Evenly matched UNC-Duke lacrosse teams to square off Saturday

There’s a clock in the North Carolina men’s lacrosse team’s locker room. It doesn’t tell the time. It doesn’t serve any purpose other than to remind the team when it’ll get its next shot at achieving its No. 1 goal: beating Duke.

Saturday’s match in Durham is looming, and that clock is winding down.

“I’m really, really excited,” said freshman midfielder Stephen Kelly. “Growing up, I always watched the Duke-Carolina game. I’ve always been a Carolina fan and watching it on TV has been a big game itself, just being a fan. I think it will be pretty surreal playing in the actual game and knowing how important it is, not only to us, but to the alumni and to all the fans.”

It’s no surprise that UNC lacrosse’s biggest rival is Duke. Put the “Tobacco Road,” 8-mile stuff aside. Forget that the two teams are blue bloods fighting for footing in the ACC standings, and ignore the history. Look at this year’s Blue Devils and Tar Heels, and you’ll see that this is a perfect matchup.

Duke and UNC come into Saturday’s game ranked fourth and fifth, respectively. Both are bouncing back from tough conference losses March 1 when Duke fell to top-ranked Maryland and UNC dropped a close game to 12th-ranked Notre Dame.

Now, the teams are coming off of blowout wins in which they both scored 20 against non-conference opponents. The roughest roads of conference play lie ahead, and a rivalry win could be a turning point.

In terms of personnel, both teams are offensive powerhouses with strong attack units and faceoff specialists who aren’t used to losing.

A tale of two offenses

UNC and Duke both like to “run and gun.” It’s one of the few similarities Breschi found between his squad and the one down the road. It could also be a key to holding Duke back.

“They have Jordan Wolf and Josh Dionne and Case Matheis,” Breschi said. “They’re tremendous athletes and very solid players with speed. They’re smaller guys. That’s what we have in (Joey) Sankey and (Jimmy) Bitter. I think that’s very similar.

“Both teams are going to slow the other one down a little bit.”

Last year, the Tar Heels and Blue Devils did just that in the regular season meeting. Duke pulled away with an 11-8 win on Fetzer Field. When the two met again in the ACC semifinals, UNC eked out an 18-17 win.

Breschi knows that this year, the regular-season’s scoring patterns are up in the air.

“It all comes down to possessions and each team trying to slow it down a little bit,” Breschi said. “It could go either way. We’re not going to slow down the tempo offensively, that’s for sure. I don’t think they will either.”

Facing Brendan Fowler

You can’t win the game if you don’t have the ball. That’s where faceoffs factor in. Nobody knows that better than Kelly, who takes most of UNC’s faceoffs.

“It’s huge,” Kelly said. “The faceoff is a battle within the war and if we can win the groundball battle, then it’s almost certain that we’re going to win the game.”

UNC goes into battle against a Goliath-opponent in Duke’s faceoff specialist Brendan Fowler.

Fowler is a senior who originally walked onto the team but has since received a scholarship and proven his worth. In the 2013 NCAA championship game, Fowler’s 20 faceoff wins (of 29 draws) earned him the most outstanding player title.

Fowler is 98 for 153 draws going into Saturday’s game — winning 64 percent of his faceoffs.

“I’ve never gone against (Fowler) before,” Kelly said. “I’m just going to stick with what’s worked for me so far this year. If I have to adjust, I have to adjust. As for now, I’ve just got to go in with full confidence and stick to what I know.”

Kelly is right behind Fowler in faceoff percentages, taking 63.2 percent of his draws and alternates faceoffs with his older brother, senior Frankie Kelly, who averages 53.4 percent of his own.

Both Kelly brothers spent this week preparing for Fowler with R.G. Keenan, a senior faceoff specialist who faced Fowler in both the regular season game and the ACC tournament tilt last year. Stephen said Keenan advised the brothers to not let Fowler distract them from how they play at the faceoff X.

With two competitive UNC specialists facing off against a former national champion, it’s unlikely that there will be many clean decisions. That’s where UNC’s support players on the wing come in.

“Wing play I think is going to critical,” Breschi said. “So, picking up those groundballs and picking up those 50/50 groundballs that are critical in a game.”

In a game where two teams are so evenly matched, groundballs and faceoffs could make the difference.

sports@dailytarheel.com