Men's Lacrosse Falls To No. 1 Duke In OT

Thursday, April 1

Durham, N.C.

7:00 PM

North Carolina

8-1, 1-1

Duke

10-0, 2-0

North Carolina

Duke

North Carolina fell in OT Thursday evening at Duke.

Photo by: ABE LOVEN

April 1, 2021 | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score Photo Gallery Photo Gallery

By: UNC Athletic Communications

DURHAM, N.C. – In a battle of unbeaten teams on Thursday night, North Carolina fell for the first time this season, 12-11 to top-ranked Duke in a men's lacrosse overtime thriller. The second-ranked Tar Heels are now 8-1 overall and 1-1 in Atlantic Coast Conference play while the Blue Devils improved to 10-0 (2-0 ACC).

"It was a great lacrosse game by both teams – it's a shame somebody has to lose," UNC coach Joe Breschi said. "We put ourselves in a position to win the game and I thought we fought really, really hard. I'm tremendously proud of the effort and the energy that we brought to the table. We did so many little things really well to give ourselves a chance."

A tough battle, but we fell in OT. Check out all 11 goals from tonight's game ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/NMQTDhqitE — UNC Men's Lacrosse (@UNCMensLacrosse) April 2, 2021

The Tar Heels got two goals each from Chris Gray, Nicky Solomon, Justin Anderson and Tanner Cook and single scores from Zac Tucci, Jacob Kelly and Matt Wright.

For Duke, Joe Robertson had four goals, including the gamewinner in overtime, and also had three assists to finish with a game-high seven points.

At Duke's Koskinen Stadium, much of the game was a defensive battle, with the teams scoring a combined one goal (by UNC) in the fourth quarter. Tar Heel freshman Collin Krieg made 14 saves and Duke graduate student Mike Adler made 17. "Both goalies were tremendous," Breschi said.

Wright put the Tar Heels up just over two minutes into the game and UNC either led or was tied through almost three quarters. The largest lead of the game was three, by the Tar Heels at 8-5, two minutes into the third quarter.

The Tar Heels made a habit of scoring out of breaks, opening the second and third quarters with goals in the first 10 seconds of play and then scoring out of a timeout in the fourth quarter. That last goal, by Anderson with 2:57 to play in the period, was the only goal of the fourth quarter and tied the game at 11, where it stood at the end of regulation.

Duke got off six shots in the extra period, compared with two for the Tar Heels. Krieg made two saves and Adler had one. Robertson's goal came with 47 seconds left in the first overtime period.

Duke had more shots on the night, 51-46, but the Tar Heels put more of theirs on goal, 28-26. Each team scored one extra-man goal and Duke won 15 of 25 faceoffs. The Tar Heels were almost perfect on clears, executing on 22 of 23 opportunities.

After starting ACC play with two road games, the Tar Heels final play one at home when they host Virginia on April 10 in their next game.

• On the cap he wore in the game, Breschi wrote the initials "RW" to honor Roy Williams, who retired on Thursday as the Tar Heel men's basketball coach. "He's meant so much to North Carolina and he's meant so much to our program," Breschi said. "He loves the student-athletes, he loves Carolina. That (the initials) was just a small gesture of the mammoth impact he made. We're going to miss him but we also appreciate what he's meant to all of us."