Men's Lacrosse Fails to Execute

The players on the North Carolina men's lacrosse team walked onto the field Friday night at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex more impassioned and focused than they had for perhaps the entire season.

Lack of support for Jeff Sonke wasn't to blame this time, either.

Attackmen Andrew Lucas and Steve Will each tallied two goals and two assists, while Sonke, a preseason All-America and All-ACC selection, struggled to find his shot and finished with a goal and an assist.

No, the Tar Heels' 11-9 loss to Duke in the semifinals of the ACC tournament in front of 920 wasn't to blame on either of these problems, which plagued UNC for much of the season.

The problem was execution. The third-seeded and 17th-ranked Tar Heels contolled the action in the first half; the second-seeded and 12th-ranked Blue Devils did it in the second half.

In the end, it was enough to erase UNCs four-goal halftime lead and bump the Tar Heels (5-6) out of the conference championships in the opening game for the fifth consecutive season.

"The seniors are hurting," said Will, a sophomore. "They wanted a championship, whether an ACC or NCAA, but they never got it. I feel bad for them."

The loss effectively ended any chance the Tar Heels had of earning what would have been their first berth to the NCAA tournament since 1998. They entered the weekend needing a title to give themselves a shot. They left with only a relatively meaningless regular-season game at home against Pfeiffer on Thursday remaining on their schedule.

"I dont know -- just play my last game, UNC senior defenseman Bobby Gormsen said of his outlook on the rest of the season. "I'm just going to be focused on that, trying to enjoy it."

Hope of prolonging that season, though, was still perculating for the Tar Heels in the first half Friday night.

In UNC's 11-8 loss to Duke on March 17, the Blue Devils (9-4) raced to an early 7-2 lead before the Tar Heels rallied with five unanswered goals.

This time, it was the Tar Heels who jumped out to a quick advantage in the first half, entering halftime with a 7-3 advantage.

Lucas scored both of his goals and dished out one of his assists in the opening half, sophomore midfielder Kyle Bell scored two goals on extra-man opportunities, and Will had a goal and an assist as the Tar Heels controlled the tempo and limited Duke to 15 shots.

But just like last game, the losing team came charging back. Unlike last game, however, it completed its comeback attempt.

The Blue Devils rattled off four unanswered goals to open the second half, tying the game. After Sonke responded with 5:07 left in the third quarter, they ran off four more to take an 11-8 lead with 7:12 left in the game.

"In the third quarter, we didn't win a face-off," UNC coach John Haus said. "If you don't have the ball, you're playing a lot of defense, and you still have to get a stop, and we couldn't get a stop. And the next thing you know, it's a tie game."

The Tar Heels couldn't retain possession of the ball and took only 15 shots after halftime. They broke up passes and stripped Duke ball-handlers fairly consistently but couldn't win ground balls, losing that battle 15-5 in the second half and 36-21 overall.

"We had trouble, definitely, in the second half, clearing the ball," said Gormsen, who was also named All-ACC. "We were getting the checks, we just couldnt get it up off the ground and move it to the offense."

The Sports Editor can be reached at sports@unc.edu.