Men's Lacrosse Season Ends with 12-11 Loss To Virginia

Saturday, May 29

East Hartford, Conn.

Noon

North Carolina

13-3

Virginia (NCAA Semifinals)

13-4

Virginia

North Carolina

Despite a career day from William Perry, UNC saw its season come to an end Saturday vs. Virginia.

Photo by: Greg Fiume

May 29, 2021 | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: UNC Athletic Communications

EAST HARTFORD, Conn. – A furious comeback fell just short and the UNC men's lacrosse team saw its season end Saturday in the NCAA Tournament semifinals with a 12-11 loss to Virginia on a rainy, chilly afternoon at Pratt and Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field.

Fifth-year senior midfielder William Perry, playing in his home state for the first time as a Tar Heel, led UNC with a career-high five goals, including the last two of the game as Carolina narrowed a five-goal halftime deficit to one with three minutes to play. Chris Gray, a senior attackman, finished with three goals and two assists for a program-record 91 points on the year.

UNC, 13-3 this season including a 1-2 mark against UVa, made its first trip to Championship Weekend since 2016 and its 14^th in school history. Virginia (13-4) will play on Monday for its second title in a row after winning in 2019.

"Congratulations to Virginia," UNC coach Joe Breschi said. "We've had three great games with them over the course of the year. The resilience of both teams ... they all left it out on the field. I couldn't be more proud of our guys' effort and energy."

UNC led 3-2 after the first quarter on goals by graduate student Connor McCarthy (who also scored Carolina's first goal in the quarterfinals win over Rutgers), Gray and Perry.

The second quarter was all Virginia's, though, with the Cavaliers rolling to a 7-1 scoring edge. UNC's total was equal to its lowest in a quarter this season, and Virginia's total matched the most scored by a Tar Heel opponent in a quarter this year.

The Cavaliers were fueled by their success at the face-off x as they won all nine in the quarter and 11 of 15 in the first half. They scored six unanswered goals heading into the break and UNC trailed at the half for the first time this season, 9-4.

UNC closed the gap in the third quarter, with goals by Gray and Perry to cut the lead to three within the first five minutes. Virginia responded pull ahead by four again, then the Tar Heels deposited back-to-back scores to make it a two-goal margin. This time the scoring was by sophomore Lance Tillman, whose diving goal was his fifth in the past two games, and senior Alex Trippi, who made it 10-8 with 4:15 to play in the third. Virginia closed the quarter with a pair of goals to again extend the margin to four heading into the final 15 minutes.

In the fourth quarter, the Tar Heels outscored the Cavaliers 3-0. Gray got his third of the game two minutes into the period, then Perry equaled his career high with 6:43 to play.

"I was lucky enough to be in a shooting position," Perry, who grew up in Greenwich, Conn., said of his big scoring day. "It was the five guys around me who moved the ball, dodged hard, drew slides, and I was just able to be the recipient of a pass and step into the shots. That's just how we've played all year – ball movement and then find the guy on the backside and that was just me today."

Perry's fifth and final goal of the day, on a pass from senior midfielder Tanner Cook with 3:05 remaining, cut the margin, to one but the Tar Heels couldn't get the tying score and force a second overtime game in a row. (They beat Rutgers 12-11 in OT a week ago to advance to the semifinals.) Junior Connor Maher forced a turnover to give the Tar Heels the ball with just under a minute to play and then a failed clear by Virginia again gave UNC the ball back with 20 seconds remaining, but the Tar Heels weren't able to capitalize before the final buzzer.

"In the second half, we put ourselves in the position to score, to win," Breschi said. "We won eight of 12 faceoffs in the second half, we cleared the ball 100 percent, we rode the ball back four times, outshot them 29-16.

"We were 0 for 5 man-up, so we had our chances. I give our kids a ton of credit. All year they've been resilient, they've been tough, they've been gritty. It wasn't going our way at the face-off x, and in the second half (Zac) Tucci turned it around and just kept fighting and battling. We just ran out of time."

UNC's five man-up opportunities all came in the second half. Virginia had just one, in the second quarter, and also failed to score.

The Tar Heels finished with a 49-39 advantage in shots, 26-17 in shots on goal. UVa goalkeeper Alex Rode made 15 saves, including eight in the second half as the Tar Heels gained momentum. Freshman goalkeeper Collin Krieg made five stops for UNC, including one in the fourth quarter.

UNC came into the game ranked second in the NCAA in turnovers, averaging 12.53 per game, and committed just 12 to Virginia's 22.

The Cavaliers got goals from eight different players, led by Payton Cormier's three and two each from Connor Shellenberger and Charlie Bertrand.

"Going into the locker room we were down five goals and it was pretty incredible the way we were able to rally back and cut the deficit down," Gray said. "There's no quit in our team – that's the most important part and something to be proud of for us is that we didn't give up and we battled back. That's credit to the fifth-years, Perry and (Justin) Anderson and those guys who carry our team forward every day. It was a tough loss, but a lot of great fight from our team."