University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Duke
Tar Heels Outlast Blue Devils In Classic Rivalry Matchup
March 29, 2015 | Men's Lacrosse
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Before the largest crowd at Fetzer Field in 32 years, the fourth-ranked North Carolina men's lacrosse team rallied past sixth-ranked Duke to post a 15-14 triumph in a wild back-and-forth game televised nationally on ESPNU.
Chad Tutton, Jimmy Bitter and Joey Sankey all had hat tricks for Carolina to overcome a five-goal performance by Duke's Deemer Class. UNC trailed by four goals in the first half before rallying in the third quarter to take a 10-8 lead. Duke then scored three times in the final 3:29 of the third period to regain the lead heading into the fourth quarter.
But Carolina persevered and a 5-1 scoring run to start the fourth quarter was just enough for Carolina to weather a late Duke rally as UNC beat the Blue Devils at Fetzer Field for the first time since March 19, 2003. A crowd of 5,711 packed the historic edifice to capacity, the largest crowd for a men's lacrosse game there since a crowd of 8,500 fans saw UNC beat Johns Hopkins 14-13 in double overtime on April 9, 1983. At that game, fans ringed the track around the stadium for standing-room only spots as much as 10 deep in the historic Blue Jays' program first ever visit to Chapel Hill.
Chad Tutton stepped up for the Tar Heels by scoring three of his four goals in the fourth quarter scoring run, including one shot from 12 yards that he deposited behind Duke goalie Danny Fowle back-handed, under-handed and on the run. Junior Kieran Burke made five of his 11 saves in the final 15 minutes including one on a shot by Myles Jones with 1:06 to play on Duke's final possession.
Sophomore Stephen Kelly was also a huge key in the game as he won a career high 22 face-offs and led both teams with 11 ground balls. The 22 face-off wins were just one shy of the school record and the most won by a Tar Heel since May 9, 2009 when Shane Walterhoefer claimed 22 wins at the X against UMBC in an NCAA first round win.
Carolina improves to 10-1 on the season and 1-0 in the ACC while two-time defending NCAA champion Duke fell to 7-3 overall and 0-2 in the ACC. The Tar Heels have now reached double digits in wins in each of Coach Joe Breschi's seven years as head coach.
On the game, UNC outshot the Blue Devils 44-43 and had a 51-44 edge in ground balls. Carolina won 22 of the 33 face-offs in the game while both teams turned the ball over 17 times. Danny Fowler finished with 13 saves for the Blue Devils while Kieran Burke had 11 for UNC, five in the fourth quarter.
Chad Tutton's four goals matched his career high in a game and marked his 16th career hat trick. Both Jimmy Bitter and Joey Sankey had three goals and two assists in the game as they recorded their 20th and 19th career hat tricks, respectively. Luke Goldstock had two goals and two assists for Carolina while both Shane Simpson and Steve Pontrello each had a goal and an assist.
Deemer Class led the Blue Devils with five goals while Justin Guterding had three goals and three assists. Myles Jones had two goals and two assists for Duke while Kyle Keenan had a pair of goals.
With their performances on Sunday, Bitter has now recorded a point in 52 successive games (a school record) and Sankey has done the same in 47 straight contests. Sankey's five points give him 206 for his career, moving into second place all-time at Carolina behind only Marcus Holman (2010-13) with 213 points. Jimmy Bitter's three goals give him 116 tallies as he moved into third place all-time at Carolina behind only Bert Fett (1972-75) with 128 and Marcus Holman (2010-13) with 121. Sankey's two assists bump his career total to 91, now fourth in UNC history, and just one behind Marcus Holman for third on the career chart.
Carolina opened the game with goals by Luke Goldstock and Joey Sankey in the opening six minutes but the Tar Heels offense came up dry with only one goal in the next 20 minutes of the game. Meanwhile, the Blue Devils scorched the Tar Heels for a 7-1 scoring run in a span of just 11:45. Duke was beating the Heels to every loose ball in that run and a goal by Class, assisted by Guterding, made it 7-3 Duke 5:25 before halftime.
UNC answered the run by running off five goals in a row spanning halftime to retake the lead at 8-7 four minutes into the third quarter. Shane Simpson and Walker Chafee scored late in the second period to cut Duke's lead to 7-5 at intermission. Then Tutton, Goldstock and Sankey scored in the first four minutes of the third quarter to give Carolina the lead. Duke briefly equalized before back-to-back unassisted goals by Jimmy Bitter put the Heels up 10-8 with 5:34 left in the third quarter.
Duke did not go away, however, and three goals in the final 3:29 of the quarter had the Devils back up 11-10 heading into the final 15 minutes. Guterding scored off an assist by Case Matheis with three seconds left in the quarter to put the Devils ahead.
Goals by Bitter and Tutton put the Heels up 12-11 early in the final period before Myles Jones tied the game for Duke with 10:16 to play.
Carolina responded with back to back goals by Tutton, the first an on the run, back-hander of the worm burner variety and the goal which UNC up for good. At 7:16, Tutton scored again off Luke Goldstock's assist and then Steve Pontrello's scorching high heat made it UNC 15-12 with 6:34 to play.
A UNC turnover led to a three-minute long Duke possession that ended with an unassisted goal by Class with 3:52 to play. Duke won the ensuing face-off and called timeout with 3:40 left. At that point there was a power outage at Fetzer Field that delayed the game for several minutes. When power was restored out of the timeout, Burke made a save on a shot by Class with 3:24 left but the Duke ride was solid and Carolina turned the ball over 20 seconds later.
Class then scored unassisted with 2:41 to play and the Tar Heels' lead was a precarious single goal. Carolina won the face-off but Fowler saved Bitter's shot with two minutes left, giving Duke one last chance. After a timeout by Duke at 1:47, the Blue Devils' got two shots off with Burke saving Jones' shot at 1:06. Carolina cleared successfully and called timeout with 55 seconds to play. The Tar Heels came out of the timeout and successfully killed off the final minute, ending an ESPNU Instant Classic between two arch rivals.
NEXT UP: The Tar Heels travel to Charlottesville, Va., Friday to meet the 8th-ranked Virginia Cavaliers in a key ACC matchup at 7 p.m. The game will be nationally-televised on ESPNU.
