University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Duke
Tar Heels' Furious Rally Against No. 3 Duke Falls Just Short
May 17, 2009 | Men's Lacrosse
May 17, 2009
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Sixth-ranked North Carolina rallied from a four-goal deficit in the fourth quarter and had the final shot of the game in an effort to forge a tie but fell just short of upsetting third-ranked Duke in the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals, falling 12-11 before a crowd of 12,142 at Navy Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. Carolina's men's lacrosse season ended at 12-6 while Duke improved to 15-3 on the season.
Carolina had to fight from behind all day, only once briefly holding the lead for 1:38 in the second quarter at 4-3. UNC never tied the score after the Blue Devils went up 7-4 at halftime but they repeatedly rallied against Duke in a never-say-die effort, scoring the last three goals of the game to narrow the gap to 12-11. Duke was able to maintain possession for all but 50 seconds of the final 6:10 and Sean Delaney's shot with two seconds left sailed just wide of the goal, preventing the Tar Heels from pulling off a miraculous comeback.
The Tar Heels got hat tricks from Sean Delaney and Bart Wagner to lead the Tar Heels offensively while Jimmy Dunster had two goals and an assist for Carolina. Gavin Petracca, Chris Hunt and Matthias McCall also added goals for the Tar Heels. Billy Bitter had two assists for UNC while Gavin Petracca added one and defenseman Michael Jarvis added an assist in a transition situation.
Duke outshot the Tar Heels 36-35 and for the first time all year the Tar Heels lost the ground ball battle, 36-30. UNC had an edge in face-offs 15-12 and the Heels scored both extra-man goals of the game while shutting out the Blue Devils on five extra-man opportunities. Duke was successful on all 18 of its clears while the Tar Heels failed on just four of 25 clears. In all four occasions, however, the Blue Devils capitalized and scored goals on the other end just after the turnovers on the clears.
The Blue Devils opened the scoring on back-to-back unassisted goals by Zach Howell. The first, at 10:48, was set up by a pick behind the cage and on the second goal, at 8:41, Howell dodged his defender in an unsettled situation to score. Duke then made it 3-0 on a goal by Max Quinzani off a pass by Ned Crotty with 6:38 left in the first quarter.
The Tar Heels had a two-man advantage for a minute beginning at 5:33 but Carolina was unable to get a shot off on the possession. North Carolina was able to win the ball back and on its next possession Michael Jarvis carried a ground ball out of the Heels' end and fed Gavin Petracca for a fast break goal at 2:52 of the period. Carolina then cut the lead to 3-2 just 46 seconds later on an unassisted goal by Jimmy Dunster who rocketed a shot in the upper right top shelf.
Carolina scored the first two goals of the second quarter to take a 4-3 lead. Bart Wagner scored off an assist by Billy Bitter on a delayed penalty call at 10:25. The Heels then took their first lead at 8:11 as Sean Delaney drove the right alley and scored on a hard overhanded shot.
Duke then scored three goals in a row off failed clears by the Tar Heels. Ned Crotty scored at 6:33, Justin Turri tallied at 5:05 and Max Quinzani scored at 3:16 to give the Blue Devils a two-goal lead. Just 31 seconds later, Crotty scored again to make it 7-4 in favor of the Blue Devils 2:45 before halftime.
Duke outshot the Tar Heels 17-16 in the first half, including 10-9 in shots on goal. Both teams had eight turnovers in the first half and the Tar Heels led in face-off wins 8-5. Duke had a 16-15 ground ball lead at the half.
The Tar Heels outscored the Blue Devils 4-3 in the third quarter. Sean Delaney opened the scoring at 14:08 on a tomahawk-like shot that eluded Duke goalie Rob Schroeder. Duke answered with another goal off a Tar Heel failed clear as Mike Catalino scored from Ned Crotty at 11:23. Delaney the scored his third of the game for the Heels at 10:44, sending a shot into the upper right corner, to cut the deficit to two goals.
Duke struck back after a Tar Heel turnover at 9:19 as Chris Loftus finished a chance from out front from Mike Catalino. Bart Wagner pulled the Heels back within two goals at 8:13 after taking a feed from Billy Bitter. Duke restored its three-goal lead at 5:05 as Will McKee scored off Ned Crotty's fourth assist of the game. Carolina finished off the scoring in the third quarter as short-stick defensive midfielder Chris Hunt scored his third goal of the season, sending a shot into the lower left corner.
Duke made it 11-8 on a goal with 11:43 left in the fourth quarter as Howell scored off an assist by Crotty. Twelve seconds later Duke made it 12-8 on a goal by long-stick Tom Montelli, assisted by Ned Crotty, his sixth assist for the game. The Tar Heel defense then clamped down and shut out the Blue Devils for the final 11:31 of the game. Meanwhile, the Tar Heels rallied with three goals of their own.
First, UNC got an extra-man goal by Jimmy Dunster with 8:28 to play off an assist by Gavin Petracca. The next goal made it 12-10 as the Heels crept within two goals as Matthias McCall scored on an extra-man situation assisted by Jimmy Dunster with 7:17 left on the clock. Bart Wagner's goal, after a nifty dodge on his defender, at 6:10 pulled the Tar Heels within 12-11.
Duke won the ensuing face-off and was able to control the ball until James Petracca was called for slashing with 3:53 to play. Jamie Locke went in at goal and made a save on a point-blank shot by Mike Catalino 20 seconds later. Duke retrieved the ground ball but turned it over and Carolina was able to clear but had a turnover of its own with 2:48 to play. Duke cleared and called two timeouts before Petracca saved a shot by Zach Howell with 45 seconds to play. Carolina's Milton Lyles was assessed a slashing penalty with 41 seconds left, but despite being a man down, the Heels were able to force a turnover by Duke's Ned Crotty with 23 seconds left.
Despite being a man-down, Carolina was able to clear and Bart Wagner picked up a ground ball with four seconds left after the ball was pinged around between the two teams for several seconds. Wagner got the ball to Delaney who had a long shot just inside the restraining line that missed by a whisker.
Duke was led in scoring by Zach Howell who had three goals. Ned Crotty and Max Quinzani had two goals apiece and five other Blue Devils had single goals. Crotty had six assists for Duke and Mike Catalino had one assist for Duke.
Rob Schroeder played all 60 minutes in goal for Duke and made 11 saves while allowing 11 goals. James Petracca played 58:01 for UNC, making eight saves while allowing 12 goals. Walk-on Jamie Locke had to come on and play 1:59 in the game's closing minute after a penalty call against Petracca. Locke, who had only played in one previous career game, made a crucial save to keep UNC's deficit at one goal.
