UNC men's lacrosee holds off Duke comeback

After leading by as many as nine goals in its ACC Tournament semifinal against No. 3 seed Duke, the No. 2 seed North Carolina men’s lacrosse team had given back every one.

With 1:28 left in the game, senior captain Marcus Holman scored to give UNC a 19-18 lead, but in Friday night’s shootout — which boasted the highest combined scoring effort of any game since the ACC Tournament’s inception in 1989 — freshman goalkeeper Kieran Burke was not out of the clear.

In front of 4,567 fans under the lights in Kenan Stadium, Burke rose to the occasion, blocking Duke midfielder David Lawson’s shot with his body to give UNC its first win against Duke in Chapel Hill since March 19, 2003 — the day the United States invaded Iraq.

Duke had beaten UNC in the 16 of their last 17 meetings and would have had the chance to deliver one of the most heart-wrenching losses in UNC program history, if it had forced overtime. None of that weighed on the freshman goalkeeper as he anticipated a shot from Duke, who had a man-advantage for the game’s final 16 seconds after a UNC holding penalty.

“Going on in my head is actually nothing at that point. Total blankness,” Burke said. “I’m just waiting for the play to start, focusing and tracking the ball.”

Burke’s ninth save on the day won him the spotlight, but Friday night’s game was an all-offense affair.

UNC jumped out to a 4-2 lead in the first quarter on goals from attackmen Joey Sankey and Marcus Holman and midfielders Chad Tutton and T.J. Kemp. Tutton had a career-high four goals in the game.

Kemp’s goal, a Hail Mary fling at the first-quarter’s buzzer from well beyond the restraint line, was intended to be a pass, but when Holman let it go by untouched, it found its way to the back of the net.

“We tell the guys, ‘It’s not the play at the end of the game that wins or loses the game. It’s a cumulative of all those little plays over the course of the game,’ Duke coach John Danowski said. “That one play could’ve been the difference in the game.”

The first quarter’s final goal, to give UNC a 4-2 lead, signaled the beginning of a second quarter that would be dominated by the Tar Heels.

UNC outscored Duke 9-4 in the second half and entered halftime with a 13-6 lead. The Tar Heels’ 13 goals had already bested their goal-scoring average this season entering Friday’s game of 12.77.

But in the second half, Duke turned the tide, turning what once appeared to be a blowout into a photo finish, and it was clear to UNC coach Joe Breschi how that happened.

“The faceoff x and groundballs were key in the second half,” he said.

UNC faceoff specialists R.G. Keenan and Brent Armstrong managed to neutralize Duke’s All-ACC faceoff specialist Brendan Fowler in the first half, winning 9-of-20 faceoffs. Fowler wore the Tar Heels down in the second half though, grinding out 14-of-18 faceoffs to win his team possessions.

Those possessions proved to be crucial in a game where a team was likely to score any time it had possession.

After opening the second half with two goals, UNC had a 15-6 lead against Duke. Then UNC’s attackmen, including senior captain Marcus Holman, watched the lead wither away at the opposite end of the field.

Duke scored eight straight goals to cut UNC’s lead to 15-14.

“You do feel a sense of helplessness when you can’t get the ball, and it goes from 15-6 to 15-10 to 15-14 and then it’s tied up,” Holman said. “We felt confident when we got the ball that we could get good looks on goal.”

And when the Tar Heels did get the ball, with the game tied at 17, they made Duke pay. Tutton carried the ball and found Holman, who thought he could get by his man.

“I felt I had an opportunity to let one rip and kind of just shot it as hard as I could,” Holman said. “I saw the net move and I felt pretty good after that.”

UNC will ride its good feelings into the ACC title game against No. 4 seed Virginia at 1 p.m. on Sunday. The Tar Heels last won an ACC title in 1996.