Saturday’s game against Notre Dame presented one last chance for North Carolina men’s lacrosse. One last chance for the seniors to play at Dorrance Field.
One last chance for the Tar Heels to break their three-game losing streak.
Most importantly, one last chance to get a win to bolster their weak NCAA Tournament resume ahead of Sunday’s selection show.
But, when the buzzer sounded, UNC’s losing streak extended to four games, losing 18-9, heading into Sunday on the outside looking in.
“You have to limit your mistakes,” head coach Joe Breschi said. “In games like this — we’ve talked about it before — we have to limit our turnovers and limit the opportunities that we give the other team. At the end of the day, it’s unfortunate, and they were able to capitalize.”
The mistakes began from the start of the game. Ten seconds into the first quarter, senior face-off specialist Andrew Tyeryar illegally checked a Notre Dame player, giving the No. 2 man-up unit in the nation an opportunity to get on the board early. Nearly half a minute later, the Fighting Irish were up 1-0 and, within seven minutes, would extend that lead and score three more goals.
All year, the North Carolina offense had been able to go on scoring runs, and they were able to respond to the Notre Dame scoring run with three goals in two minutes. But, the UNC offense has also tended to find itself in scoring lulls.
Aside from those two minutes in the first quarter, the Tar Heels were shut down in the first half by a goalkeeper, Liam Entenmann — who Breschi said was “the best goalkeeper in the country” — allowing Notre Dame to pull away.
“He’s always been good,” Breschi said. “Talking to other coaches and you ask them, ‘Hey, what’s his weakness,’ and they’re like, ‘I wish I could tell you one.’ It’s all about trying to get the best opportunities on him and he made some great saves.”
