The first five minutes of Sunday’s ACC championship game went great for the Carolina men’s lacrosse team.
Then the wheels fell off.
In a rematch of a regular season game that UNC won in overtime, the second-seeded Tar Heels took a 2-0 lead over the fourth-seeded Cavaliers with just over 10 minutes left in the first quarter. They did not score again until the third quarter, at which point Virginia had put up 11 straight goals. The eventual 16-6 loss became Carolina’s most lopsided defeat since 2022.
UNC outshot Virginia 45-41, although the Cavaliers had a 26-24 edge in shots on goal. Turnovers were nearly even, with Carolina committing 15 and Virginia committing 14. However, the Cavaliers dominated the ground ball battle 41-24 and won the faceoff battle 13-12.
To make matters worse for the Tar Heels, junior Owen Duffy — who leads the team in assists (39) and points (69) — was injured in the third quarter and did not return. His status for the NCAA Tournament is unclear. Duffy, redshirt sophomore Peter Thomann, and junior Brady Wambach were named to the all-tournament team.
Carolina received the #3 seed in the NCAA Tournament and will host unseeded Albany in the second round on Saturday. The game starts at 12:00 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on ESPNU.
