Notre Dame’s suffocating defense held North Carolina scoreless for 36 minutes Thursday, allowing the Fighting Irish to score nine unanswered goals en route to a 12-5 victory in South Bend, Indiana.

Ranked No. 9 in the latest Nike/USA Lacrosse Division I Men’s Top 20, Notre Dame has resuscitated its postseason hopes with four straight wins and improved to 3-1 in the ACC (6-4 overall).

The 15th-ranked Tar Heels (8-5, 1-4), meanwhile, could not build on their win over Syracuse and have just one game remaining — against No. 12 Duke — to make their case for the NCAA tournament. The latest bracket projection by USA Lacrosse Magazine’s Patrick Stevens had both teams on the outside looking in.

North Carolina led 3-2 early in the second quarter but went dark after that, shooting a dismal 5-for-45 (11 percent).

How good was the @NDlacrosse defense tonight?

Irish hold @UNCMensLacrosse scoreless for much of the second half in a 12-5 win. pic.twitter.com/9Y6hiven8s

— USA Lacrosse Magazine (@USALacrosseMag) April 22, 2022

Notre Dame midfielder Eric Dobson scored all of his game-high four goals during the 9-0 run that ensued. The the attack unit of Jake Taylor (three goals), Chris Kavanagh (two goals, one assist) and Pat Kavanagh (one goal, three assists) accounted for 10 points.

Will Lynch won 11 of 17 faceoffs and defenseman Arden Cohen (five ground balls) got the better of his All-American matchup with Chris Gray (one goal, two assists, 1-for-10 shooting).

The Fighting Irish have two games remaining at Syracuse and at home against Duke, two teams they have defeated previously this season.