PHILADELPHIA, PA. – Sophomore attackman Chris Cloutier scored with 1:39left in the first overtime period off an assist from junior midfielder Michael Tagliaferri to give the University of North Carolina men’s lacrosse team a 14-13 win over top-ranked Maryland in the NCAA championship game at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday afternoon.
The Tar Heels captured their first national championship since 1991 in a game that featured several lead changes and had numerous dramatic twists and turns. A crowd of 26,749 fans saw the Tar Heels finish 12-6 on the season while Maryland’s 16-game winning streak was ended and the Terrapins finished the campaign 17-3.
Tar Heel sophomore goalkeeper Brian Balkam made a big overtime save while the unseeded Tar Heels were playing a man down shortly before Cloutier’s game-winner, allowing Carolina to survive a point-blank Terrapin shot attempt that would have won the first NCAA title in over four decades for top-seeded Maryland.
UNC captured its fifth NCAA title, joining the teams from 1981, 1982, 1986 and 1991. The Tar Heels are now 5-1 in NCAA championship games in their history.
Carolina is the first school to win the men’s and women’s lacrosse NCAA championships in the same year since Princeton did so in 1994. The UNC women’s team beat Maryland, 13-7, in Sunday’s national title game in Chester, Pa.
