The No. 5 UNC men’s lacrosse team (7-1) defeated High Point (3-6) , 14-2, Friday evening at Vert Stadium.
North Carolina bounced back following last season’s 12-11 loss to High Point, outshooting the Panthers 49-25 on Friday. The Tar Heels were led by sophomore attackmen Owen Duffy and Dominic Pietramala, who both recorded hat tricks in the contest. The two goals allowed were the least allowed all season.
The Tar Heels wasted no time getting on the board when Duffy ripped a low side-arm shot to give North Carolina a 1-0 lead under one minute into the game.
A save by graduate goalkeeper Michael Gianforcaro led to an offensive chance where Pietramala made no mistake to extend UNC’s lead to two early in the first quarter.
High Point responded a little over a minute later with a running bounce shot from Owen Bunten to cut the lead to 2-1. The ensuing face-off made way for another scoring chance for Bunten, but a point-blank save by Gianforcaro kept the Panthers off the board.
After making multiple defenders miss, Duffy ripped a shot around a defender to give the Tar Heels a 3-1 lead. Junior attackman James Matan found himself all alone in front of the net to put North Carolina back on the board just 14 seconds later.
Pietramala showed off his range with an overhand heater from long distance for his second goal of the game, netting North Carolina a 5-1 lead heading into the second quarter.
Duffy scored the first goal of the second quarter and his third goal of the game on a hard drive to the net, finishing with a bounce shot to extend North Carolina’s lead to five.
Collin Rovere sniped the top corner on a pass from Colin Cooke to give the Panthers life and bring the deficit to 6-2.
