University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
5-5, 0-1ACC
Duke
8-3, 1-1ACC
Blue Devils Rally Past Tar Heels In Second Half
April 3, 2017 | Men's Lacrosse
North Carolina jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the game 3:13 into the second quarter but was limited to just two goals the rest of the way while the Blue Devils outscored the Tar Heels 11-2 over the game's final 38:04. Carolina still led at the end of three periods but Duke won all six face-offs in the final period and outshot Carolina 13-4 in the final 15 minutes while outscoring the Heels 5-0 in the final frame of the game.
Jack Bruckner led the Blue Devils with four goals while Justin Guterding had a game-high six points on three goals and three assists. Kevin Quigley and Joey Manown each had two goals for the Blue Devils, who improved to 8-3 overall and 1-1 in the ACC. Brad Smith had a goal and two assists for Duke.
Timmy Kelly led Carolina with two goals and an assist while Michael Tagliaferri had a pair of goals for the Tar Heels, who are now 5-5 overall and 0-1 in the ACC. Luke Goldstock had a goal and two assists for Carolina and Chris Cloutier had a goal and an assist.
Kyle Rowe was arguably the most valuable player of the game for the Blue Devils as he won 17 of 24 face-offs and had a game-high eight ground balls. Over the final three quarters of the game, Duke won 15 of the game's 18 face-offs. After outshooting the Blue Devils 10-2 in the first quarter, the Tar Heels were limited to just seven shots in the second quarter, five in the third quarter and four in the final quarter as the Blue Devils dominated possession. Duke had 34 shots in the final three quarters combined after getting off just two shots and committing five turnovers in the opening 15 minutes.
Overall, Duke led in shots 36-26, ground balls 25-20 and face-off wins 17-7. Danny Fowler made six saves for the Blue Devils while Brian Balkam had 10 saves for Carolina.
Carolina opened the game on a three-goal scoring run, including a pair of goals by senior midfielder Michael Tagliaferri. After Jack Bruckner scored the first of his four goals with 5:13 left in the first quarter, UNC ran off another three goals in a row with tallies by Chris Cloutier, Luke Goldstock and William Perry staking the Tar Heels to a 6-1 lead with 11:47 left in the second quarter.
The Blue Devils scored four of the last five goals of the first half and Bruckner's third goal of the opening 30 minutes pulled Duke within two goals at halftime. Duke's Joey Manown scored back-to-back goals to tie the game at 7-7 with 4:17 to play in the third period before the Tar Heels went back in front on a goal by Timmy Kelly with seven seconds left in the third quarter.
That would be Carolina's last goal of the game, however, as Duke scored all five goals in the fourth quarter. Justin Guterding put Duke ahead for good at 9-8 with 11 minutes to play. He then scored back-to-back goals at 4:56 and 4:04 of the fourth quarter to produce the final Duke winning margin of four goals.
Carolina will look to get back into the winning column next Sunday at 7 p.m. when it plays at Virginia in a nationally-televised ESPNU game.
