Selfless offense propels UNC men's lacrosse past Mercer, 14-6

After last week’s offensive exposition against Colgate, the No. 10 North Carolina men’s lacrosse team continued to demonstrate its revamped offensive attack in Saturday’s commanding 14-6 victory over Mercer.

In response to UNC’s second straight victory, head coach Joe Breschi seemed to enjoy this early season success as much as the fans in the Lacrosse & Soccer Stadium.

“It’s fun to watch, isn’t it?” Breschi said. “When we move the ball, it's a pretty special group.”

Sharing the ball well was the theme for the Tar Heels in this non-conference tune-up. If last week’s four-goal season debut was an individual scoring exhibition from transfer junior Chris Gray, Saturday's matchup saw the multi-dimensional talent carve up the Bears defense as a passer.

Along with fellow attackman Nicky Solomon, the dynamic duo combined for eight assists from behind the net that gifted their teammates a number of easy goals. This well-balanced arsenal allowed UNC to quickly erase a 1-0 deficit, scoring four unanswered goals on their way to a comfortable 4-1 lead late in the first quarter.

"Game after game, sharing the ball," midfielder Tanner Cook said. "We're getting a lot of assisted goals, which is great."

Cook served as one beneficiary of this selfless offense, taking it upon himself to lift the Tar Heels out of a second quarter slump that began to threaten their hold on the lead.

After a goal by Mercer’s Sean Goldsmith brought the game to within two scores, Cook rattled off two consecutive goals in 38 seconds to push UNC to a 7-3 lead with 7:07 remaining in the first half. His second goal was especially impressive, as he momentarily bucked the trend of unselfish play and decided to bully his way through a smaller defender on his way to a left-handed score. 

“I thought that we struggled early and just needed a spark,” Cook said. “You take what you can get.”

The two-goal burst was a consequence of players like Gray and Solomon, whose big-play capabilities often cause defenses to sag off of midfielders like Cook. Once they were able to draw attention and dish, the game was essentially over for the Bears. 

As the Tar Heels look ahead to a more formidable conference schedule — where they will face the likes of No. 7 Duke, No. 2 Virginia and No. 5 Syracuse in three consecutive games — Saturday’s game offered reassurance that a selfless offense will give the Tar Heels a fighting chance at returning to the NCAA Championship game for the first time since 2016.

Even if the offense wasn’t flowing naturally from the start — the Tar Heels held only a 5-3 lead over the Bears with eight minutes left in the first half — Breschi said he knows that games like these will teach his attackers the value of resilience.

“We hung in there and grinded it out," Breschi said. "It isn’t always going to be a 14-goal first half. You’ve got to grind through some victories, and I thought we did a heck of a job of that today.”

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