About 22 minutes into the game, Tar Heels sophomore back Abby Martin was awarded the free stroke, and she pushed the ball past Lions redshirt freshman goalkeeper Heidi Leuchte and into the net.

The Lions had opportunities afterwards to tie the game, but struggled to get the ball past Tar Heels redshirt freshman goalkeeper Amy Tran, who made seven saves.

"Their goalie made some incredible saves," Morett said.

In the end, Penn State was unable to take advantage of its chances, watching the game clock run down to 0:00

The win might have been sweet revenge for the Tar Heels (16-5, 2-2 ACC), who found themselves on the losing end against the Lions back on Sept. 5 by an identical 1-0 score.

In that game, Penn State scored the deciding goal late in the game, courtesy of Lions junior back Traci Anselmo, whose shot off a penalty corner beat Tar Heels senior goalkeeper Nicole Frey. Leuchte recorded her first shutout in only her second game at the collegiate level.

Since then, Leuchte has added seven more shutouts, while Frey has played sparingly and Tran has led her team to the postseason.

On Saturday, Leuchte's Lions and Tran's Tar Heels battled again, but Tran and the Tar Heels were a little better.

"Both teams played well," Morett said. "But we had too many opportunities that we didn't capitalize on."

With the win, North Carolina advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals and a matchup with Iowa yesterday. The Tar Heels saw their season come to an abrupt halt as well, though, as they were shutout 2-0 by the Hawkeyes.

Thus ends the season for Penn State, one that started as a potential rebuilding year and ended in the team's 18th straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament.

"In the summer, I didn't expect this," Morett said. "But after the first few weeks, I was excited about the opportunities we had."