The No. 14 North Carolina men’s lacrosse team (7-3, 1-1 ACC) defeated the Providence Friars (4-5) 25-8 in a dominant offensive showcase on Saturday.
What happened?
The Tar Heels found the back of the net early in the first quarter after only one minute of gameplay with the help of graduate attackman Logan McGovern. After driving the Friars to a shot clock violation, McGovern picked up his second goal of the game unassisted. Less than a minute later, UNC continued its hot offensive run with another goal from senior attackman Lance Tillman. Within the first five minutes of play, UNC held Providence to a three-point deficit.
After two quick shots from graduate midfielder Harry Wellford and graduate attackman Sean Goldsmith, the Tar Heels forced Providence to a timeout after securing a five-point lead. North Carolina worked to keep its momentum alive with McGovern scoring his third goal of the quarter and achieving a hat trick in the process.
Providence finally got on the board with a little over five minutes left in the quarter. UNC quickly responded with a goal from sophomore defensive midfielder Ty English. Using a man-up opportunity, Providence attempted to decrease its deficit with a successful shot by Chris Simonton. Providence’s attempt was in vain with senior face-off midfielder Andrew Tyeryar and McGovern scoring in the last minute to extend North Carolina’s lead to seven.
Coming into the second quarter, the Tar Heels found the mesh quickly in the first six seconds of play with a goal from Tyeryar. Working off this explosive start, UNC refused to extinguish its offensive prowess. Within 5 minutes, junior attackman Trevor Deubner successfully shot between the pipes twice. Junior midfielder Luca Antongiovanni, Wellford, and Goldsmith also contributed their own respective goals with Goldsmith scoring in the last 15 seconds of the half. By holding the Friars to just one point in the second quarter, The Heels sat on top 15-3 at the end of the second half.
Three minutes into the quarter, McGovern found the back of the net for the fifth time. Capitalizing on the momentum, within a few minutes of McGovern, both Tyeryar, Tillman and Goldsmith successfully notched goals of their own. Refusing to let the Friars even attempt to advance after a successful shot, Deuber followed with his third goal of the day and quickly netted a fourth a little over a minute later. With the help of sophomore defensiveman Paul Baron and senior midfielder Quintin O’Connell, the Tar Heels were able to secure two more shots between the pipes ending the third up 23-4.
Although Providence netted two in the first few minutes of play in the fourth, the Tar Heels quickly recovered with a goal from junior midfielder Michael Lizzio. While Providence successfully scored twice once again, sophomore midfielder Edwin Shy drilled the last goal in the mesh to end the annihilation 25-8.
