Tar Heels fall in championship game as Terrapins pull goalkeeper

CORRECTION: The original version of this story stated that Maryland pulled its keeper and kept her out for both goals. Maryland only pulled her out for the first goal. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for the error.

When North Carolina forward Elizabeth Stephens scored her second goal of the game in the 63rd minute of the NCAA championship game, the Tar Heels needed to defend strongly for just eight more minutes to protect their two-goal lead and claim the national title.

But they could not accomplish the feat – not with Maryland throwing players forward and risking everything on the attack.

Maryland head coach Missy Meharg pulled goalkeeper Melissa Vassalotti in the 66th minute in order to create a player advantage in the attacking end.

“We played completely bumped up,” Meharg said. “That’s the gamble that you take, and we just stayed with it even though we were two (goals) down.”

The gamble immediately paid off, as Maryland cut the deficit in half.

But Katelyn Falgowski said she thought UNC would handle the Maryland onslaught with only about three minutes left.

“At that point we wanted to try and kill the clock,” Falgowski said. “But Maryland did a great job of applying pressure to us.”

Still leading 2-1 entering the final minute of the game, the Tar Heels had possession of the ball but were unable to hold it long enough to kill the game.

“That was the disappointing part,” UNC coach Karen Shelton said. “We couldn’t hold the ball for one minute.”

Shelton said she felt she let her team down by not instructing Falgowski to get the ball in the final minute.

“Falgo should have been on the ball because she can handle it for one minute,” Shelton said.

UNC’s inability to kill the clock gave Maryland the chance to tie the game.

The Terrapins earned a penalty corner as time expired, meaning all UNC had to do was defend strongly for one last time, and the national title would be theirs.

But again, they couldn’t.

Maryland’s Jemma Buckley scored off the corner, tying the game and forcing overtime.

“(Maryland) had nothing to lose,” Shelton said. “You get in a dire situation and you start risking and taking chances … and it worked for them.”

Despite failing to hold onto the two-goal advantage, Shelton said she felt her team played well enough overall to win the game.

“We put ourselves in the position to win,” Shelton said. “And in the closing minutes it slipped away from us. Maryland had a lot to do with that.”

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@dailytarheel.com.