Playing in a bitter cold, the game was hotly contested, with both teams pushing the ball and refusing to give up an inch or make a mistake that could end its season.

But mistakes are what made their mark on this game as the Spartans opened the scoring with a little under five minutes to play in the first half when sophomore forward Jantine Steinmetz made a nifty move, taking a pass from junior midfielder Jeamie Deacon and putting the ball between a defender’s legs, taking it into the circle and firing a shot past the Tar Heels goalkeeper to make the score 1-0.

North Carolina wouldn’t be kept down for long though, quickly evening up the score as midfielder Elizabeth Drazdowski tipped a shot into the goal two minutes later, sending the game into halftime tied at one.

North Carolina kept the momentum after the break, spending most of the first five minutes in the Spartans end and scoring a goal off a penalty corner early on to take a 2-1 lead.

The Spartans, who were outshot for the first time this season 16-11, managed to stay in the game with stellar defense and amazing saves by goalkeeper Elissa Unger.

“They never feel fantastic when you’re making it, it’s just what you need to do to keep your team in the game,” Unger said. “There’s really no better feeling than doing that. I knew that if I did let one in we’d score again but I wanted put us in the best position possible.”

MSU did score another one, as senior back Geraldine Raynor scored on a penalty corner, firing a bullet into the back of the cage to even the score at 2-2.

Then with only four minutes to play, sophomore midfielder Angela Pagura intercepted a pass from a Tar Heels defender and shot it in the goal to a chorus of cheers from the home fans.

“It was a team effort,” Pagura said. “I just happened to put it in. It feels great, though.”

To try to send the game to overtime, North Carolina pulled its goalie to get an extra attacker. The attempt almost worked, as with a minute remaining in the game Tar Heels back Kiki Norbruis fired a shot during a penalty corner that rang off the post and careened out of bounds, allowing the Spartans to kill the rest of the time on the clock.

“I was scared,” Pagura said. “I was real scared. The whole game went both ways. It was so close. I was like, ‘Oh no they’re going to get this one in.’ They got a corner. But we just had to play our game, stay calm and we won it.”

The Spartans move on to play Iowa in the regional final tomorrow at 2 p.m. at Ralph Young Field. The Hawkeyes have beaten MSU twice this season, with both games going to overtime. The two teams last met in the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament on Nov. 7.

“The bottom line is if you want to move on you have to beat the next opponent,” head coach Rolf van de Kerkhof said. “We don’t have to study too much because we have played them twice, we have done so much studying as it is. We just have to rest our bodies and minds and do it again.”