For the first time in 23 years, the No. 4 UNC men’s lacrosse team finds itself 3-0 in the ACC and with a 12-1 overall record, the Tar Heels are now hoping to translate that regular-season success into a postseason run.

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In their final regular-season appearance in Chapel Hill, 11 Tar Heel seniors went out on top by downing No. 2 Syracuse in thrilling fashion, 17-15.

But senior Joey Sankey stole the attention of the sellout crowd of over 6,000 at Fetzer Field with his record-breaking performance. With his three goals Saturday, Sankey passed Marcus Holman as the all-time leading scorer in UNC history with 214 points and counting.

Sankey slides one into the net (UNC Athletics)

Sankey slides one into the net (UNC Athletics)

“It’s a great honor, you know, being able to have played with Marcus for two years, and he gave me a lot of those points, so it was a great honor to beat him and to have that record. But I’ve played with so many great players here and without them this wouldn’t be possible at all and without the coaching staff, so you have to credit the whole program, but it’s a huge honor and I’m really thankful for it,” Sankey says.

The victory over 11-time national champion Syracuse could be a watershed moment for the Tar Heels and pay huge dividends down the road.

But Sankey says there’s just something about Alumni Weekend that gets the guys all fired up.

“I mean we’ve been fortunate on Alumni Weekend we’ve had a few great games, you know, I think it was my sophomore year with R.G. Keenan coming down winning in overtime, knocking off number one team Maryland last year, so we’ve been very fortunate on Alumni Weekend. Getting the support at Fetzer today was incredible, playing a great team like Syracuse, so it definitely makes it that much sweeter,” Sankey says.

UNC head coach Joe Breschi has been at the helm of the lacrosse program for seven seasons and guided the Tar Heels to the 2013 ACC title, but Coach Breschi says a win against the Orange is a pretty big deal.

“I thought we did a terrific job across the board, that was a great lacrosse game, brought me back to the 80’s when I was here and early 90’s just renewing that rivalry and the up-and-down pace and tempo was fantastic. We knew it was going to be a back-and-forth type game trying to hold them off, they’re so talented,” says Breschi.

A packed-out Fetzer Field (UNC Athletics)_

A packed-out Fetzer Field (UNC Athletics)_

And hold them off they did. Syracuse used a furious four-goal rally to pull within two at 17-15, but in the end, the UNC defense did just enough to secure the ‘W’.

Coach Breschi credits the senior class for instilling an infectious competitive spirit in the rest of the team.

“Sankey and [Jimmy] Bitter and [Chad] Tutton, just all of them have meant so much to this program and to go out on a win in their last regular season game against a great Syracuse team is fantastic. Just so many positives into the weekend – Alumni Weekend – and to come away with a win is just a special thing,” says Breschi.

Next up for the surging Tar Heels comes a Saturday road trip to South Bend to take on the top-ranked Fighting Irish of Notre Dame in a showdown that will decide the ACC regular-season championship.