In a tie game with a little over three minutes remaining, junior attackman James Matan cradled the ball just outside the attack area.
Across the field, awaiting the pass, was sophomore attackman Dominic Pietramala. Matan set his feet and fired the routine, cross-field pass but the ball didn't make it.
Instead, it careened off the stick of Princeton’s Michael Bath, who came out of nowhere to jump the passing lane. It was then Tigers' possession and another North Carolina turnover.
Princeton wasted no time as Chad Palumbo scored his fourth goal of the second half on a low shot 32 seconds later to give the Tigers a one point lead. The silenced UNC bench looked on as Princeton players erupted on the sideline.
“You're right there tied up and have possession,” head coach Joe Breschi said. “And we weren’t able to capitalize."
Matan’s turnover highlighted what went wrong for the No. 4 Tar Heels in their 14-12 loss against No. 8 Princeton on Sunday afternoon at Dorrance Field. Throughout the top-eight matchup, it was the little things, like turnovers and penalties, that plagued North Carolina. The Tar Heels tallied 15 turnovers to Princeton's six and failed to earn an extra-man opportunity during the game.
“It could have gone either way down the stretch and they made a couple of plays that were the difference,” Breschi said. “We turned the ball over a couple times that cost us opportunities.”
Sunday was the second consecutive game in which North Carolina lost the turnover battle this season. Against then-No. 14 Penn, UNC had a minus four turnover margin. Against Princeton, it was minus nine.
