DURHAM, N.C. — North Carolina senior Marie McCool ended her ACC women’s lacrosse career with a point total she’d equaled only once since her freshman year: zero.

No goals. No assists. The last time the Tar Heels’ All-American midfielder and U.S. national team player had been shut out came in a one-off game with Canisius as a junior, a low-pressure contest in which she played reduced minutes.

But even absent from the scoreboard, the senior took nearly every draw control against Boston College in the ACC championship game, winning 11— equaling Boston College’s team total by herself — to lead UNC to a 14-11 victory, handing the Eagles’ (19-1) their first loss of the year and securing North Carolina’s third straight ACC tournament championship.

“Marie was spectacular,” UNC coach Jenny Levy said. “We didn’t need her to score, that’s what our offense is for. She had a heavy, heavy job to do.”

With McCool at the draw circle, the Tar Heels (15-3) won the draw control battle 16-11, keeping Boston College’s high-scoring offense out of rhythm and with reduced opportunities. The Eagles’ Sam Apuzzo scored four goals, but Kaileen Hart scored just twice and Dempsey Arsenault just once. Overall, UNC’s advantage in the draw circle was a reversal of the teams’ midseason meeting, when Boston College won seven straight draws in the second half to turn a tight contest into a convincing 17-11 drubbing.

“I was just trying to do me,” said McCool, who said her struggles in the previous game motivated her Sunday. “It was on my mind, but I knew we were a completely different team at midfield. Kara Klages and Gianna Bowe have been kicking [butt] at the midfield, boxing out and working on position.”

With McCool providing possession advantage, North Carolina surged ahead with a 9-2 run that lasted for most of the first half. After Boston College jumped to an early 2-0 lead, a hard fought defensive stand eight minutes into the game seemed to spark North Carolina.

As the shot clock wound down on a BC possession, UNC freshman defender Emma Trenchard stayed in front of Hart on the right wing in a one-on-one matchup as the attacker twisted and turned through a series of dodges looking for a shot. Senior defender Naomi Lerner then broke up a last-second feed to Apuzzo as the timer expired.

Tar Heels freshman Jamie Ortega then outsprinted the BC defense up the field for UNC’s first goal and the first of what would be her game-high six goals. With that, the Tar Heels bench seemed to come alive. UNC scored twice more in less than two minutes and eventually took a 9-5 lead.

Though Apuzzo and Arsenault scored to close the gap to three at halftime, the Eagles never got closer than that in the second half.

“Whenever you get a shot clock violation it’s a good feeling, and it gets the energy up,” Lerner said. “I also remembered during that play that early in the game at Boston College we also got a shot clock violation and it fired us up. But clearly that game, we lost, so you have to stay on your game.”

DOWN GO THE EAGLES. @uncwlax upsets previously undefeated @BCwlax 14-11 for the 2018 @ACCWLax crown. UNC Leaders: Ortega (7PTs), McCool (11DC), Moreno (11SV). #NCAAWLAX pic.twitter.com/u4IAlhmO4c

— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) April 29, 2018

UNC goalie Taylor Moreno earned tournament MVP honors with 11 saves, giving her 33 for the weekend, eclipsing a tournament record that had stood since 1999. Ortega also set a tournament record with 15 goals, while Katie Hoeg tied the conference record with 10 assists. Moreno and Ortega are freshmen, Hoeg a sophomore.

Moreno’s biggest play may have been with 12 minutes to go, when Apuzzo finally got past Lerner when the Tar Heel defender slipped and fell to the ground. Apuzzo charged the crease unchallenged, but Moreno made a point-blank save, then outsprinted Apuzzo to the rebound behind the goal. On the restart, she lobbed a deep pass to a streaking teammate at midfield that quickly became a two-pass fast break goal. North Carolina’s bench and the pro-UNC crowd at Koskinen Stadium in Durham, N.C., exploded at the electric sequence and UNC never looked back.

“I saw her coming in, and the one thing that immediately flashed through my mind was don’t dip, don’t dip” on a fake, Moreno said. “She threw a couple fakes on me and I dipped a little bit, but I knew it was probably going high so I stood my ground.”

When Moreno felt the ball rebound toward the sideline, she took off.

“I immediately felt it go off, so I immediately dipped my head and went after it,” she said.

“You make that save and then come up with the ball at the end line, that’s a margin of victory,” Levy said.