Northwestern beats North Carolina 14-11 for its 9th women's lacrosse national championship

EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) — Freshman Gabriella McCollester scored a career-high four goals, Taylor Lapointe and Aditi Foster both scored a hat trick, and Madison Taylor recorded seven points for No. 1 Northwestern in a 14-11 win over No. 2 North Carolina in the NCAA Division I women’s lacrosse national championship.

McCollester, who entered the game after senior attacker Lucy Munro left the game in the first quarter with an injury, scored all four goals in the second half. Taylor, a Tewaaraton Award finalist for best women's lacrosse player in the country, recorded six assists and the final goal of the game for the Wildcats, who clinched their ninth title. They are the first team to win a national championship on their home field since 1986.

Lapointe scored the first two goals of the game in the first two minutes, and Foster added another, forcing a North Carolina timeout five minutes into the game.

The score was 6-6 going into halftime. After the break, North Carolina went on a 3-1 run to take its first lead of the game. Chloe Humphrey, who won the Tewaaraton Award last season, scored her 109th goal of the season, tying the Division I single-season record.

McCollester's hat-trick goal tied the game at 11 in the fourth quarter. The Wildcats scored five unanswered goals in the final quarter, shutting out the Tar Heels for the last 15 minutes of the game.

Northwestern goalie Jenika Cuocco made 11 saves on 22 shots.

Head coach Kelly Amonte Hiller has coached the Wildcats since 2002, when she revived the program. With her ninth title, she is the all-time winningest coach in the Division I national championship game.

___

A previous version of this story misspelled Jenika Cuocco’s first name and had the wrong years for when a team had most recently won on their home field and the start of coach Kelly Amonte Hiller’s time with Northwestern.

___

AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports