Northwestern survives UNC, 11-10
Northwestern Shannon Smith reacts after scoring the winning goal for an 11-10 victory over North Carolina in the NCAA Division I Women's Lacrosse semifinals at LaValle Stadium, Stony Brook University. (May 27, 2011) Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
It was a sweet homecoming Friday night for Shannon Smith, Erin Fitzgerald and seven of their Long Island-born Northwestern teammates.
Smith, a junior from West Babylon who scored 78 goals this season, scored her fourth of a roller-coaster game with 18 seconds remaining to give the Northwestern women's lacrosse team an 11-10 win over North Carolina in a Division I NCAA Tournament semifinal. The Wildcats advance to the championship against top-ranked Maryland on Sunday. The Terps defeated No. 4 Duke, 14-8, earlier Friday.
Before a announced crowd of 7,458 at SUNY Stony Brook's Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium, second-ranked Northwestern let a pair of three-goal leads evaporate against No. 3 UNC, including a late 10-7 bulge, before Smith's game-winning shot off a twisting move between two defenders. Smith had evened the game, which was tied five times, at both 6 and 7 early in the second half. Mt. Sinai's Fitzgerald, a Wildcats sophomore, scored three times in the victory.
Northwestern, which had won five consecutive national titles, lost to Maryland, 13-11, last May in Indianapolis.
To reach the Final Four this time, Northwestern beat Boston College, 11-8, in the first round and pummeled Albany, 18-4, in the quarterfinals. The Wildcats have beaten the Tar Heels in the tournament four of the past six years, including Final Four games each of the last three years and the 2009 title game. Northwestern also beat North Carolina during the regular season, 7-6 in overtime on Feb. 25.
After the first half ended tied at 5, UNC's Corey Donahoe bulled through two defenders and scored at 28:18 to give the Tar Heels a 6-5 lead. The next few goals came rapidly: Smith tied it with an unassisted low shot at 27:32. Abbey Friend drove down the middle for a 7-6 Tar Heels advantage at 27:11. Smith knotted it at 7 at 23:50.
The pace matched the first half, when Northwestern took a 3-0 lead in the first 8:21 on goals from Fitzgerald, Kelly Rich and Smith and led 4-1 after Brooke Matthews' goal.
But the Tar Heels scored the next three goals to tie it at 4 with 4:28 left. Port Jefferson's Jessica Russo curled around the left side of the net and split two defenders to restore the Wildcats' lead at 5-4 with 2:52 left. Junior Brianne LoManto, who has started every game in goal for Northwestern the past two years and was a four-time All-County goalie at Rocky Point, made two point-blank stops about 12 seconds apart and two other shots hit the post before Laura Zimmerman scored her second goal with six seconds remaining to climb back into a tie at 5. North Carolina outshot Northwestern 20-8.
