Petracca, men's lacrosse offense log strong win

When senior Gavin Petracca returned to full health on Saturday against Lehigh, No.4 North Carolina’s offense followed suit.

The attackman was limited to situations where the Tar Heels were playing a man up in the team’s first two games as he recovered from a knee injury, and UNC’s offense struggled without its vocal leader, especially in last week’s 5-4 victory against Bryant University.

But Petracca was cleared for full duty in Saturday’s game, and the veteran’s return helped the Tar Heels to their strongest offensive performance of the season in a 17-5 victory against the Mountain Hawks.

“This is the first game that I was really allowed to come back and play a full game and get up and down the field, and it felt great to help the team,” Petracca said.

After scoring just five goals on 42 shots against Bryant, the Tar Heels were markedly better on Saturday, going 17-45 and putting more than half of their shots against Lehigh on goal.

“We didn’t settle for shots that we might have settled for last week,” coach Joe Breschi said. “We worked the ball around, the guys played together — played as a team — and we worked for door-steppers.”

In all, the attacking trio of Petracca, junior Billy Bitter and sophomore Thomas Wood combined for half of the Tar Heels’ 28 points on the afternoon, thanks in part to the return of Petracca’s leadership.

“Gavin’s a quarterback of the offense by voice and really organized us well today, and we were able to produce,” Breschi said.

Bitter in particular was perhaps the biggest beneficiary of Petracca’s return. The junior All-American struggled in the team’s first two games, scoring just once after netting 46 goals a year ago.

But with his former high school teammate back in the lineup, Bitter notched two goals and four assists for a team-high six points against Lehigh.

 “(Gavin and I) played back in high school, so it’s nice to have him playing with me because our chemistry’s always high,” Bitter said.

“He knows the entire offense, he knows where to be and it’s just good to have him because he’s always fired up.”

The return of Petracca, as well as junior attackman Ed Prevost, has also added critical depth to the attacking line.

“The first two games, it’s been 60 minutes for all three of those guys — (freshman Marcus) Holman and Bitter and Thomas Wood,” Breschi said.

“To have the other two guys back, it’s really helped our riding game, and we’ve put points on the board.”

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.