Goalkeeper Michael Gianforcaro's late heroics lift UNC men's lacrosse over Duke

Graduate goalkeeper Michael Gianforcaro eats one strawberry Pop-Tart before every game. He has a case for the Pop-Tart to make sure it doesn’t break. 

Gianforcaro’s UNC teammates laugh at the ritual, but the Pennsylvania native has had the same pre-game routine since the ninth grade. 

Before Saturday’s ranked matchup, the Princeton transfer did what he always does. He ate his Pop-Tart in preparation for his first start in the UNC-Duke rivalry. 

And then something special happened. Gianforcaro recorded 12 saves, including four in the final seven minutes, to push the Tar Heels past the Blue Devils in a nail-biting finish. 

“I was just trying to see the ball, get in the way of it, honestly — as silly as it sounds,” Gianforcaro said.

The goalkeeper's late-game heroics helped lead the No. 7 UNC men’s lacrosse team past No. 12 Duke, 8-7, Saturday afternoon at Koskinen Stadium. After scoring a season-low three first half goals, the Tar Heels stormed back, finding the back of the net three times in the first four minutes of the second half to take a 6-5lead. Meanwhile, Gianforcaro and the North Carolina defense held Duke to two goals in the second half. The win marked UNC’s first at Duke since 2016, snapping a four-game losing streak against the Blue Devils away from Chapel Hill. 

“These guys are all in, they believe in each other, they believe in themselves, and [I'm] just really proud of how they go after it,” head coach Joe Breschi said. “And they don’t feel like they can be beat.” 

Going into halftime, the Tar Heels were down 5-3 after allowing three unanswered goals to end the second quarter. 

“It was arguably the worst half we’ve played,” Breschi said. 

North Carolina came out on fire in the third quarter, scoring three goals in a little over three minutes to recapture the lead. After trading goals with Duke, UNC was up one heading into the fourth quarter. The Tar Heels scored one more goal with less than 13 minutes remaining to go up 8-6. 

But the scoring stopped. North Carolina needed someone else to step up. The Blue Devils scored two minutes later to inch within one. 

The team leaned on Gianforcaro when it mattered most. 

"Just the resiliency of this group is pretty powerful," Breschi said. "We have great senior leadership from five transfers that came in, [Gianforcaro] being one of them."

With under three minutes remaining in the game, Gianforcaro made a sprawling, split save against Duke’s Graham Blake. 

Just 15 seconds later, Blake had another opportunity, wide open in front of the net. 

But once again, Gianforcaro stonewalled the shot, making a stick save to keep North Carolina's lead. 

When the Tar Heels called a timeout on their ensuing possession, the entire bench stormed the field, jumping on Gianforcaro. 

“They were hyping me up,” Gianforcaro said. “They were being great teammates, giving me a lot of juice, which is awesome — I can feed off that. And [defensive coordinator Dave Pietramala] said to the whole defense, ‘We are going to need to make one more stop.’” 

But UNC’s offense made sure that the defense didn’t have to make one more stop. The Blue Devils recorded a failed clear attempt, running out the clock.

When the final buzzer sounded, the whole team sprinted straight for Gianforcaro, swarming him once again. 

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