2nd half dooms UNC

With 9:43 to go in the third quarter Saturday, Mike McCall rifled in a shot to put the North Carolina men’s lacrosse team up 8-6 on Duke — a perfect position from which to spring an upset on the No. 3 Blue Devils.

But for the next 22 minutes and 50 seconds, the offense went cold for the No. 15 Tar Heels, and the Duke attack went on a blistering 6-0 run that sapped the energy of the Tar Heels and the once-raucous crowd of 2,786 at Fetzer Field.

Duke finished with a 12-10 win, a score that was made respectable by two UNC goals in the last two minutes. The Tar Heels (1-4) squandered a valiant early effort in the game and now find themselves mired in a four-game losing streak.

MEN'S LACROSE Duke 12 UNC 10

“We have some spirit, and we have fight,” said UNC coach John Haus. “And I thought we did throughout the whole game — it’s just in the second half, we made mistakes that we can’t make.”

The opening half saw signs of life from UNC, who put Duke (7-0) on its heels early thanks to two goals each from Ryan Blair and Ryan Walterhoefer that gave the Tar Heels a 4-1 lead in the beginning of the second quarter. Blair and Walterhoefer both had hat tricks in the game, and Blair added a trio of assists as well.

“We need guys who normally score one goal a game to step up,” said senior attackman Jed Prossner. “Ryan Walterhoefer had a good game today, and Ryan Blair had a great game, so that’s a good start right there.”

But the good start did not translate to a good finish for the Tar Heels, as they fell apart offensively and defensively in the second half against the more talented Blue Devils.

“We didn’t possess the ball on the offensive end as much as we would have liked,” said a despondent Haus. “And it just all went wrong.”

Sophomore midfielder Peter Lamade notched four goals for Duke — three during the decisive 6-0 run. The Blue Devils dominated that stretch, controlling the ball at the UNC end of the field while the Tar Heels failed to make the most of their possessions.

“We went back to things that were hurting us — forcing the ball in the middle, forcing passes that aren’t there,” Blair said. “That was basically the difference. We stopped controlling the ball and just got away from what we were trying to do.”

North Carolina outshot the Blue Devils 35-28 for the game.

But Duke made the most of its opportunities, while UNC’s ill-advised shots squandered possessions and contributed to the Tar Heels’ 11 turnovers — seven coming in the second half. Duke, on the other hand, only had six for the game.

Prossner, a preseason All-American, further contributed to North Carolina’s offensive woes as he only netted one goal in the losing effort.

“We got yelled at for forcing the ball,” Prossner said. “I, personally, got yelled at. We’ve got to be able to create. If we aren’t creating, not much is going to happen. That’s what really happened in the fourth quarter.”

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.