North Carolina entered the South DI regional championship well prepared. Solid scouting created a game plan that took the ball out of Life's hands, and the Tar Heels executed well … until the final minute of play. Leaning on its fitness and patience, the Running Eagles scored the game-winning try at the buzzer for a 12-10 win and trip to the spring final four.

“It was pandemonium after the game-winning try,” Life coach Ros Chou said. “We knew it was going to be a very difficult game, and we wanted to prepare ourselves for anything. They were so ecstatic.”

On Saturday, Life defeated Texas A&M 98-0, while UNC beat Central Florida 55-21 (read more). With a big result behind them, and a familiar opponent ahead of them, Life resisted the temptation of being overconfident heading into the quarterfinals.

“SIRC playoffs caught us off guard because we had that kind of mentality,” Chou said of relying on past point differentials when assessing teams. “We knew our fall game was really developmental, and it wasn’t indicative of UNC’s top side. We took them very seriously. I watched them earlier in the day [Saturday], and they did a tremendous job with their game plan and showed amazing technical skill.”

North Carolina showcased an excellent kicking game that tired out UCF and kept the ball away from its powerful forwards. But UNC coach Johnathan Atkeison smartly changed it up against Life, which has a strong back three and able attackers.

“They created an amazing game plan against us specifically, and it was completely different than what they showed against UCF,” Chou said. “Against us, they executed a slow-ball game, and they didn’t’ kick once against us. It was a good job on Atkeison’s part because I had made some lineup changes to prepare for the kicking, putting Kaitlyn Broughton at fullback ready for that. So it turned into a slugfest with their forwards, who were just great at keeping possession.”

Life spent the majority of the game on defense, which helped UNC take a 7-0 lead into the break.

“We talked about patience at the half,” Chou said. “Even though our roster is light, all of the field conditioning that we do, we knew we would eventually wear them down. At least, that was our hope. It wasn’t until the very end when they made some mental errors.”

That patient defense also zeroed in on center Naya Tapper, UNC’s biggest scoring threat.

“We’ve been working all spring on our defense, which was a weakness for us in the fall,” Chou said. “Tapper is such a great athlete, but we needed good team defense to neutralize her as a threat – trusting the push, trusting the coverage on the outside, and making sure that we didn’t get sucked in and allow her to get the outside.”

Captain Nicole Strasko, “a true field general,” according to Chou, kept the team calm and focused, while Life awaited its opportunities to attack. In minute 58, wing Deshel Ferguson scored and Sarah McCandless converted to tie up. But then a Cam Gunn penalty put UNC back in the lead, 10-7, a scoreline that held until the final seconds of play.

As fatigue set in, UNC gave up two penalties in a row as Life was attacking Tar Heel territory. A quick-tap moved the ball to Broughton, who scored the game-winner with no time remaining, 12-10.

“This group is so special,” Chou said. “They’re capable of anything, even with light numbers. There’s no doubt in the coaches’ minds that they can execute. If they have the ball, they can do amazing things.”

Life will look to continue this streak of amazement in the DI spring final four, April 24-25, in Pittsburgh. The semifinal match-ups have not been released, but it is rumored that Life will play West Chester.

For all of the DI and DII college playoff scores, click here.