About three minutes into the third quarter of No. 5 North Carolina men’s lacrosse team’s 20-5 blowout win against Bucknell Tuesday, senior Pat Foster received a pass around the crease from a dodging Michael Tagliaferri who was on the run.
With a defender crashing from across the crease and his back to the goal, Foster seemingly had no ability to get a shot off without getting lit up by a Bison defender.
But with poise and composure, the savvy veteran quickly cradled the ball once with his dominant right hand and, without looking behind him, released a shot from in between his legs that lifted itself just over the keeper’s left shoulder and into the net.
“Honestly, I’ve never really done anything like that before,” Foster said after his two-goal performance. “I just didn’t know how much time I had, so I flicked it through my legs and hoped for the best.”
With a hat trick against Princeton last Friday after coming in at attack to relieve Steve Pontrello in his first start as an attackman this season, Foster earned his way into the starting lineup as the third attackman, a spot that was vacated by all-time UNC points leader Marcus Holman.
Putting offensive midfielders, such as sophomore Spencer Parks, in the mix at attack, coach Joe Breschi knew he wouldn’t be replacing Holman, but instead he’d be searching for someone who could click well with the offense and help it play well despite Holman’s absence.
Thus far no attackman has been able to do that the way Foster has in the last two games.
Since Jimmy Bitter’s return to the lineup in the team’s second game against Manhattan, Spencer Parks has started three times, accumulating two goals and three assists on nine shots.
Foster matched that scoring performance coming off the bench in the Tar Heels’ 13-11 win against Princeton alone with three goals on five shots.