Having slipped to No. 19 in the polls after losing four out of five games during a recent homestand, the UNC men’s lacrosse team got back on track Sunday night in Charlottesville.
The Tar Heels (6-5, 1-1 ACC) raced out to a seven-goal lead by halftime, then held on to defeat No. 14 Virginia by a score of 15-12–handing head coach Joe Breschi his 100th victory at UNC in his ninth season at the helm in Chapel Hill.
Senior attacker Luke Goldstock led the Tar Heel scoring charge with three goals and an assist on what was also Breschi’s 49th birthday.
Michael Tagliaferri, Tanner Cook and William McBride each added a pair of goals for UNC–which saw 12 different players record at least a point against Virginia (7-5, 0-3 ACC), meaning they tallied at least one goal or one assist.
The most impressive performance of the night, however, may have come from faceoff specialist Stephen Kelly, who tied the school record by winning a staggering 23 draws in the game. Kelly also tied another school record by recovering 15 ground balls.
It was an important win for a Tar Heel team beginning to watch its hopes of defending last year’s national championship slip away, thanks to the recent slump.
Now Breschi and his team will have to prepare for a huge challenge next weekend, as No. 2 Syracuse comes to Chapel Hill for the final game at the current Fetzer Field.
The home of UNC lacrosse since 1949 will be torn down after the season and replaced with a brand new combination lacrosse and soccer stadium.
FINAL BOX SCORE
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