Down 13-12 with the Dorrance Field clock approaching one minute to go, the UNC men’s lacrosse team was staring down the barrel of a third straight loss. When that clock showed zero, the Tar Heels had flipped the game on its head, pulling out a comeback win and potentially saving their postseason hopes.

Carolina seemed to have firm control of the game early in the second half, taking a 10-5 lead on star attackman Chris Gray’s third goal of the day. Gray’s goal capped off a 4-0 run by the Tar Heels, their second run of at least four unanswered goals in the game so far.

But the Orange still had some tricks up their sleeve, responding with a goal just 26 seconds later, one which started a 3-0 run to end the third quarter. Gray and Nicky Solomon got UNC on the board in the fourth quarter to give Carolina a 12-9 lead, but Syracuse stunned the Dorrance Field crowd by ripping off a 4-0 run within just four minutes, taking a 13-12 lead with 2:16 to go. When extended back to the third quarter, the Syracuse run grew to 8-2 in about 19 minutes of action.

With their backs against the wall, the Tar Heels found the equalizer off the stick of Lance Tillman, who rocketed home his second goal of the game with 1:01 left. Carolina then won the ensuing face-off and gave the ball to Gray, who rotated from behind the cage and unleashed a jumping shot toward the Syracuse goal which found its target. The score gave UNC the lead with 15 seconds left, one which it would not relinquish.

Gray’s goal gave him a team-high six points on the day (five goals, one assist), with Tillman not far behind at five points (two goals, three assists). Midfielder Jacob Kelly led the team in assists with four, including one on each of the final two goals.

It’s the 12th time in Gray’s career he’s scored at least five goals in a game. He is now just seven goals shy of breaking UNC’s single-season goals record, eight shy of UNC’s all-time goals record, and nine points shy of breaking the all-time NCAA points record. Carolina has two more regular season games, both on the road. The first will come Thursday night at No. 10 Notre Dame at 6 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ACC Network.

 

Featured image via UNC Athletic Communications/Jeffrey A. Camarati

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