Erica Bodt had a free position opportunity with 7.2 seconds left. Syracuse was down one to North Carolina and Bodt was 8 meters away from tying the game at 14 and forcing overtime.

She threw a pass to the outside but it went wide. Kayla Treanor picked it up with three seconds left and flung it back inside. Goalie Megan Ward stepped up to try and intercept the pass. The ball ended up in Kelly Cross’s stick, who flung it forward as time expired. Syracuse players jumped in elation as the Tar Heels looked on in confusion.

Syracuse won the opening draw in overtime. But a penalty on Nicole Levy gave UNC possession back, and several seconds later Aly Messinger cut inside and bounced the ball past Allie Murray. She dropped her stick and got mobbed by her teammates as Murray lay on the ground in defeat.

No. 2 seed Syracuse (16-5, 5-2 Atlantic Coast) held leads at the beginnings of both halves and won the opening draw in overtime. But each time it let its control slip away. Meanwhile, No. 1 seed North Carolina (16-2, 7-0) capitalized on every SU mistake to eventually win the ACC championship game, 15-14, on Sunday afternoon at Lane Stadium in Blacksburg, Virginia.

Just over two weeks ago SU hosted UNC. With just more than 26 minutes left in the game, SU had a 10-7 lead. But UNC scored four straight goals and eventually won the game, 12-11.

Both teams met in the conference title game last year. The Orange came away with a 9-8 double-overtime victory. In that game, SU scored the first three goals but UNC came back and tied the game at half. This time, it was Syracuse which scored a goal right before the end of the half to tie the game after the Tar Heels opened up a 7-6 lead.

Halle Majorana scored the first goal of the second half for Syracuse. Bodt stepped up and scored two goals in the second half after having one in the first. Her last goal opened up a three-goal lead for the Orange, making it 11-8.

But the Tar Heels wouldn’t go away easily. Two straight goals made it 11-10 and put the pressure back on Syracuse. From then on the two teams exchanged free position goals, going back and forth. Each time SU opened up a two-goal cushion, UNC cut it back down to one.

As close as North Carolina got, it still wasn’t able to tie the game. But that changed with 1:49 left in the contest. SU defender Brenna Rainone turned the ball over and Sammy Jo Tracy ended up with a free position. She fired the ball past Allie Murray who fell backwards and put her head down in disappointment.

On the ensuing draw, it looked like Marie McCool recovered the ball, but it slipped out of her stick and found Bodt. SU called a timeout and drain the clock but Bodt got the ball knocked away from her and scooped up by UNC. Then Majorana committed a penalty to give UNC the ball. Another free-position goal gave UNC the lead.

The Tar Heels won the ensuing draw and called timeout, seemingly clinching the game with 30 seconds left. But after a lengthy review, the referees deemed one of UNC’s sticks illegal and SU was awarded possession and eventually tied the game.

After failing to hold leads in both halves, SU finally got its second chance. It got possession to start the sudden death overtime with an extra-player opportunity. With one goal, SU could have put all its mistakes behind it.

But instead, Messinger scored a goal, dashing SU’s hopes of repeating as ACC champions.

Just one more time, SU had turned the ball over and hurt itself. One more time, North Carolina came from behind and beat the Orange. This time, though, a championship was on the line.

Published on May 1, 2016 at 4:12 pm

Contact Tomer: tdlanger@syr.edu | @tomer_langer