As the saying goes, the third time is supposed to be the charm.
For the third straight year, the North Carolina men’s lacrosse team played Denver in the playoffs attempting to seek retribution for two losses by a cumulative three goals.
But that retribution never came, as penalties plagued UNC and the Tar Heels usually prolific offense failed to find momentum in a 9-5 loss that ended their season.
With ten penalties, the Tar Heels put immense pressure on their defense to perform well, and it did.
Standing on his head with 11 saves, goalkeeper Kieran Burke led the defense that was switching back and forth between zone and man to prevent the Pioneers from getting too much momentum.
On the opposite side of the field, the Tar Heels top-five ranked offense that averaged more than 13 goals a game posted their lowest score of the entire season.
While the offense was forced to watch numerous long possessions and extra man opportunities on the defensive end, once the likes of Jimmy Bitter and Joey Sankey had the ball in their sticks, the mojo wasn’t working. The Tar Heels couldn’t find any rhythm.
And as the clock slowly ticked down to zero, one thing about this game was different than the ones from previous seasons.
Instead of playing in a hotly contested match that ended in a heartbreaking loss, the Tar Heels were beat, plain and simple, adding one more year to the school’s championship weekend drought.
Contact the desk editor at sports@dailytarheel.com.
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