In the suffocating heat of early April, Virginia men’s lacrosse traveled to Chapel Hill to take on No. 8 North Carolina in its second ACC game. The Cavaliers (5-6, 0-2 ACC) were fresh off a loss to No. 7 Syracuse, in which, despite a sputtering offense showing signs of life, a late cold spell ended up being their demise.
It appeared that Virginia carried the cold shooting into Saturday’s bout against the Tar Heels (8-2, 1-1 ACC), as it quickly fell behind 4-0 five minutes into the game. Two goals in seven seconds from North Carolina freshman attackman Dominic Pietramala capped off this Tar Heel run, setting the tone for what looked to be shaping up as a blowout.
The Cavaliers got hot quickly, though, scoring seven goals in under 12 minutes and tying the game at 7-7 midway through the second quarter. Sophomore attackman McCabe Millon played an instrumental role in this run, scoring two goals and assisting on two more.
The real spark plug came from Virginia’s faceoff crew. Sophomore faceoff man Henry Metz broke the scoring seal for the Cavaliers when, following a Pietramala goal, he took the faceoff the distance for his first goal of the season. Fellow sophomore faceoff man Andrew Greenspan capped off the Virginia run to complete the comeback and even the score at 7-7 in similar fashion to Metz, scoring just his second goal of the year.
The party ended for the Cavaliers, though, as they collapsed on both ends of the field, a story too familiar to this season. Following the 8:40 mark in the second quarter, Virginia scored just two more goals for the rest of the game, including zero in the fourth quarter.
A usually reliable source of offense in junior attackman Truitt Sunderland, who entered the game as Virginia’s leading goalscorer, was silent all afternoon. Sunderland had a handful of clean looks, but graduate goalkeeper Michael Gianforcaro had his number, stepping in front of and saving multiple close shots. The play that encapsulated Sunderland’s day came inside of 12 minutes in the fourth quarter, when he doinked a point-blank look off of the crossbar, leading to an empty-net goal for North Carolina senior midfielder Ryan Levy to stretch the Tar Heel advantage to 17-9.
On top of Sunderland’s scoreless performance, junior attackman Ryan Colsey was neutralized as well, managing just one goal, tying Sunderland for 25 goals on the season.
On the flip side of the ball, the North Carolina offense was having its way with the Cavaliers’ defense, as nine different Tar Heels scored in the 18-goal effort, the most goals Virginia has surrendered this season.
To make matters worse, despite the early goals from Metz and Greenspan, the Tar Heels ended up winning the faceoff battle by the sizable margin of 19-11, completing what turned into the all-around rout that the first five minutes of the game foreshadowed.
With the loss, Virginia moved back below .500, as the Cavaliers continue to trend toward their first losing season under Coach Lars Tiffany. The road ahead will not become any easier, as Virginia takes on No. 5 Notre Dame next Saturday.
A loss to North Carolina is not a surprise given how the season has gone for Virginia. However, the manner it happened is deflating for the Cavaliers, especially following an encouraging performance against another one of the nation’s elite in Syracuse. With just two more conference games remaining on its schedule, Virginia must find some magic if it wants a chance at the ACC Tournament, let alone the NCAA Tournament.
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