The NCAA lacrosse Final Four is set, with No. 1 North Carolina, No. 2 Maryland, No. 3 Boston College and No. 4 Northwestern advancing to the national semifinals.
The latter three teams all cruised past their quarterfinal matchups, as Maryland thumped No. 7 Florida 18-5, Boston College bested No. 6 Loyola Maryland 20-13 and Northwestern thrashed No. 5 Syracuse 15-4.
Undefeated North Carolina, though, needed to come from behind to defeat No. 8 Stony Brook 8-5.
The Tar Heels (20-0) trailed the Seawolves 4-3 at halftime. Early in the second half, attacker Sam Geiersbach whipped the ball into the cage to tie the game, but Stony Brook answered to retake the lead 5-4.
In the final three minutes of the third quarter, though, North Carolina’s Andie Aldave and Caitlyn Wurzburger each scored to put their team on top, and the Tar Heels held on for the win.
“Our offense, it wasn’t the performance they wanted, but they gutted it out,” North Carolina coach Jenny Levy said. “Sometimes you don’t have to win pretty, you just need to advance.”
Heading to another final four!Highlights from the win over Stony Brook ⤵️#GoHeels #WeGetTo pic.twitter.com/Qsctir4YtB— UNC Women's Lacrosse (@uncwlax) May 20, 2022
Heading to another final four!Highlights from the win over Stony Brook ⤵️#GoHeels #WeGetTo pic.twitter.com/Qsctir4YtB
The national semifinals kick off on May 27 on ESPNU, with No. 2 Maryland taking on No. 3 Boston College and No. 1 North Carolina facing off against No. 4 Northwestern.