Crucial turnovers doom Tar Heels in Duke loss

Twice in the second half the North Carolina men’s lacrosse team brought the score within three, and twice unforced turnovers gave the lead right back to its opponent Duke.

The No. 8 Tar Heels were plagued by sloppy play Thursday night as they lost 14-9 to the No.7 Blue Devils.

After two impressive victories against top-ten teams Pennsylvania and Princeton, UNC looked like a totally different squad against Duke.

The team fell behind early and was never able to recover.

“I think we just didn’t come to play and I think that’s obvious by the score,” senior defenseman Ryan Flanagan said. “I mean there’s no way they’re that much better than us. It’s just that they showed up and we didn’t.”

The Tar Heels committed 13 turnovers, nine of which were unforced, including two crucial ones on missed clears in the third quarter.

The first happened after two straight UNC goals started the second half and cut the Blue Devils’ lead to 8-5.

The Tar Heels then gained possession in the defensive zone with a chance to clear at the midline, but midfielder Michael Burns dropped a pass from Ryan Creighton and the Tar Heels lost possession. Duke then made them pay as Zach Howell scored on a rebound to increase the lead back to four.

“We had a chance to come down at 8-5 and we failed to clear the ball,” UNC coach Joe Breschi said. “Its one of the things we focus on.”

The Tar Heels were able to come right back, though, as Billy Bitter scored the second of his three goals to cut Duke’s lead back down to three.

But an unforced turnover again cost the Tar Heels only a few minutes later.

Again at the midline while trying to clear the ball, UNC coughed it up as a Flanagan pass intended for Burns went wild and Duke recovered.

Just like the previous sequence of events, the Blue Devils converted the mistake as attackman Christian Walsh beat North Carolina goalie Chris Madalon while diving across the face of the mouth for a goal.

“The ball to (Burns), that’s my fault,” Flanagan said. “I should have just carried it over. We’re two senior guys and (he) was telling me to go. That’s not what we usually do, but that’s what they were giving us tonight, so I should have went, but that’s one play and just a microcosm of just what was going on tonight.”

The goal gave Duke a 10-6 lead, and they would only add to the difference as UNC was never able to rebound.

The team was actually fairly successful on clears on the night, going 16-19, but the two unforced turnovers at key moments were a huge factor in the defeat.

“We have three failed clears the whole game and two of them are in the third quarter when we’re trying to make a run,” Breschi said. “And they come down and capitalize on them. It’s the simple things, it’s the fundamentals you got to continue to work on.”

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