Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 5/24/16
From Press Release
The North Carolina women’s lacrosse team advanced to the NCAA Final Four Saturday with a 10-6 victory over Notre Dame on Saturday. Carolina scored six goals in the first half, by six different UNC attackers, and four in the second half.
Moorestown grad and First-Team All-American Marie McCool scored two of her three goals in the second half as UNC’s defense put a stop to the Notre Dame offense, allowing only two goals, with Megan Ward making game-changing saves after halftime.
The Tar Heels dominated the possession during the second half of the game and credited that success to their ability to gain possession after the draw, outdrawing Notre Dame 5-2. UNC will now be playing Penn State in the NCAA semifinals this Friday, May 27th, in Chester’s Talen Energy Stadium at 5 p.m.
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McCool, the leading goal scorer in Saturday’s game with three goals, answered some questions about the upcoming weekend for the Tar Heels.
GoHeels.com: Can you describe the feeling to be returning to the Final Four?
McCool: “I’m really excited. We have unfinished business in Philly. Another really exciting part about it is that I’m from that area, so it’s really exciting to go home and I’m just really proud of us today.”
How can the team build on the win over Notre Dame as it goes to the Final Four next weekend?
McCool: “We definitely can work on some things. I think we had a couple turnovers in the first half that could have been avoided. So we just have to work on cleaning it up a bit and staying more calm, and I think we will be good to go.”
What’s the team’s mindset entering the last weekend of the season?
McCool: “The only thing I can think of is unfinished business. Like I said, we were there last year and we got to the national championship and unfortunately we couldn’t come away with the win. So our mindset going into it is we’re going get that this year.”
What will be some of the keys for the team next weekend?
McCool: “I think the biggest key that we focus on is that we obviously need to work hard, that’s one huge key. The draw [also will be key], that’s just become so important in the game. When you get the draw, you have possession and when you have possession you score goals. So I think that’s the most important thing.”
Are there any lessons the team can take from last year’s Final Four to help this year?
McCool: “Yeah, there definitely are some lessons because clearly we didn’t come out with the win and there were some things that definitely could have been better in the national championship game in the second half. We unfortunately couldn’t get possession and that’s why we lost the game in the second half. We were up by three in the first half, we were getting the draws, we were playing great defense and in the second half we couldn’t clear it. So clearing was definitely something that we took away from that and definitely, moving forward, we are going to work on that.”
NCAA Lacrosse Championships
Chester, Pa. at Talen Energy Stadium
Tournament Schedule
2016 Women’s Lacrosse Championships
May 27 D1 Semifinal 1 Penn State vs. North Carolina 5:00 PM
May 27 D1 Semifinal 2 Maryland vs. Syracuse 7:30 PM
May 28 D3 Semifinal 1 Cortland vs. Middlebury 12:00 PM
May 28 D3 Semifinal 2 Trinity vs. Franklin & Marshall 3:00 PM
May 29 D1 Championship Womens Lacrosse 12:00 PM
May 29 D3 Championship Womens Lacrosse 3:00 PM
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