No. 5 North Carolina men’s lacrosse (7-2, 0-0 ACC) fell to No. 9 Army (8-1, 3-1 Patriot) in a thrilling 13-12 match that came down to the final play on Saturday afternoon at West Point. Army’s Jackson Eicher was unstoppable, netting six goals on the day. Sophomore attacks Owen Duffy and Dominic Pietramala each recorded hat tricks, while Duffy added three assists.
Army got off to a quick start, with Eicher scoring and assisting to give the Black Knights an early 2-0 lead. The UNC defense forced a slew of turnovers, but the Tar Heels struggled to cash in early.
Midway through the opening quarter, the heavy hitters got to work, with Pietramala and Duffy scoring nearly identical baseline drive goals. A second Pietramala goal gave the Tar Heels a lead, but two quick goals from Army to end the quarter put the Black Knights back in front.
Two minutes into the second quarter, senior midfielder Ty English put some English on his shot, with his jab step and rip tying the game. Moments later, Duffy cashed in on a wrap-around to put the Tar Heels back in front. Duffy played the role of playmaker as well, finding senior midfielder Ryan Levy wide open at the doorstep to make it a two goal lead for UNC.
The final minutes of the first half was the Jackson Eicher show: the Army attackman netted three straight goals to single handedly retake the lead. With just over one minute left in the half, first-year attack Brevin Wilson went to work on an isolation behind the cage and tied the game. It would have been a tie game going into halftime, but Army’s Brayden Fountain beat the buzzer with a running shot to give the Black Knights an 8-7 lead.
Army opened the second half scoring after an impressive swim move from Hill Plunkett left him one-on-one with the goalie, with the attackman cashing in. North Carolina swiftly tied things up, with Pietramala and junior attackman James Matan notching back-to-back goals in just over a minute.
Midway through the third quarter, Army flew upfield in transition and Eicher took care of business to put his team back in front. The lead grew to three as Eicher was once again at the scoring end of a defense to offense run. English stopped the Black Knights’ scoring run, but UNC entered the final quarter trailing by two.
A North Carolina turnover off a clear attempt led to an Army goal to bring the lead back to three. With nine minutes remaining, Duffy went back to his reliable wrap-around to keep the Tar Heels knocking at the door. Two minutes later, Levy netted a man-up goal in the slot that cut the deficit to one.
With just three minutes remaining, Duffy tried to go back to the wrap-around one last time but was met by two defenders, being forced into a turnover. The UNC defense forced a shot clock violation, giving the Tar Heels possession in the final minute.
