It could be Duke vs. UNC in lacrosse NCAA title game. But up first? The final four.
The NCAA men’s lacrosse Final Four begins on Saturday with the four remaining teams -- including North Carolina and Duke -- all ranking in the top four nationally in scoring offense. But history has the Tar Heels and Blue Devils sounding defensive.
Only once in the storied rivalry of the schools in any sport have the Heels and Blue Devils played for a national title. That was nearly 30 years ago when UNC beat Duke 9-1 in the women’s soccer national championship in 1992.
The schools also faced each other in the 2015 national semifinals in both women’s lacrosse and field hockey. But that completes the list of NCAA Final Four meetings between the schools. (Men’s basketball met in the 1971 NIT semifinals. And Kansas, then coached by Roy Williams, ruined a Carolina-Duke national title game in 1991 by beating the Heels in the Final Four.)
“At the end of the day, I think that we don’t really care who we play as long as we’re playing a game,” UNC senior attacker Chris Gray said. “Just the opportunity to be on the field and be playing in the Final Four is what we’re focused on. So as long as we do our thing and play to the best of our ability, we think that we’re the best team in the country.”
No one on either side wants to talk about a potential meeting in Monday’s national championship at 1 p.m. anyway, as both face formidable opponents in the semifinals. The No. 1 seed Tar Heels (13-2) face No. 4 Virginia (12-4) at noon on ESPN2 at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Connecticut. No. 2 Duke (14-2) will follow against No. 3 Maryland (14-0) at 2:30 p.m.
Carolina led the nation in goals per game averaging 16.6 with the Terrapins (16.0), Blue Devils (14.8) and Cavaliers (14.6) rounding out the top four.
Extra year of eligibility for players
UNC coach Joe Breschi believes the COVID-19 pandemic helped tilt the game towards more scoring because so many players chose to take advantage of an extra year of eligibility after the 2020 season was canceled.
“Usually you have six offensive players, maybe a seventh or an eighth,” Breschi said. “Now you have 9, 10, 11, 12 that are so talented. And I think that extra year of eligibility has given everybody so much juice at the offensive end.”
It’s not just players who stayed on their team an extra year, Ivy League transfers have added to that mix of graduate students.
Michael Sowers left Princeton to join the Blue Devils because the Ivy League doesn’t allow fifth-year players. Sowers led Duke with 79 points and 44 assists and was second on the team with 35 goals.
Sowers is one of 15 graduate students on the roster and the Blue Devils have leaned heavily on having an experienced squad. They have a 4-0 record in overtime games, including their 10-9 win over Loyola (Maryland) in the quarterfinals.
“No one’s gripping their sticks and no one’s not talking in the huddle,” said Duke midfielder Terry Lindsay, who added he came back as a graduate student to chase a national championship. “It’s just calm, taking a deep breath and just play it. Next goal wins. Coach, he often says play with no regrets. We made it to overtime, play with no regrets.”
Tar Heels’ scoring depth
The Heels’ scoring depth is what helped them advance to the Final Four. UNC had eight goals scored by non-starters during its 12-11 overtime win over Rutgers in the tournament quarterfinals last week.
UNC might need more offensive production than that against the Wahoos, who it split regular-season meetings with this season. The Heels won at UVA 16-13 and lost in Chapel Hill 18-16.
Senior midfielder Will Perry said the Heels know they can score, but added their defense has gotten better as the season progressed.
“I have 100 percent faith in our offense to put up those tremendous numbers like we have for the majority of the season,” Perry said. “But the last couple of games, or just the last game in particular against Rutgers, where we played a tremendous offense and a really good team, our defense stood tall.”
Duke’s scoring defense
Duke and Maryland are tied in scoring defense at 11th nationally, allowing an average of 10 goals per game. The Blue Devils held UNC to a season-low goals in their 12-11 overtime win over the Heels on April 1.
Duke sophomore defenseman Tyler Carpenter said last year’s abrupt stop to the season due to the pandemic left a lot of young players questioning their ability. But they’ve answered the call this season.
“After the season last year and all this offseason and the summer we were still kind of like questioning ourselves whether we were still able to play at the level,” said Carpenter, who played high school at Durham Academy. “But now that we’ve had this whole season, played ACC games and now in the tournament, it’s just been like, okay, we’re here now. We can make plays in big situations and we belong.”