After only 10 minutes of the North Carolina men’s lacrosse team’s quarterfinal matchup against Denver, the Tar Heels had a commanding 6-0 lead, and it looked like UNC was going to get revenge on the team that knocked it out of the NCAA Tournament last year.
With goals from unusual suspects like Ryan Kilpatrick, Mark McNeill and Evan Connell — all scoring their first goals of the season — the Tar Heels’ first-half transition game largely outweighed their problems at the face-off X.
But a second-half 8-2 Denver run proved to be too much of a momentum swing for the Tar Heels, and they fell victim to the Pioneers yet again in a 12-11 loss at Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Stadium.
“Do I think we were out of rhythm in the second half? Certainly,” coach Joe Breschi said. “They controlled the ball. They controlled the tempo. We didn’t get a lot of transition, and we played a lot of defense.”
In the first half, everything was clicking for UNC. Despite going just five for 15 at the face-off X, UNC’s defense came up big, allowing just 15 shots and forcing the Pioneers to commit eight turnovers.
But the defense’s role didn’t stop there. UNC’s defensemen carried the squad in the early minutes, scoring three of the Tar Heels’ first six goals.
“(They’re) guys that don’t get all the credit and all the stats, but they were really fueling our fire,” senior Davey Emala said. “They were the spark for our team and they put us in an outstanding position.
“But we knew we had to play for 60 minutes.”
While the Tar Heels had a solid handle on the first 30 minutes of the game, the second half proved to be a completely different challenge.