Second-Half Rally Sends UNC Women's Lacrosse to Fourth Straight Final Four

Though it was certainly a different atmosphere at Dorrance Field from the UNC women’s lacrosse team’s first NCAA tournament game, the result was still the same: a Carolina victory. The No. 1 Tar Heels grinded out a tough quarterfinal matchup against No. 8 overall seed Stony Brook Thursday night, coming back from a rare second-half deficit to advance to the program’s fourth straight Final Four.

𝑺𝒖𝒓𝒗𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑨𝒅𝒗𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆❗️

With tonight's come-from-behind win, we're headed for our 13th final four in program history, the 10th in the past 13 seasons#GoHeels 🐏🥍 x @wellsfargo pic.twitter.com/KwsUuyQ9Pg

— UNC Women's Lacrosse (@uncwlax) May 20, 2022

After scoring 24 times against Virginia last weekend, the explosive UNC offense was largely held in check by the Seawolves. Though the Tar Heels led 3-1 early in the second quarter, Stony Brook scored three unanswered goals to end the half and lead 4-3 at the break. It was the lowest-scoring half of the season for UNC, and just the second time this year the team had trailed at halftime.

“Obviously a tough game… we’re not surprised that they came in feisty,” said head coach Jenny Levy.

Sam Geiersbach netted her second goal of the night four minutes into the third quarter to tie the game once again, but the Seawolves answered a few minutes later to retake the lead at 5-4. It was perhaps a deja vu moment for the Tar Heels, who faced a similar predicament in last season’s tournament, also as the undefeated No. 1 overall seed: trailing Stony Brook at home in the second half of an NCAA quarterfinal. Fortunately for Carolina, in 2022 as in 2021, the Tar Heels found a way to win.

Andie Aldave got on the board with an unassisted goal late in the third quarter, tying the game at 5-5. It appeared as if the game would go into the final quarter deadlocked, but Caitlyn Wurzburger made perhaps the play of the game by scoring the tiebreaking goal with one second remaining on the third quarter clock, giving Carolina its first lead of the half.

With momentum now firmly on the side of the hosts, the Tar Heels cracked down on defense in the final quarter. Carolina forced Stony Brook into its worst statistical quarter of the game, holding the Seawolves to just two shots on goal and forcing three turnovers. Though the Tar Heels could’ve gone silent themselves in the fourth and still taken the win, two more goals from Aldave, her 49th and 50th of the season, put the game on ice and sent Carolina to the national semifinals.

Aldave earned an unlikely hat trick in roughly 15 minutes of game time. Her earlier assist on Wurzburger’s goal meant she led the team with four points on the evening. Geiersbach, with two goals and an assist, had three.

“You don’t have to win pretty,” said Levy. “You just need to advance.”

Thursday’s win was the first time all season UNC failed to score at least 10 goals, but was also the fourth time in 2022 the team held its opponent to five goals or fewer.

“[Goalie] Taylor [Moreno] and our defense were amazing tonight,” Levy said. “Holding this team to five is great.”

Carolina, now 20-0 for the second straight season, will look to avoid its fate from last year as the team travels to Baltimore for next weekend’s Final Four. The Tar Heels will face No. 4 overall seed Northwestern on May 27. Carolina defeated the Wildcats 20-9 in Chapel Hill earlier this season.

Featured image via UNC Athletic Communications/Jeffrey A. Camarati

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Second-Half Rally Sends UNC Women’s Lacrosse to Fourth Straight Final Four

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