North Carolina
Syracuse
Late Goal Lifts Syracuse Over Tar Heels, 17-16
May 19, 2012 | Women's Lacrosse
May 19, 2012
SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Michelle Tumolo scored with five seconds remaining to cap a furious Syracuse rally in the final minutes and defeat North Carolina, 17-16, on Saturday afternoon in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Women's Lacrosse Tournament at the Carrier Dome.
The Tar Heels (15-4) led 16-14 after a goal by Laura Zimmerman with 3:04 left to play, only to see Syracuse (18-3) score three times in the final 2:24, including twice in the final 39 seconds, to take the victory.
Carolina's bid for a fourth consecutive trip to the NCAA semifinals fell short, despite the Tar Heels rallying from a 4-0 deficit in the first five minutes of the game.
"Congratulations to Syracuse," said UNC head coach Jenny Levy after the game. "That was a great game and definitely exciting for the fans. I'm proud of our team. We fought hard and did a lot of great things. We had a couple of turnovers in the last couple of minutes and a couple of calls that didn't go our way and hurt us. The bottom line is, you have to win the draw control an the ground balls to win the game and we didn't do very well with the ground balls at times.
"It was 16-14 and we got the next draw control but turned it over. There were a lot of woulda-coulda-shoulda moments that might have changed the outcome. Today's game easily could have been a national semifinal or final game. The quality of play was very high on both sides."
The Tar Heels were led by the duo of Zimmerman and Kara Cannizzaro, both of whom are Central New York natives. Zimmerman set a career high with six goals while also adding an assist to tie her career high of seven points in her final collegiate game. Cannizzaro tied her career high with five goals.
Carolina also got three goals from Abbey Friend and a goal, an assist and four draw controls from senior Becky Lynch. Brittney Coppa added a goal and Emily Garrity had an assist. Lauren Maksym played well in goal for Carolina, recording four first-half saves and 11 overall despite giving up a season-high 17 goals.
Syracuse got four goals and an assist from Tumolo and three goals and an assist from both Alyssa Murray and Katie Webster. Kailah Kempney had two goals and one assist, Devon Collins scored twice and Bridget Daley and Gabby Jaquith both had a goal and an assist. Sarah Holden added a goal for the Orange.
"I thought both teams played with a lot of heart and a lot of hustle," Canizzaro said. "It seemed like some of the bounces went right into their sticks late in the game. We could have taken care of business a little better early in the game instead of falling behind like we did. You can't let it come down to the last two minutes like we did."
"It was nice to come home but it would've been nicer to win," said Zimmerman. "In the second half, we came out a little slow. I thought we gained some momentum through the ground balls and draw controls. We were landing out shots pretty well during our run in the second half. I'm still a little bit in shock right now about my career being over. It hasn't really sunk in yet. I had a great four years and wouldn't change it one bit."
Syracuse took a 4-0 lead in the first five minutes of action, striking first in the opening minute on an unassisted goal by Daley. Less than a minute later, Collins scored on a free position goal for the Orange to make it 2-0. Two minutes later at 26:52, Jaquith scored off an assist from Daley for a 3-0 Syracuse lead, forcing a Tar Heel timeout. Tumolo's unassisted goal, coming from behind the cage at 25:09 on a pretty move, made it 4-0.
Carolina began to claw back and got on the scoreboard at the 23:59 mark with an unassisted goal by Friend from the left side of the cage. Coppa made it 4-2 with an unassisted goal, cutting down the middle and scoring from the right of the cage at 22:31. Just under two minutes later, Syracuse's Kempney scored off a pass from Jaquith that made it 5-2.
Friend's second goal came at the 18:14 mark off a pass from Lynch that cut the Orange lead to 5-3. Zimmerman cut the lead to one goal at the 16:31 mark, taking a pass from Garrity and scoring to make it 5-4. Collins then responded for the Orange with a goal at 14:15 to make it 6-4. Shortly thereafter, Cannizzaro scored her first goal at 12:51 to make it 6-5. Zimmerman tied it at 6-all with a goal at 11:05, circling the cage and scoring unassisted.
Webster gave SU a 7-6 lead with a free position goal at 6:08 that came after a yellow card issued to the Tar Heels. Zimmerman tied the score just before halftime, holding the ball behind the cage for over a minute, the curling around for an unassisted score that made it 7-7 at the break.
Syracuse struck first in the second half with an unassisted goal by Webster at the 28:41 mark that made it 8-7. Tumolo gave the Orange a two-goal advantage a minute later with an unassisted goal. Cannizzaro's second goal of the day came at the 24:13 mark and made it 9-8. Lynch got on the scoreboard three minutes later, taking a crossing pass from Zimmerman and scoring from point-blank range to tie the score at nine apiece. Cannizzaro's third goal came with 18:52 to play and gave the Tar Heels their first lead of the day.
Murray scored her first goal at the 16:39 mark on a free position try that tied the score at 10-all. Cannizzaro quickly gave the lead back to the Tar Heels with an unassisted goal at 15:49, prompting a goalie change for Syracuse. The Tar Heels quickly scored again, this time on a free position try by Zimmerman, her fourth goal of the afternoon. Friend scored on a free position 55 seconds later to give the Tar Heels a 13-10 lead and force an Orange timeout with 14:04 left.
Syracuse cut it to 13-11 with a free position goal by Webster, her third of the day, with 13:26 left. Cannizzaro scored her fifth goal, tying her career high, as she fell to the turf in front of the cage. That score made it 14-11 Carolina. Syracuse's Murry scored off a pass from Kempney with 8:48 to go that cut the UNC lead to 14-12. Zimmerman pushed the lead back to three with her fifth goal, making it 15-12. Murray's third goal cut it back to a two-goal lead at 15:13 with 6:58 to play.
Holden cut the deficit to one at 15-14 with a goal off a pass from Murray with 5:40 remaining. Zimmerman's sixth goal followed, then Syracuse's Tumolo's third goal of the day made it 16-15 with 2:24 left. Kempney scored for Syracuse off a pass from Tumolo with 39 seconds left, tying the score at 16-all. Tumolo's goal came 34 seconds later, sending the Orange on to play Florida next weekend in the NCAA semifinals.
