Three quarters into the No. 8 North Carolina men's lacrosse game against Bellarmine on Saturday, the results weren't promising for the Tar Heels.
Despite the Knights' 2-8 record, they held an 8-7 lead over the perennial national title contender. And just as the team entered the match prepared, the underdogs were just as dialed in as they looked to pull off the upset.
UNC relied on the two weapons that Bellarmine couldn't counter — energy and star power.
“We needed to pick it up and I think we all realized that,” senior attackman Nicky Solomon said. “I think we all knew we came out a little flat.”
North Carolina's offense began picking up following halftime, which Solomon was a significant contributor to. After scoring his first goal of the game that gave the Tar Heels a 3-2 lead to end the first quarter, the attackman went on to score an additional two goals in the fourth to match his season-high total of three goals.
His offensive display paced the Tar Heels to an 8-0 run in the final period that led to a once unpredictable outcome: a 15-8 win.
“It’s just doing your job,” Solomon said. “My role as an attackman is to throw and put the ball back in the net and my teammates gave me the best opportunity to do that.”
Saturday’s win was certainly a team effort, though. Two of Solomon’s three goals were assisted by graduate attackman Chris Gray, who totaled five goals and three assists. Although he only netted one goal in the first, he showed out when the team needed him most.
After North Carolina struggled through the second quarter, Gray was able to even score at six with his second goal in the third. In the fourth, he gave UNC a 9-8 lead, and then scored yet again to advance that lead to two.
