After receiving word from the officials that Emma Russell’s game-winning overtime goal would count, head coach Ange Bradley leapt into the air and sprinted over to celebrate with her players.

Russell’s goal was her sixth in her last two games, and gave sixth-seeded Syracuse’s (15-4, 3-4 Atlantic Coast) a spot in the ACC Championship with a 3-2 overtime win against second-seeded North Carolina (17-3, 4-3) on Friday. The Orange will take on fourth-seeded Wake Forest (13-6, 3-3) in the championship game on Sunday at 1 pm.

Looking to avenge it’s 3-0 loss to the Tar Heels on Sept. 12, the Orange got the scoring started when Russell netted her 18th goal of the season 15:08 into the first half.

UNC responded 13 minutes later when junior forward Casey Di Nardo fired a shot past SU goalkeeper Jess Jecko to even the score at 1-1.

They kept the momentum going as senior forward Charlotte Craddock put the Tar Heels on top, scoring with about a minute and a half remaining in the first half.

North Carolina would hold that lead for almost 15 minutes into the second half, until SU freshman midfielder Lieke Visser brought home the equalizer. It was her ninth goal of the season, knotting the score again at 2-2.

The back-and-forth affair fittingly went on to a seven-on-seven overtime. It took less than eight minutes into the sudden-death overtime for Russell to convert on a reverse shot to the top-shelf of the net. She fired her stick on the ground as the Syracuse bench flooded onto the field to congratulate her.

The play was reviewed and confirmed by officials.

Syracuse has a day off on Saturday before the ball drops on Sunday with the ACC Championship on the line. The game will be streamed live on EPSN3.

Published on November 7, 2014 at 7:12 pm