The 18th-ranked UNC men’s lacrosse team came one step closer to salvaging its season on Friday night at Koskinen Stadium in Durham.

Despite finishing the year with a 6-7 record, the Tar Heels built a nine-goal halftime lead over No. 1 Syracuse and hung on for a crazy 16-15 victory in the ACC Semifinals.

It was a rematch of an overtime thriller between the teams two weeks ago, where Syracuse scored four of the final five goals on the way to a 12-11 win.

The Orange (11-2) had also defeated the Tar Heels (7-7) in the ACC Semifinals in each of the last two seasons.

Junior attacker Chris Cloutier led the offensive charge for UNC, scoring three goals and dishing out one assist. All-ACC performer Luke Goldstock also contributed four points for the Tar Heels, tallying two goals and two assists.

In total, ten different players scored in the game for head coach Joe Breschi.

UNC never once lost the lead as it qualified for its first ACC Tournament Final since 2013, despite allowing Syracuse to reel off eight straight goals at one point during the third quarter.

The Tar Heels managed to hang on during the final period, with Breschi even going so far as to insert freshman goalie Jack Pezzula into the net for the last four minutes and change.

Pezzula ultimately made two huge saves, as UNC closed the door on what could easily be considered its signature victory in 2017.

Just one more win in Sunday’s ACC Final against Notre Dame could put the defending national champions back into the NCAA Tournament, despite having not played up to expectations throughout a good portion of the year.

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