For the fourth straight season, North Carolina is the champion of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

The Tar Heels (15-3) overcame a slow start to beat unbeaten and No. 1 ranked Boston College 15-13 before a crowd of 2,103 at BC’s Alumni Stadium.

Sam Apuzzo scored two goals in the opening three-plus minutes to ignite a 5-0 Boston College run to start the game. After BC took a 6-1 lead, North Carolina pulled starting goalie Taylor Moreno, one of the nation’s leaders in save percentage, for the second straight game and replaced her with Elise Hennessey.

North Carolina missed its next seven shots, but kept possession and finally broke through on Ally Mastroianni’s man-up goal with 18:01 left in the opening half. That was the first of five straight UNC goals to tie the game 6-6, but BC regained momentum and took a 9-7 lead into halftime.

Carolina then scored the first three goals of the second half, taking its first lead of the game at 10-9 on Katie Hoeg’s goal with 23:54 remaining.

The teams then traded goals over the next five minutes with BC tying the game 11-11 on an Apuzzo tally with 18:41 left.

Less than a minute later, UNC’s Tayler Warehime scored the first of three straight goals for the Tar Heels and they never lost the lead.

BC scored back-to-back goals to pull within 14-13 on Jordan Lappin’s goal with 5:56 left, but the Carolina defense, which allowed just four second half goals, buckled down.

Hennesey saved a free position shot by BC’s Dempsey Arsenault with 5:35 left and UNC forced a shot clock violation on BC’s next possession after three shots were off the mark. Following the violation, Hoeg scored at the other end with 2:03 to give the Tar Heels the cushion they needed.

Hoeg led the Tar Heels with five points (3g, 2a) and Warehime and Gianna Bowe both had hat tricks as well. Hennessey made seven saves while allowing seven goals.

Apuzzo led BC (19-1) with three goals while Arsenault, Lappin and Kenzie Kent each had two goals and an assist. Abbey Ngai and Lauren Daly split time in goal for BC, combining for four saves.

Richmond Rallies Past UMass in Overtime to Win A-10

Down six goals in the second half, four goals with under seven minutes to play and two goals with under 90 seconds left, Richmond (17-3) rallied past Massachusetts for the second straight season, winning the Atlantic 10 title 19-18 in overtime.

UMass (15-4) completely dominated the draw, winning 30 of 38 in the game, led by Caitlyn Petro with 19 draw controls herself. That fed an offense that featured Kaitlyn Cerasi and Kiley Anderson each scoring five goals.

Senior Mia Castagnero helped will Richmond back into the game. Trailing 14-8 in the second half, Castagnero scored three straight goals to get the Spiders back within striking difference.

With UMass leading 18-14 after Anderson’s fifth goal with 8:46 to play, Castagnero scored goals just 37 seconds apart and Julie Ball trimmed the UMass advantage to 18-17 with 1:22 left in the second half.

Petro won the ensuing draw, but Castagnero forced a turnover to get the ball back to the Spiders with 1:06 to play. Both teams then committed turnovers and junior Madison Ostrick scored with just four seconds left to send the game to overtime.

Neither team got a shot off in overtime, combining for three turnovers before Sam Geiersbach scored 1:59 into the extra session to complete the Richmond comeback.

High Point Wins Big South Title

Abby Hormes continued her torrid sophomore season, scoring six goals with with four assists to lead High Point past Winthrop 17-10 in the Big South championship game. It was the Panthers third straight Big South championship.

Hormes had 65 goals and 37 points for the season, becoming the first player in school and second in conference history to top 100 points in a season. She was named the tournament's most valuable player.

After Winthrop scored first, High Point scored the game's next eight goals and led by as many as 12 goals in the second half. 

San Diego State Captures MPSF Crown

Katy Sharretts made 19 saves as San Diego State beat UC Davis 15-7 to win the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation championship. The Aztecs improve to 11-7 for the season, but the MPSF title does not include an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

Caitlin Jones scored two of her three goals during a pivotal five-goal run in the second half that stretched SDSU's lead from 8-6 to 13-6. Harlowe Steele and Kirstie Greenlaw each had three goals for the Aztecs as well.

Notable

• No. 18 USC dominated Colorado 12-3 to win the Pac-12 championship. Read Shawn Medow's account of that game here.

• No. 17 Stony Brook outscored New Hampshire 16-0 in the first half and defeated the Wildcats 17-5 to wrap up a perfect season in the America East. The Seawolves will be the host and No. 1 seed for the league tournament. Stony Brook meets UMBC in one semifinal and Albany and New Hampshire will meet in the other.

• Army's first trip to the Patriot League tournament resulted in a 12-9 victory over Lehigh. The Black Knights advance to the semifinals where they will play rival Navy. With the game tied 6-6 at the half, Army scored the first four goals of the second half, including Samantha Stewart's tally just 10 seconds into the half. Jackie Brattan scored four goals in the win.

• In the other Patriot League quarterfinal, Colgate held off Boston University 14-13 to advance to the Patriot League semifinals for the first time since 2015. The Raiders will play top-seeded Loyola on Thursday. Noelle Patterson had four goals for Colgate and Tara Atkinson had five assists. 

• Madison McGhee had three goals and five assists as Kennesaw State beat Howard 25-3 to secure the final spot for the Atlantic Sun championship. The Owls will be the No. 4 seed and will play top-seeded Jacksonville in the semifinals at Coastal Carolina. The host Chanticleers will meet Liberty in the other semifinal.

• Caitlin Breglia (5g, 3a) and Jess DeMeo (5g, 2a) combined for 15 points as Bryant beat St. Francis 20-15 to earn a spot in the Northeast Conference tournament. DeMeo now has 203 career goals, the first player in Bryant history to top 200 goals. The Bulldogs play at top-seeded Mount St. Mary’s on Thursday.

Nike/US Lacrosse Top 20 Scoreboard

No. 3 North Carolina 15, No. 1 Boston College 13
No. 17 Stony Brook 17, New Hampshire 5
No. 18 USC 12, Colorado 3

Other Scores

Army 12, Lehigh 9
Bryant 20, St. Francis 15
Colgate 14, Boston University 13
Elon 15, Coastal Carolina 13
High Point 17, Winthrop 10
Jacksonville 22, Stetson 3
Kennesaw State 25, Howard 3
Mount St. Mary’s 16, LIU Brooklyn 10
Robert Morris 18, Central Connecticut State 5
San Diego State 15, UC Davis 7
Wagner 18, Sacred Heart 5