UNC men’s lacrosse head coach Joe Breschi was named the ACC Coach of the Year Tuesday afternoon, and three of his players earned All-ACC nods as well.

This is the fourth ACC Coach of the Year win for Breschi, who also took home the award in 2010, 2013 and 2021. The 2025 season the 17th as head coach for Breschi, who graduated from UNC in 1990 and is the winningest head coach in program history. This season, Breschi has led UNC to a 10-3 overall record and 3-1 mark in ACC play entering this week’s conference tournament, where the Tar Heels are the No. 2 seed. They split the ACC regular-season title with No. 1 seed Notre Dame. Breschi has now won a conference coach of the year award seven times across his entire career.

UNC’s 10 wins so far this season are already its most since 2021, which was also the last time the Tar Heels reached the NCAA Tournament.

Owen Duffy, Dominic Pietramala and Brady Wambach each earned spots on the All-ACC team. The honor is the second in two seasons of collegiate lacrosse for Duffy, who leads UNC with 24 assists and 54 points, while his 30 goals rank second. The star sophomore has seven hat tricks this season and seven games with five or more points. Pietramala’s 43 goals (seven away from tying the UNC single-season record) and nine hat tricks rank first on the team, and he has scored six goals in a game twice this season. The All-ACC recognition is the first in his career. This year marks the first time UNC has placed multiple attacking players on the All-ACC team since 2015.

Wambach leads the ACC and ranks fourth nationally in faceoff winning percentage at 64.8. He is the first UNC faceoff specialist to earn an All-ACC nod since 2016.

Duffy and Pietramala are also nominees for the Tewaaraton Award, which honors the national player of the year in collegiate lacrosse.

 

Featured image via UNC Athletic Communications/Jeffrey A. Camarati

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