The clock ticked down. The No. 4 North Carolina men’s lacrosse team clung to a one-point lead against No. 6 Duke. As the defense parted momentarily, Duke’s Myles Jones reared back and rocketed the potential game-tying shot through the gap toward the net the junior goalkeeper stood guarding.
“No matter the moment, Kieran is always calm and collected,” said senior attackman Jimmy Bitter.
Burke deftly flipped his net up to deflect and catch the shot, then stepped forward to clear the ball out of danger. UNC would go on to run out the remaining seconds and win the game 15-14, but Burke remained waiting in the net until the clock ran out, calm and steady.
“You can’t get too high, can’t get too low,” Burke said. “I definitely got pumped up, but you can’t let that show.”
Burke had five saves in the fourth quarter — the same as he had the entire game to that point — allowing UNC to hold on to the lead they built in the second half. Even though he allowed 14 goals, Coach Joe Breschi had high praise for his keeper.
“(He) really stepped up to his All-American level in the fourth,” Breschi said. “He’s so steady. He doesn’t get rattled by struggling early.”
UNC struck quickly in the opening quarter, with sophomore attackman Luke Goldstock scoring 13 seconds into the match. But Duke responded emphatically, highlighted by a 7-1 run to take a 7-3 lead with 5:25 left in the second quarter.
UNC was able to stop the bleeding late in the second quarter with two goals, then continued its run into the second half with three goals in the first five minutes to take an 8-7 lead. After Jones scored for Duke to tie the game, Bitter scored his first two goals of the game in a 65-second span to give UNC a two-point lead.
