The North Carolina men's lacrosse team took down No. 7 Loyola, 18-13, in the NCAA Tournament semifinal at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia on Saturday. With the win, the Tar Heels (11-6) advance to the national final for the first time since 1993.
What happened?
North Carolina came out of the gates hot offensively, and rarely slowed down throughout the day.
Leading the attacking charge was sophomore attacker/midfielder Chris Cloutier, who worked a hat trick in both quarters to give him six goals at the half. The mark set a new career-high for the Canadian for goals in a game.
First-year Timmy Kelly also shined in the first half, consistently beating his man and putting in two goals in the process.
The Tar Heels ended the first quarter up 9-2, and very quickly extended the lead in the second. In a 15 second stretch at the beginning of the period, North Carolina tallied three goals, two from Cloutier and one from junior attacker Luke Goldstock, to take a 12-2 lead.
The Greyhounds began to find some success on the offensive end halfway through the second quarter, but UNC was able to answer them each time. At the end of the first half, the Tar Heels held a 14-5 advantage.
But as the second half opened, Loyola made it a point to not lay down. The Greyhounds opened the third quarter with three-straight goals, cutting the North Carolina lead to 14-8. The Tar Heels were able to answer, however, as two-straight goals by Cloutier pushed the lead back to eight, where it would remain for the remainder of the quarter.
The Greyhounds started the fourth quarter much like they did the third, going on a 4-0 run to come within four goals with 6:25 left in the game. But, as he did so many times on the day, Cloutier answered. The sophomore notched his ninth and final goal of the day with 5:32 remaining, quelling the run and giving UNC the momentum to close out the game.
