Tar Heels can’t complete comeback against Duke lacrosse

Three weeks ago against Navy, the North Carolina men’s lacrosse team matched its largest fourth-quarter comeback in 16 years, rallying to beat the Midshipmen 9-8 after trailing by four goals.

Down by as many as seven Friday against No. 14 Duke, the No. 12 Tar Heels couldn’t make history for the second time, falling to the Blue Devils 13-11 at Koskinen Stadium.

UNC (5-3, 0-1 ACC) cut the lead to two goals with 6:10 left in the fourth quarter, but the deficit proved to be insurmountable.

“You name it, they played better than we did in the first half,” UNC coach Joe Breschi said, listing various areas in which Duke outplayed the Tar Heels in the first frame.

“We certainly came back in the second half, and played the way they did in the first half. It just wasn’t enough.”

Duke (5-3, 1-1) dominated the first 30 minutes, outshooting the Tar Heels 19 to eight, winning more than 70 percent of faceoffs and taking a 9-3 lead into the break.

“We got to come out into these games like we’re down five to nothing,” UNC freshman attackman Joey Sankey said. “We can’t come out soft.”

Perhaps the most telling statistic of what Sankey and Breschi both called a lack of hustle in the first two periods was the number of ground balls won.

Duke won 20. The Tar Heels, 10.

“They came out with more pep in their step,” UNC attackman Marcus Holman said.

The second half proved to be a different story.

For starters, Breschi decided to change goalies, inserting Andrew O’Connell in place of Steven Rastivo, who was named last week’s ACC Defensive Player of the Week but did not have his best outing Friday.

O’Connell, a redshirt freshman, had only 22 minutes of game experience prior to Friday’s contest, but he came up with many saves on shots that could have put the game out of reach for good.

After Duke’s Jordan Wolf — one of four Blue Devils to score three goals — slipped the ball past O’Connell at the 9:14 mark in the third period, UNC outscored the Blue Devils eight to three the rest of the way.

“We saw how capable we are and the potential that we can play to,” Sankey said. “(The main difference) in the second half was really just having the confidence to go to the net … Once we really started to attack their defense, good things happened.”

Sankey was often the focal point of those attacks. His three goals and three assists matched his career highs in goals, assists and points in a game.

Though the Tar Heels lost, the mood after the game wasn’t one of despair. Breschi, Sankey and Holman all said they were encouraged by the team’s second-half effort.

“I think if we gave the effort that we gave in the second half for the entire game, the final score would have been a little different,” he said. “Down nine to three to an ACC opponent, that’s going to be tough to come back from.”

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@dailytarheel.com.