Who's No. 1?: Hoos End the Debate
by Steve Russolillo | Special to Lacrosse Magazine
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UNC's Billy Bitter had two first-half goals, but was scoreless and suffering an injury in the second quarter. © Kevin P. Tucker |
LIVE BLOG FROM BIG CITY CLASSIC
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J.--It had offensive
shootout written all over it.
No. 1 vs No. 2. Prolific scorers and high-powered offenses on both
sides of the field. The unveiling of the $1.6 billion New
Meadowlands Stadium. The energy vibrating from the largest crowd
ever to witness a regular season lacrosse game. All signs pointed
to a shootout, right?
Wrong. Scoring droughts and tight defense took center stage on
Saturday as No. 1 Virginia narrowly squeezed by second-ranked North
Carolina 7-5 in front of 25,710 fans in the middle game of the Big
City Classic.
Virginia (11-0, 2-0 ACC) jumped out to an early 5-0 lead, holding
North Carolina scoreless for the first 19 minutes of the game. But
just when the game looked like it would turn into a route, North
Carolina came marching back.
The Tar Heels, who came into Saturday’s game boasting the No.
1 defense in the nation, shut down Virginia’s attack, holding
the Cavaliers scoreless for more than 23 minutes spanning the
second and third quarters. In that timeframe, the Tar Heels chipped
away, scoring four goals and pulling within 5-4. But North Carolina
could never tie the score and after trading goals in the fourth
quarter, Virginia prevailed.
“We battled for 60 minutes,” said Virginia head coach
Dom Starsia. “Some days there’s not a lot of magic
happening, but you just gotta fight it out. It was a good victory
over a quality team.”
Sophomore attack Steele Stanwick proved to be an offensive catalyst
for Virginia. He registered three goals, including a nifty no-look
shot in the second quarter that could be worthy of a top-10 nominee
on SportsCenter. As he was falling to the ground, he flipped the
ball over his head and it sailed beyond North Carolina goalie Chris
Madalon to give the Cavs a 5-0 lead.
“I had some idea where the goal was,” Stanwick said at
the press conference after the game. Even Starsia added a wise
crack “If the ball goes in, he’s a hero,” Starsia
said. “It was one of those ‘No, no
no…yes.’”
But the true difference maker appeared to be junior goalkeeper Adam
Ghitelman, who registered 12 saves, including five in the fourth
quarter.
“A game like this, there was just not much margin of error
out there,” Starsia said. “We needed every save he
had.
“Every game when you ask me what the key is, I hate to sound
monotonous but I always say its winning faceoffs and goal play. We
needed Adam to do what he did today in order to have a chance to
win this game.”
As for North Carolina (10-1, 2-1), it can take solace in the fact
that it had a chance to topple the top-ranked team in the nation.
The Tar Heels weren’t playing at full strength and looked a
bit discombobulated on offense, which wasn’t surprising
because they were playing without Thomas Wood and Sean Delaney, two
of their three leading scorers who were both out with injuries.
The news got worse when junior attack Billy Bitter was injured
toward the end of the second quarter after an illegal body check.
He still registered two goals. But both came in the first half
before the injury. And although he returned to action after
halftime, he was held scoreless in the second half.
“To come out here and play a 7-5, scrappy game with a couple
guys banged up, I’m so proud of them,” said North
Carolina head coach Joe Breschi.
