The UNC women’s lacrosse team went scoreless for the final 35:22 of Thursday night’s NCAA quarterfinal against Denver in Chapel Hill, as the Pioneers erased a 4-1 deficit to win 5-4. It’s the first time Carolina won’t appear in the Final Four since the 2017 season.

“Congratulations to Denver… they’re 22-0 for a reason,” head coach Jenny Levy said afterward. “They play a really interesting style of the game and are comfortable playing tight games with low scoring.”

The Denver defense held the Tar Heels to just three shots in the entire second half (Carolina has 12 in the first) and no shots on goal in the final 15 minutes. In fact, all of the UNC goals came in a span of roughly 14 minutes between the first and second quarters. Alyssa Long, Reilly Casey and Marissa White each contributed to a 4-0 Tar Heel run after the Pioneers had scored first. But Denver goals in the second and third quarters and two in the span of 1:41 in the fourth quarter turned the game around.

“Their defense puts a lot of pressure on you,” Levy said. “You have to be aggressive. You have to handle their pressure and move the ball, and we just weren’t aggressive enough.”

The loss ends UNC’s bid for a repeat national championship and is their first home NCAA Tournament loss since falling to Navy in 2017.

 

Featured image via UNC Women’s Lacrosse on Twitter

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