Late-game offense pushes UNC men’s lacrosse past Dartmouth 12-7

For the first 57 minutes of their 12-7 win against Dartmouth, it looked like a game the North Carolina men’s lacrosse attackers would soon forget.

The Tar Heels had to fight tooth-and-nail to scratch out a two-goal advantage with 13:12 left.

With less than three minutes left, the Tar Heel offense underwent nothing short of an offensive explosion, giving UNC four goals in the game’s dying minutes.

“We started listening to our coaching,” junior Jimmy Dunster said. “They had a great game plan installed for us, and we just had to start listening to them. Making the simple plays, and then shots will start falling for us.”

That all served to erase memories of what was a hotly contested game.

For the majority of the game, UNC struggled to get opportunities near the cage, instead settling for long-distance and lower-percentage shots.

“Dartmouth did a terrific job of changing up defenses,” UNC coach Joe Breschi said. “They went from man to zone to man, each possession. I think for some of our younger guys, adjusting to that was tough.”

The Tar Heels looked unsettled. The squad’s 15 turnovers were just one short of the season high. The Tar Heels also threatened their season low in goals scored.

It seemed that the only thing buoying the UNC offense was its accuracy from long range — five of its first eight goals came from outside the slot.

“Coach mentioned it a lot in practice, shoot off-stick and shoot hard, and put it on the cage and we’ll start scoring,” Galasso said.

The turning point of the game came late in the third quarter on a headlong rush by Dunster.

With the game knotted at six, Dunster subbed in and began walking toward the goal from the UNC sideline. He started in a trot, then broke into a sprint soon after catching a pass.

Once he was about 15 yards from goal, he cranked a shot past Dartmouth goalie Fergus Campbell to give UNC the lead for good.

“It was a set play that Coach drew up that we run in practice all the time,” Dunster said. “Luckily the slide (from the help defender) didn’t come as early, and I was able to get the shot off and it went in.”

Dunster led the Tar Heels with four goals, as the team saw seven different players score.

“I’m proud of the effort overall as a team. It was a slugfest and a grind,” Breschi said. “It was a grinder game, and you’re going to have those in the schedule that we have. I’m just proud that we were able to come out on top.”

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@dailytarheel.com.