Michelle Tumolo raised her stick up in her right hand and slammed it head-first into the Carrier Dome turf. Teammate Bridget Daley jumped into her arms in celebration.

Tumolo had just almost single-handedly brought the Orange back from a two-goal deficit with three minutes remaining in regulation, capping the astounding comeback on a game-winning score with five seconds left.

‘It was just pure bliss,’ Tumolo said in a phone interview. ‘I really was trying not to go out of this game without a win. I just basically took it under my belt to win the game. At the last second because I had the ball and I just waited for enough time to be able to score and not let them have time to score.’

The Syracuse junior attack recorded two goals, an assist and a season-salvaging forced turnover in the final 180 seconds to extend the winningest season in program history. Propelled by her late-game heroics, the No. 4 seed Orange (18-3) edged the fifth-seeded Tar Heels (15-4) 17-16 in the NCAA tournament quarterfinals on Saturday in front of 815 in the Carrier Dome. With the win, Syracuse advances to the final four in Stony Brook, N.Y., where it will face No. 1 seed Florida on Friday. The Gators demolished Penn State 15-2 in their quarterfinals matchup.

Sophomores Katie Webster and Alyssa Murray recorded three goals apiece and freshmen Kailah Kempney, Devon Collins and Gabby Jaquith combined for five scores. But it was Tumolo, who tallied a team-high four goals, who undoubtedly won the game for SU.

‘Every single player on the team stepped up at one point and made a huge play, and that made the difference,’ SU head coach Gary Gait said in the postgame press conference. ‘They stuck together and gave themselves an opportunity to fight back and win that game.

‘I’ll give them all the credit, starting with Michelle Tumolo.’

Though she was quiet in the first half – scoring just once in the opening 30 minutes – the team captain came alive when it mattered most.

After North Carolina midfielder Laura Zimmerman scored with 3:04 left to extend the Tar Heels’ lead to 16-14, UNC’s Brittney Coppa controlled the draw to seemingly punch her team’s ticket to Stony Brook.

But Tumolo refused to quit, knocking the ball out of Coppa’s stick and scooping up the ground ball.

‘I think we were just realizing that we need to get the draw or we will not be able to score,’ Tumolo said. ‘So they were going up the field and I saw the girl. I ran my ass off to get to her and I checked her and we got the ball. It was kind of the play that we needed.’

After a Murray shot rang off the crossbar, SU midfielder Bridget Daley recovered and found Tumolo wrapping around the left side of the cage. She spun inside UNC defender Sloane Serpe and beat Tar Heels goalkeeper Lauren Maksym falling on the right doorstep with 2:24 left.

After Daley won the draw, Tumolo wrapped around left again roughly two minutes later. But this time, as Serpe and UNC midfielder Kara Cannizzaro collapsed, she lofted a pass over the crease to Kempney, who bounced the close-range attempt into the net with 39 seconds left.

‘Coming from Michelle, I wouldn’t have wanted anyone else to pass it,’ Kempney said in the postgame press conference. ‘Just it was for the team. You’ve got to put all that pressure on yourself like it’s a do or die right there, so coming from Michelle, I couldn’t let her down.’

But Tumolo’s masterpiece was not quite complete.

Kempney won the ensuing draw over Tewaaraton Trophy finalist Becky Lynch and set up Tumolo on the right side.

With her teammates cleared out, Tumolo drove right on Coppa with 10 seconds left. Turning back toward the middle of the arc eight yards out, she flung a bounce shot by Maksym’s right knee and into the net.

‘(It was) literally the best feeling in the world because I’ve never really won a game like that or ever been the big winner,’ Tumolo said. ‘I’ve never won a game like that ever in my life so it was just the best feeling I’ve ever had. I’ve really never felt this in my life.

‘It was amazing just looking up at my parents and they were crying. I was so happy.’

sebail01@syr.edu

Published on May 19, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Stephen: sebail01@syr.edu | @Stephen_Bailey1