CARY, N.C. — It’s one thing when an opponent is just better.

It’s something entirely different when they’re just lucky.

And it’s downright scary when they’re both.

That’s the predicament the UCLA women’s soccer team faced on Friday as No. 1 North Carolina not only outplayed the Bruins in its 3-0 victory in the NCAA College Cup Semifinals at SAS Stadium in Cary, N.C., but the Tar Heels received two gift goals on misplays by Bruin goalkeeper Arianna Criscione.

The combination of the constant Carolina pressure and the ill-timed mishaps spelled doom for No. 4 seed UCLA (20-2-3), who lost to North Carolina for the second time this season and again missed a chance to claim a national title that continues to elude the powerhouse program.

“It was a tough loss, and it was a tough way to lose,” coach Jill Ellis said.

“We gift wrapped them a couple of goals, and it made it a lot tougher,” she added.

Up to this point in the season, the Bruins had been able to get by just fine with freshman Criscione in goal. Criscione, who started the last 11 games of the season after a knee injury forced last year’s starter Sarah Lombardo to the sidelines, faced very few shots and was rarely tested before Friday.

But Ellis knew the vaunted North Carolina offense would challenge her goalkeeper, and she had said days prior to the game that Criscione would have to play “the game of her life” if the Bruins were to have a chance to win.

Well, she certainly didn’t play the game of her life. And consequently, the Bruins never really had a chance to win.

In the 23rd minute, Tar Heel forward Alyssa Ramsey sent a corner kick into the Bruin box. Criscione called for the ball, but she misjudged it and it floated over her head. North Carolina defender Kendall Fletcher was waiting at the back post, and she had no trouble putting the goal away to give her team a 1-0 lead.

But that wasn’t even the worst of it.

In the 29th minute, Bruin defender Kathryn Lee made a pass back to Criscione after stealing the ball from North Carolina’s Heather O’Reilly.

The freshman goalkeeper, however, whiffed her kick attempt on the rolling ball, and the Tar Heels’ second goal trickled past the end line. The incredibly ugly own goal was a tough pill for the Bruins to swallow.

“When you have a faux pas like that, it’s kind of a kick in the stomach,” Ellis said. “That’s the gut-killer right there. To come back from that is tough.”

Especially when you’re trying to do it against the best team in the country. North Carolina (27-0-0) had little trouble in the postseason, winning its first six games 8-0, 5-0, 7-0, 3-0, 3-0 and, in the NCAA championship game against Connecticut, won 6-0, shattering the previous record of 22 goals scored in a single tournament. The team outscored its opponents 113-11 this season.

The Tar Heels controlled play from the outset Friday, dominating the possession, winning 50-50 balls, connecting passes, and creating scoring chances galore. North Carolina outshot UCLA, 22-5, and held a 10-3 advantage in corner kicks.

“Their pressure was just tremendous,” Ellis said. “We often find ourselves doing that to other teams, but when you’re on the receiving end, you tend to struggle and can’t think quickly enough to deal with the pressure.”

UCLA, a team that hadn’t allowed a goal in its first four tournament games, found itself in an unusual position on Friday, trailing early and wholly unable to put together any passes to create something of a scoring opportunity for forwards Iris Mora and Bristyn Davis.

Most of that is a testament to super-talented North Carolina and the game plan of Anson Dorrance, coach of 18 national title-winning Tar Heel teams.

“Obviously we’re ecstatic to beat a tremendous UCLA team,” Dorrance said afterward. “I really felt that we played as well as we possibly could in the first half. That set an excellent tone for us in the match.”

But even though North Carolina dominated play in that crucial first half, the Tar Heels continually misfired on excellent scoring opportunities. It was only through the costly mistakes of the relatively inexperienced freshman goalkeeper that they were able to get on the scoreboard.

“We suffered a little bit with a freshman in goal,” Ellis said. “When you have a freshman in a big game, there’s a lot of pressure.”

“Goalkeeper is such a critical position. If you make a mistake, it’s going to cost you,” she said later.

Dorrance shifted his team from a 3-4-3 formation to a more defensive 4-4-2 formation late in the second half in order to salt the game away, and freshman Heather O’Reilly secured the victory at the 85 minute and 32 second mark when she sent a blistering ball into the side netting past a diving Criscione.

“I think player for player, we’re very equal teams,” senior defender Nandi Pryce said. “We both have very good players on our teams. But when you’re in front of your home fans with 8,000 or 10,000 people rooting for you wearing Carolina blue, it’s going to make a difference.”

The exact attendance number was 8,267, but excuses just weren’t going to do. North Carolina was clearly the better team, a team that probably didn’t need any help to earn the victory. However, the Bruins insisted on helping them out by making mistakes, and consequently, made the trip back to Westwood a day earlier than expected.

“I’m very proud of the way the team played all season,” Ellis said. “What I told them after the game is that one game doesn’t define you. We had a great year, and I’m very proud of them.”

Unfortunately, this year’s Bruins may be defined by this one game – the mistakes in goal and the inability to hang with a team that just played better.

So the dynasty lives on, and UCLA is left waiting for next year.