College Crosse Championship Game Recap & Postgame Show: DOWN GOES Maryland!! North Carolina wins it all!!!

GOT EM!!!!!!

The goal pic.twitter.com/tuZ3CXdlAC

— Chris Jastrzembski (@_JASTdoit_) May 30, 2016

College Crosse Recap.

North Carolina and Maryland delivered one of the greatest Memorial Day title games in recent memory. An overtime classic that will be extremely difficult to top.  Despite jumping out to a quick 4-0 lead, UNC went into halftime down 8-7, and was down 2 goals late in the 4th quarter. In the face of dwindling clock, North Carolina scored 2 goals within 30 seconds of each other to tie the game with less than 4 minutes to play. That's when the drama kicked up a few levels.

With all the momentum on their side and the game heading into OT, Carolina was called for a costly unsportsmanlike penalty with less than 4 seconds to play in regulation. Despite being a man down in the OT session, Carolina's Balkam stopped MD's extra-man unit, and the Heels were able to clear it successfully. Maryland's Kyle Bernlohr made a huge save on his end, but teammate Mike McCarney was called for a cross-check with 2:11 left in the 1st OT. UNC's extra-man until worked the ball around to the tournament's hottest player, Chris Cloutier, who buried the winning goal to send Carolina nation into pandemonium.

(Ed. Note: I still haven't stopped laughing at the exchange below.)

@_JASTdoit_ had that since the 13-7 whipping, Didja?

— Scott Van Pelt (@notthefakeSVP) May 30, 2016

Carolina was led on offense by Chris Cloutier (5 Gs) & Luke Goldstock (4 Gs). Additionally, Brian Balkam was huge in the net as he made 13 saves on the day. Steve Pontrello had 2 huge goals today, including a nice one that tied the game up at 11 with less than 11 minutes to play. Pontrello also had 1 assist on the afternoon. Brian Cannon had a big game off the bench as he buried the two shots he took helping Carolina jump out to a 4-0 lead early in the game.

Maryland was led on offense by Connor Kelly (4 Gs) & Matt Rambo (3 Gs & 3 As). Additionally, Henry West, Colin Heacock, and Dylan Maltz each had 2 goals today.  West had a great game distributing the ball as well, as he finished with 4 assists on the afternoon.  Austin Henningsen had a great game at the dot going 19/30, including 8/11 in the 3rd & 4th quarter.

This was an extremely tough loss for Maryland.  The Terps had a 2 goal lead with less than 4 minutes to play and outplayed the Heels in many areas of the game.  Maryland had more shots, ground balls, and won more faceoffs than UNC. Additionally, the Terps had less turnovers (13-9) and were better at clearing the ball as well (13/14 for MD vs. 10/15 for UNC). Additionally, the Terps scored more EMO goals than Carolina had extra-man chances (3/5 on EMOs for MD vs. 2-2 for UNC). Despite a cleaner game, the Terps were unable to hold onto their late lead and once again end their season without a title. Hats off to the Terps though for a great season, and nothing but love to BOSS Tillman.

Talk about putting a loss into perspective... Coach Tillman consoling Terps fan Fionn, who's fighting cancer... pic.twitter.com/VuxV9mGipB

— Brent Harris (@BrentCSN) May 30, 2016

College Crosse Postgame Show.