UNC women’s lacrosse can’t ?nish off No. 1 Northwestern

The North Carolina women’s lacrosse team did to Northwestern what only one other Wildcat opponent had been able to do this season — take a lead into halftime.

Unfortunately for the Tar Heels, that lead didn’t hold up.

No. 3 UNC led 6-4 at half but was outscored by three in the second half and lost its regular-season finale 8-7 to the No. 1 Wildcats on Friday in Evanston, Ill.

“It was a great opportunity in the regular season to go against the best competition in the country and see where we are,” coach Jenny Levy said. “We stuck to the game plan and did what we needed to do … (but) the second half was tough.”

The only other time the Wildcats (14-0, 4-0 ALC) had been down at half was an early-season match against Syracuse that they won in overtime.

More unlikely than the halftime lead would have been a UNC win. Northwestern entered Friday’s game on a 21-game-winning streak dating back to last season’s national championship run.

And UNC (13-2, 5-0 ACC) had a legitimate shot to break that run.

After Northwestern jumped out to two early one-goal leads, UNC scored three consecutive goals to take a 4-2 lead. Each team would then go on to score twice more, and the Tar Heels took the two-goal lead into the half.

Senior attacker Becky Lynch — who led the Tar Heels with three goals — said winning more than 72 percent of the first-half draw controls was the main reason UNC was up at the break.

“I think that really enabled us to get ahead,” Lynch said. “It’s something we’ve really been working on.”

The second half proved to be nearly the polar opposite.

Northwestern won all six of the draws in the second frame and reeled off four straight goals to take its own two-goal lead, 8-6.

“I think we got excited, and (the halftime lead) got into our head,” Lynch said. “The thing that killed us in the second half was winning draws.”

And this draw disparity, Lynch said, allowed the Wildcats to take control of the game and find an offensive rhythm.

Even with minimal possession and trailing by two, UNC had a chance to tie the game in the final minute.

After Lynch scored with 40 seconds left, the ensuing draw control was followed by a 20-second scrum, Lynch said.

She said that had the Tar Heels won that draw and come out with the ball cleanly, UNC would have had a good chance to send the game into overtime.

Instead, it was the third consecutive time UNC lost to Northwestern by one goal.

For now, the Tar Heels will take what they learned from the Northwestern game in preparation for the ACC tournament next weekend in Durham.

UNC — the tournament’s top seed — has a first-round bye and will play Saturday against either Virginia or Boston College.

“We know we can’t coast into Saturday’s game, regardless of who we play,” Levy said. “Obviously coming off a loss, it helps you re-focus.”

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@dailytarheel.com.