EVANSTON, ILL.—Defending NCAA champion North Carolina closed the game on a 13-3 run and dominated Maryland, 16-6, in an NCAA Tournament semifinal on Friday afternoon at Martin Stadium.
 
After the Terrapins tied the score at 3-3 with 12:24 remaining in the second quarter, the Tar Heels locked down and cruised to the national championship game for the second year in a row, holding Maryland to just one goal in the final 27:01.
 
Tewaaraton Award favorite Chloe Humphrey led the way with five goals and an assist, while Addison Pattillo scored five times and Kate Levy scored three goals.
 
The second-seeded Tar Heels advanced to Sunday’s NCAA final in search of its fifth national championship. Carolina will make its seventh NCAA championship game appearance and meet either top-seeded Northwestern or fourth-seeded Johns Hopkins on Sunday at noon on ESPNU.
 
Carolina (19-1) won its 10th game in a row while snapping the Terrapins’ winning streak at six and ending the UM season at 18-4.
 
Humphrey has 37 hat tricks and 23 games with five-plus goals in 42 career games, and Pattillo posted her fifth consecutive hat trick, the 16th of her career and her eighth game with at least four.
 
UNC took 37 shots with 27 on-goal compared to just 23 and 12, respectively, for the Terps.
 
 
How It Happened
First Quarter
• Maryland took a 1-0 lead on a free position goal by Kristen Shanahan just 1:46 into the game.
• Humphrey scored back-to-back goals in under 30 seconds to give the Tar Heels a 2-1 lead. The sophomore tied it at 1-1 when her free position try hit the right pipe of the goal and bounced into the back of the net. After a Terp turnover following the ensuing draw control, Humprey scored again.
• Humphrey made it an opening-quarter hat trick in just 90 seconds when she took a pass from Caroline Godine and scored from the left side after some nifty off-ball motion to break free of the Maryland defense.
• Shanahan scored a goal with 1:39 left in the first, taking advantage of a Carolina penalty to make the score 3-2 Tar Heels.
 
Second Quarter
• Lauren Lapointe tied the score at 3-3 with an unassisted goal at the 12:24 mark of the second quarter, dodging in front of the net from the right side.
• Godine started a 4-0 Carolina run when she scored a goal from the eight-meter line for a 4-3 Tar Heel lead, snapping a scoreless stretch of 15:01.
Kate Levy scored back-to-back goals in just over two minutes to recapture the momentum for Carolina. Her 27th goal of the year came as UNC had a woman-up advantage, making the score 5-3 with 7:17 left before halftime. She followed two minutes later with a free-position conversation that made it 6-3 with 5:11 left in the half.
• Humphrey’s fourth goal, on another eight-meter try, put the Tar Heels ahead, 7-3, with 2:33 to go. Addison Pattillo followed with a goal off a dodge with 1:06 left, making it a 5-0 run and an 8-3 UNC lead.
• Lapointe’s second goal of the game, off a loose ball in front of the Carolina cage, staunched the bleeding for the Terrapins and made the score 8-4 after an unsuccessful Tar Heel replay challenge. The goal stopped a scoreless stretch of 12:11 for UM, and the score was 8-4 UNC at the break.
• Carolina’s shot advantage was 20-11 in the first half, while Maryland committed seven turnovers to one miscue for UNC.
 
Third Quarter
Addison Pattillo’s second goal of the game came less than two minutes into the second half, but Kori Edmondson responded only 40 seconds later for Maryland to keep the margin within four goals at 9-5 Tar Heels.
• Pattillo made it a hat trick with her free position goal at the 6:33 mark, giving UNC a 10-5 lead and a 6-2 run since Maryland tied the score at 3-all early in the second quarter.
• Humphrey’s five tally of the day made it 11-5 with 5:48 remaining in the third. Yet another goal by Pattillo, off a pass from Godine, made it 12-5 90 seconds later. Just two minutes afterward, Levy scored her third of the game for a 13-5 UNC advantage.
 
Fourth Quarter
• Freshman Reese King scored off a Humphrey assist 1:47 into the second half, and it was 14-5 Carolina.
• Pattillo’s free position conversion, her fifth goal of the game, made it a running clock at 15-5 with 8:05 remaining. King scored again with under two minutes left for an 11-goal lead.
• The Wildcats scored a late goal to make the final margin 16-6.
 

Tar Heel Tidbits

• UNC is 7-8 in its 15th appearance in the NCAA semifinals. The 15 semifinal appearances are the third-highest total in NCAA history.

• Carolina is 49-22 all-time in NCAA Tournament games, including 11-11 at neutral sites.

• It was the first meeting between former Atlantic Coast Conference rivals UNC and Maryland since 2020 and the first meeting in the NCAA Tournament since a 13-7 Tar Heel win in the 2016 NCAA final in Philadelphia.

 

 

Up Next

• UNC will meet either Northwestern or Johns Hopkins in Sunday’s NCAA final at noon on ESPNU.

 

 

Stay up to date with UNC women’s lacrosse by following the Tar Heels on Twitter, Instagram  and Facebook.

 

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