University Park, Pa., May 12, 2005 - The seventh-ranked Penn State women's lacrosse team dropped a 7-6 triple overtime heartbreaker to North Carolina in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Thursday afternoon at Jeffrey Field. The Nittany Lions end their season at 12-5 while the Tar Heels improve to 14-5 and advance to face Duke in the NCAA Quarterfinals on Sunday.

Senior Emily Chambers (Valley Cottage, N.Y.) scored twice for Penn State as senior Kristen Burke (Severna Park, Md.), junior Shari Maslin (New City, N.Y.), sophomore Lindsay Dutch (Ellicott City, Md.) and freshman Jessi Lieb (Villanova, Pa.) each posted one goal. Chambers, Maslin and junior Lori Havrilla (Devon, Pa.) all added one assist.

Senior goalkeeper Lee Tortorelli (Havertown, Pa.) played all 67:16, facing 30 shots, making 11 saves and allowing seven goals.

For North Carolina, Stephanie Scurachio posted four goals, Allison Higgins chipped in two and Jess Allen added one. Goalie Kristen Hordy faced 24 shots, making 12 saves and allowing six goals.

The Tar Heels took 30 shots to Penn State's 24 while the Nittany Lions picked up 15 ground balls to UNC's 14. Penn State won the draw control battle, 9-8, and the Tar Heels committed one more turnover, 8-7.

Scurachio scored the first goal of the game for North Carolina less than five minutes into the contest before an unassisted Penn State goal from Dutch less than a minute later knotted the score at 1-1. The Nittany Lions took the 2-1 advantage just 22 seconds later as Burke came up with the draw control and passed it to Maslin who shoveled it to Chambers for the score. Scurachio and Higgins scored for North Carolina to give it the 3-2 lead with 15:39 remaining in the half. A Burke score off a pass from Chambers evened the game at 3-3 with 12:20 left before Higgins and Scurachio notched back to back goals to give the Tar Heels the 5-3 lead with 9:46 left. But Penn State stormed back with scores from Chambers (7:09) and Lieb (2:52) to close out scoring in the half with the teams tied at 5-5.

The second half was a defensive battle between the squads, with only two total goals scored. Maslin scored on a free position shot with 24:15 left in the half to put the Nittany Lions up 6-5 and Penn State was slated for another free position shot with 4:48 remaining in the game when a Nittany Lion player was cited for having an illegal uniform, turning the ball over to North Carolina. Scurachio scored her fourth goal with 3:49 left in the half to tie the game at 6-6. The two teams remained scoreless for the remainder of the half, forcing overtime.

Through the two three-minute overtime periods, the squads combined for only four shots and three saves as each team collected a draw control. UNC's Erica LaGrow had a shot with 12 seconds remaining in the second overtime period but it was saved by Tortorelli to force sudden victory overtime.

North Carolina's Chrissy Rude collected the draw control at 2:56 in sudden victory and Jess Allen put in the unassisted game-winning goal with 1:44 remaining in the period.