Tar Heels Top Duke for First Time in Six Years
by Powell Latimer | Special to Lacrosse Magazine Online | Game Blog
DURHAM, N.C — When the final buzzer
sounded on the No. 4 North Carolina's 13-7 win at No. 10 Duke on
Wednesday night, nobody on the sidelines quite knew how to
react.
In the six years since the Tar Heels last beat Duke in men's
lacrosse, both programs hired new coaches. UNC enrolled and
graduated two classes of players. Not even fifth-year senior Gavin
Petracca knew what it felt like to beat UNC's archrival, or even
win a regular season ACC game.
Five years, fifteen games and almost half a decade of being the
ugly stepchild in the ACC all came to an end Wednesday.
"This is now the expectation for you," UNC coach Joe Breschi told his players after the game.
The Tar Heels took an early 3-0 lead in the first quarter and never looked back, dominating the team that beat them three times last season.
"I think for us it's great for the program," Breschi said. "This team is unique. They're not thinking about anything else but the game ahead and about playing together… Great things happen when you bond together and play with that passion."
For much of the game, it was Billy Bitter who led the way. UNC's junior sparkplug scored four goals and had two assists. At the start of the third quarter, Duke made a three-goal run to tie the game at 6-6. But Bitter, with a series of deft passes and slicing cuts through the Duke defense, scored or set up four straight goals to put UNC on top 10-6 heading into the final period.
Bitter capped his performance with a driving shot in traffic that, despite Bitter's getting clocked by half the Blue Devil defense, rolled into the goal through the scrum and through the legs of Duke goalie Dan Wigrizer.
"Every now and then, Billy can do stuff that nobody else in America can," Petracca said. "Billy's all about perfection, turning the corner and finishing every shot… They came after him late a little bit."
Bitter's fourth goal came with just one second left in the third quarter, and put the Tar Heels in command. Duke defenders several times checked Bitter after the play in frustration.
"My coaches told me that I'm a target; that's going to happen," Bitter said. "Just to not let it affect me."
Three fourth-quarter goals from sophomore Thomas Wood finished the game for the Tar Heels, and UNC (6-0, 1-0 ACC) returned to the win column in the ACC for the first time in half a decade.
Duke struggled to find the back of the net for most of the game. The Blue Devils hoisted 24 shots, but only 14 were on goal. Duke also turned the ball over 22 times and gave up nine man-down chances to UNC. The Tar Heels converted on four of them.
Wood finished with a game-high five goals, giving him 16 goals on the season.
"When we came out in the second half we had that look in our eyes, we knew we could do it," Petracca said.
While UNC finally pulled in an ACC win, Duke (2-2, 0-2 ACC) lost back-to-back games for just the second time since 2005.
