No. 1 North Carolina showed it’s human, but the Tar Heels remained undefeated with an 11-10 victory at No. 4 Notre Dame on Saturday afternoon.

The Tar Heels, who won their first 11 games by an average of 11.5 goals, jumped out to an early 5-1 lead, but the Irish weren’t going away. Notre Dame gave North Carolina its toughest test of the season. The last time North Carolina had failed to win by at least 10 goals was a 13-6 win over Duke back on Feb. 26.

Notre Dame, which came into the game on a four-game winning streak, scored the final four goals of the first half, the last a tally by Jackie Wolak with just one second remaining to give the Irish a 7-6 halftime lead.

Notre Dame senior goalie Bridget Deehan was a big reason why the Irish (6-3, 3-3 ACC) went in front, making 11 first half saves.

just BUILT DIFFERENT.

Grab some popcorn and watch some of @bridgetdeehan's first-half highlights.#GoIrish pic.twitter.com/hkULHmWHOQ

— Notre Dame Women’s Lacrosse (@NDWomensLax) April 10, 2021

All-American Jamie Ortega then took over for North Carolina in the second half. She scored just over a minute into the second half to tie the game and then put the Tar Heels (12-0, 6-0 ACC) back in front with 17:57 to play.

Kerrigan Miller stretched the UNC lead to 9-7 just 43 seconds later, but back-to-back goals by Notre Dame’s Maddie Howe locked the score up at 9.

Ortega again put the Tar Heels in front, scoring with 12:45 to go. This time it was Madison Mote with the answer for Notre Dame. She scored with 8:33 left to tie the game 10-10.

GRAB.
YOUR.
POPCORN. @uncwlax and @NDWomensLax tied at 10-10 with 7 left. pic.twitter.com/Eq8N4PvSMQ

— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) April 10, 2021

Ortega was ready to play the hero one more time. Her fifth goal of the game, a free position shot with 7:11 remaining, proved to be the winner.

Notre Dame could not come up with the equalizer, putting no shots on goal in the final seven plus minutes while committing three turnovers and the game ended with a wild sequence of turnovers.

Wild finish between @NDWomensLax and @uncwlax.

▪️ Dangerous shot call
▪️ UNC turnover
▪️ ND turnover

Top-ranked Tar Heels survive 11-10.

Ortega: 5G
Deehan: 14 saves pic.twitter.com/S2zzxM3Mir

— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) April 10, 2021

Ortega’s five goals led all scorers and she got help from freshman Caitlyn Wurzburger (2g, 1a) and Miller (2g). Ally Mastroianni had eight draw controls to help lead North Carolina to a 16-6 advantage in the category.

Deehan finished the game with 14 saves for Notre Dame. Howe led the Irish with three goals and Wolak scored twice.