DURHAM — Going into today’s matchup, North Carolina men’s lacrrose coach Joe Breschi didn’t know what kind of tempo the Duke-UNC game would bring. As the first half closed with the game tied 3-3, that question is still up in the air.
Though UNC and Duke both boast top-level offenses, the best performances so far have come between the pipes.
UNC took 20 shots in the first, but Duke sophomore Luke Aaron held the Tar Heels down with nine saves. UNC sophomore Kieran Burke tallied 10 saves of his own, including an impressive diving deflection in the second quarter.
Offensively, UNC is led by junior attackmen Jimmy Bitter and Joey Sankey who have each scored one goal. Duke is led by star attackman Jordan Wolf, who has a game-high two goals going into the second half.
Duke faceoff man Brendan Fowler had a less than stellar performance in the first half, winning only the first faceoff. Fowler lost the remaining two faceoffs after committing faceoff violations.
One dark spot of UNC’s first half came in the final minutes when sophomore defenseman Evan Connell went down with an apparent leg injury. Connell was attended to by athletic trainers on the field and managed to get back to the UNC sideline with the assistance of trainers and teammates.
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