No. 5 Tar Heels Top No. 1 Cuse in Two OTs

Friday, September 23

Chapel Hill, NC

6 p.m.

Syracuse University

(7-1 (2-1ACC))

North Carolina

(7-2 (2-1ACC))

OT 3

OT 4

Syracuse

North Carolina

9/23/2016 8:24:00 PM | Field Hockey

Box Score

In a back-and-forth battle that took nearly 90 minutes and two overtimes to complete, the No. 5 North Carolina Tar Heels topped No. 1 Syracuse in Chapel Hill, N.C. on Friday night by a score of 3-2.

The Orange struck first in the game, mounting 1-0 and 2-1 leads, but North Carolina answered each Orange tally within minutes and ultimately handed 'Cuse its first loss of the season.

Serra Degnan got the Orange on the board first by charging into the circle and firing a bouncing shot into the back of the net 29 minutes into play. UNC's Lauren Moyer responded quickly, scoring with less than a minute to go before halftime off a corner to send the teams to the locker room all square at one.

'Cuse scored quickly out of the locker room after Jennifer Bleakney buried a shot for the Orange 12 minutes into the second half, but Moyer again provided the answer, scoring just over two minutes later to equalize the game again.

After 70 scoreless minutes of regulation, the teams headed to overtime where they'd play another 15 knotted at two before UNC broke through in the second overtime. The Tar Heels' Malin Evert carried the ball into the circle and shot hard on the right past Regan Spencer for the game winner.

Spencer stood tough in net all day, making 12 saves including two crucial saves in the second overtime leading up to the goal. Carolina also drew nine corners in the match to Syracuse's two.

The Orange will return home on Sunday to host Penn in a game that will be broadcast live on Time Warner Cable SportsChannel and streamed on ACC Network Extra. The game is set to get underway at 1 p.m., with free pizza provided to those in attendance courtesy of Mark's Pizzeria.