Skip to main content
All terrapins

Women's Lacrosse Falls To North Carolina In Final Four

The Maryland Terrapins women's lacrosse season came to an unfortunate end in the semifinals of the NCAA Tournament.
Jaden Golding|
North Carolina vs Maryland | NCAA Women’s Lacrosse Championship Semifinal Highlights | May 22, 2026
North Carolina vs Maryland | NCAA Women’s Lacrosse Championship Semifinal Highlights | May 22, 2026 | NCAA Lacrosse Highlights

Despite an incredible season that featured an historic start and resulted in 18 wins, the No. 3 Maryland Terrapins women's lacrosse season came to a conclusion on Friday with a tough 16-6 loss to the No. 2-seeded North Carolina Tar Heels in the NCAA Tournament Semifinals.

The Tar Heels held one of the more explosive offenses in the nation in check, outscoring the Terps 8-2 in the second half on its way to their second-straight National Championship appearance after winning it all in 2025.

Maryland goalkeeper J.J Suriano faced a lot of activity in the net and played valiantly, finishing with 11 total saves on the day.

Suriano opened the game with a huge save on a free-position shot by the Tar Heels. It would be the first of four total saves she'd make in the opening frame.

Kirsten Shanahan scored the first goal of the game for the Terps after drawing a foul and converting a shot on a free position opportunity at the 13:15 mark, giving the Terps a 1-0 edge.

However, the top scorer in the nation, Chloe Humphrey, would rattle off the game's next three scores, giving the Tar Heels a 3-1 advantage. Shanahan tallied her second score of the quarter to cut the deficit to one entering the second quarter.

In the second, Lauren LaPointe tied the game up for Maryland, coming out of the penalty box and attacking down the right side and connecting on the high right side of the net.

However, key mistakes by Maryland would open the door for North Carolina to take control and not look back the rest of the way. The Terps committed five fouls in the quarter, leading to a 5-0 run by the Tar Heels, which gave them an 8-3 lead. LaPointe tallied a last-second goal before the quarter's end to cut the deficit in half.

In the second half, North Carolina's defense doubled down on its strong first half, pressuring the Terps' attackers, forcing them into bad turnovers and shots that couldn't find any light.

After the Tar Heels and Terps traded goals 40 seconds apart, North Carolina scored seven unanswered goals all the way late into the fourth quarter, which secured them the double-digit victory.

Lexi Dupcak scored a late goal for Maryland with less than a minute left in the contest to try to ease the pain of falling short of a National Championship appearance, which hasn't happened since the 2019 season.

North Carolina advances on and will face Northwestern in the NCAA Championship game tomorrow at 12 p.m.

Key Stats:

  • North Carolina outshot Maryland 37-23, including 27-12 on shots on goal.
  • Maryland committed 15 turnovers in the game.
  • The Tar Heels were successful on 21-of-22 clear attempts.
  • North Carolina won the ground ball battle 17-4.
  • LaPointe and Shanahan were the only Terps to finish with two points. LaPointe finished the 2026 season as the Terps' leading goal scorer with a career-high 66 goals.

Stay up to date with the Terrapins by bookmarking Maryland On SI and follow us on Twitter.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Loading recommendations... Please wait while we load personalized content recommendations

Published
Jaden Golding
JADEN GOLDING

Jaden's sports journalism career began at the College of Southern Maryland from 2022-2023, where he was brought in to cover baseball, softball, basketball, soccer, and volleyball at CSM. In late 2023, he began interning at the University of Maryland Athletics Department as a contributing writer to help develop feature stories and game recaps. He also creates his own sports media content on professional Washington teams with LegacyMaker Sports Network.