.
It’s Carolina’s first appearance in the championship game since 2016, which was also the last time the Tar Heels won the title.
Carolina needed an epic comeback to advance. Northwestern scored the first six goals of the game and UNC-Chapel Hill didn’t get on the board until a Jamie Ortega goal early in the second quarter that made it Northwestern 6-1 with 13:25 to go until halftime. Ally Mastroianni added another for the Tar Heels before the Wildcats scored two more to lead 8-2 at halftime.
Carolina still trailed 13-6 heading into the fourth quarter, when the Tar Heels outscored their opponents 9-1. Carolina closed the game on an 8-0 run, with Geiersbach scoring five of those. After Scottie Rose Growney scored at the five-minute mark of the fourth quarter to make it 14-11 Northwestern, Geiersbach scored the final four down the stretch.
