UNC Seniors Have One Last Chance To Leave A Legacy

When 23-year-old senior attackman Steve Pontrello came to UNC as a freshman, the goal was simple — win a national championship.

Three years later, and the North Carolina men’s lacrosse team is still in the midst of a 23-year Final Four drought.

That’s right. Pontrello, the team’s leading point-getter, was about 2 months old. He’s the only current UNC player who was alive the last time the Tar Heels made an appearance in the Final Four.

But with a quarterfinal win against Notre Dame this weekend, Pontrello and Co. have a chance to change that.

Despite UNC’s history, success hasn’t been a goal. It’s been an expectation, for the Tar Heels the past three years. With an all-time attack trio and a strong corps of young players, the Tar Heels were supposed to be going places.

But now, Joey Sankey, Jimmy Bitter and Marcus Holman have come and gone, and those “young” players are seniors. Pontrello was forced to move from offensive midfielder to attackman in an attempt to make up for the loss of school’s all-time leading point-getter, and the depth UNC previously touted on offensive is merely a memory.

To say the door is closing on the Tar Heels would be more than just an understatement.The team is scoring almost two fewer goals a game. They’re giving up just as many goals per game, and they’re clearing the ball at a rate (84%) that is 5 percent lower than last year.

The team is, simply put, lacking the traditionally agreed upon formula necessary to win a championship.

Going into selection Sunday, the odds UNC would make it to the Final Four were the lowest they’d been since Pontrello’s highly-touted recruiting class came to Chapel Hill.

Yet somehow — with a win against Notre Dame this weekend — they have a chance.

This isn’t the team UNC expected to make it all the way, but this also isn’t the team anyone expected to come back from 10-15 deficit to beat Notre Dame during the regular season.

While the odds are against UNC winning a title, the team certainly has a shot. The door might be closing, or even closed, but if Pontrello can use those first-team All-ACC wheels of his, he just might be able to bust the door open before it latches completely shut on the senior.

Sloppy Play Plagues Tar Heels In ACC Tournament Loss

With less than a minute left in the third quarter the North Carolina men's lacrosse team had an opportunity to close in on an 8-4 deficit in a game that was slowly slipping away from them.

What proceeded was an awkward cluster of dysfunction.

With the ball in Luke Goldstock's stick at the top of the box, the Tar Heels began passing the ball around with no player seeming to want the ball — and no play called for the offense. As the clock ticked toward zero, UNC struggled to even get a shot off.

The play was but a microcosm of the Tar Heel's 10-7 loss against Syracuse — and their season.

Plagued by sloppy play, turnovers, failed clears and mental mistakes, the Tar Heels showed Friday night in Kennesaw that they have a long way to go if they want to make it to Philadelphia and Championship Weekend.

The Tar Heels eight second half turnovers (13 total) and three failed put immense pressure on an overworked defense, and Goalkeeper Brian Balkam standing on his head with seven third-quarter saves (12 total) was the only thing that kept the game from getting out of hand.

Last weekend UNC found itself in a similar situation against Notre Dame only to comeback and go on a seven goal run sparked by Stephen Kelly's performance at the face-off X. But Kelly's nine wins on 21 face-offs weren't enough to swing momentum in the Tar Heels way this time.

While a small three-goal rally in the second quarter kept Friday's game respectable, Ben Williams' ability to neutralize Kelly in the second half, winning 6-9 face-offs, prevented the Tar Heels from recreating last week's magic.

If the Tar Heels are going to make a deep run in the NCAA tournament, they're going to need to generate offense on a more consistent basis without using Kelly's ability to give them extra possession as a crutch.

In order to do that, coach Joe Breschi and his crew will need to find a way to cut down on unsettlingly dysfunctional situations like the ones they experienced to end the third quarter and numerous other times throughout Friday night's game.

These Aren't The Tar Heels We're Used To, But That Might Be A Good Thing

The 2016 season for the North Carolina men’s lacrosse team hasn’t been like any other in the past four years or so. The team lacks the greatness of a Joey Sankey, Jimmy Bitter or Marcus Holman who were able to put up all-time offensive numbers for the program. They lack depth at the offensive midfield that’s always allowed them to pressure defenses in platoon-like fashion for 60 minutes. They even lack a rock-solid wall of a goalkeeper like what Kieran Burke has provided the past three years. What has that equated to? UNC started the season with its worst record in the past 5 years and experienced one of the lowest media poll rankings it’s had since coach Joe Breschi started his tenure. Yet somehow, by beating top-ranked Notre Dame 17-15 in a hotly contested comeback, the Tar Heels didn’t stop this trend of breaking trends. The instead exacerbated it as they snapped a three season long losing streak against the Fighting Irish. The Tar Heels didn’t make it easy on themselves either. Despite being in a tied game going into halftime, the Tar Heels allowed a six-point third quarter and looked flat on offense. Every time the Fighting Irish took the ball down the field, it seemed like they were netting a goal, and not a single UNC attacker was able to get by his man or force the defense to rotate. With a five point deficit, things were looking bleak for the Tar Heels. All that ended when Shane Simpson hooked up with Luke Goldstock spark an improbable run with less than five minutes left in the game. From that goal onward, UNC’s ability to win faceoff after faceoff flipped the game on its head. Stephen Kelly feasted on Fighting Irish faceoff specialists winning 7-10 in the fourth quarter as violations from earlier in the half made Notre Dame’s specialists trigger shy. UNC attacker, now filled with adrenaline, were attacking an exhausted defense, and the depth issues that have plagued the team all season felt fictitious. The revitalized Tar Heels capped off the game with five goals in the last five minutes to upset Notre Dame in the most epic fashion -- the same sort of fashion that Notre Dame has used to beat UNC the past three years by a combined three points.
UNC began this season by breaking trends in all the wrong ways. But if the team can use Saturday’s success as a catapult into the post-season, the Tar Heels could very well see yet another trend broken on their way to the school’s first Final Four since 1993.

Rapid Reaction: NCAA Tournament Selection Edition

With Duke and North Carolina learning about what their paths to Championship Weekend look like, I've decided to give a quick and sweet rundown of what these gauntlets look like.

As expected, both teams received favorable first-round match ups at home, but assuming both teams make it to the elite eight, theirs a strong chance each will face a foe they've already failed to defeat once this season.

Duke

First Round: Ohio State, May 9 7:30 p.m.

Duke shouldn't have too many problems with an Ohio State team with only one win it can hang its hat on. Aside from being Johns Hopkins earlier in the season, OSU has come up short against all its highly-touted opponents. The Buckeyes were shut out against Notre Dame and only scored once against Maryland the first time the two teams played. While they beat JHU early in April, they got it handed to them 13-6 in the Big Ten championship game by the Blue Jays. While I imagine they'll bring it for their opportunity to take down the reigning champs, I don't think they have much of a chance.

UNC

First Round: Colgate, May 10 5:15 p.m.

This match up is a little bit more interesting. While Colgate's staple wins are against teams on the back end of the top-20, the Raiders managed to play a competitive game against the top-ranked Orange this past weekend. Colgate managed to make the contest a respectable 7-9 lose despite being absolutely dominated at the face-off X (2-for-20) and losing the ground ball battle (20-29). I haven't seen the film so I'm not going to act like I can explain that result, but I don't think it's replicable. The way you consistently make upsets in May is by controlling possession. In order to do that you need to win ground balls and face-offs. Colgate did neither of those things against Syracuse.

Bitter Taste After UNC Loss To Orange

When someone thinks about North Carolina senior attack man and Tawaaraton nominee Jimmy Bitter, They typically think about the undersized, speedy sharpshooter pinging corners and frustrating goalkeepers.

If someone were to tell a lacrosse fan or analyst that Bitter had 12 shots and eight shots on goal against Syracuse Friday night in the ACC Tournament, a guy like Quint Kessenich or Ryan Flanagan would expect that the lefty, averaging 3.9 points per game, had at least a pair of goals. Heck, they'd probably guess he ended up with a hat trick. 

But with a chance to play in the ACC title game on the line, Bitter took 12 shots, hit one pipe, and was saved by keeper Bobby Wardwell seven times. Seven of Wardwell's 14 saves came from Bitter shots. 

Prior to the game at PPL Park, Bitter recorded a point in 55 straight games. That was good for the second longest active streak in Division I lacrosse, and now, that streak is over. 

Bitter managed to record at least a point in every game he's played since the middle of his freshman season, but against the Orange, despite ample opportunity to net a goal, he came up just short every time. 

During the game, Bitter got hounded by ESPNU announcers who claimed he was telegraphing shots that were low-to-low worm burners. They claimed he wasn't shooting efficiently. 

But hindsight is always 20-20. 

For all the times Bitter could have thrown a better fake or changed planes, he made a spectacular cut or submarined a ball to the upper left corner. 

Bitter clearly didn't have his best game, but a lot of that credit should go to Wardwell who seemed to have it out for Bitter from the start.

The last time these two teams played, Wardwell played 31 mins and had four saves. This time around he almost doubled that mark against Bitter alone. 

It's easy to say that, if UNC is going to bounce back from this game and make a deep run, the Tar Heels will need Bitter to perform to his Tawaaraton level potential. 

But the easy thing to say isn't always the right thing to say. 

Bitter didn't lose them the game, nothing about Bitter's approach to the game was wrong, and he'll be just fine come tourney time. 

Bitter likes to live by the mantra "shoot to get hot, shoot to stay hot." That's never changed and it never will. 

So for anyone doubting Bitter or wondering what he needs to do to get ready for the NCAA tournament in two weeks, Bitter wont be looking back thinking "what if."

He's just going to keep shooting. 

UNC And Duke Tawaaraton Nominee Run Down

The 2015 Tawaaraton Nominees were announced in a press released earlier today. The release detailed three North Carolina players and two Duke players that will be considered for the Tawaaraton Award this year.

Myles Jones and Deemer Class were selected from Duke.

Chad Tutton, Jimmy Bitter and Joey Sankey were selected from UNC.

Among these five, Bitter and Sankey are the likeliest to win the award. Bitter leads UNC with 69 points and more assists than he's ever had (35), but Sankey isn't far behind with 60 points of his own.

Tutton's lack of assists will likely be his downfall. While he has 31 goals, he only has 5 assists, and UNC runs its offense through Bitter and Sankey. The odds of Tutton's assist numbers significantly changing are low.

Myles Jones's 65 points makes him the likelier of the Duke candidates to win the award. Class has 47 points. If Jones can have a strong outing in the ACC tourney and push Duke deep into the NCAA tournament, it will go a long way in assisting his candidacy, but Jones's inconsistent play against top ranked opponents could keep him from being strongly considered.

With the way this award if typically chosen, whatever player on the top team does the best will win. Once the finalists are announced, my expectation is that Tutton and Class will be left out.

ACC Tournament: Round One Preview

This weekend the ACC will cram three highly competitive games in the span of three days at Philadelphia's PPL Park. Here's my attempt at breaking down what will happen.

#4 Duke vs. #1 Notre Dame

Need to Know

The first time these two teams played at Duke's Koskinen Stadium it was clear who was the better team. The Fighting Irish absolutely tore the Duke defense to shreds scoring at an insanely efficient clip to start the game and never letting up on their way to a 15-10 win.

After that game coach John Danowski spent more than 30 minutes in the locker room speaking with players before coming out to address the media. The normally talkative coach who loves talking X's and O's was short with reporters.

When asked if he could comment on what he said to the guys in the locker room all he could say was,"No, I can't."

Needless to say, that game was an emotional one for the Blue Devils. They may be the defending champions, but with a 1-3 record in ACC play, they know their backs are against the ropes.

I'm not going to go out and say that Duke will win this game, but it will most definitely be more competitive than last time. I don't believe Duke has the personnel to handle Matt Kavanagh and the Irish offense, but coach D will most definitely find a way to make Duke in this game. Keep in mind that if Duke doesn't win this game, there's a good chance the team will have to travel to play its first NCAA playoff game.

Prediction

While I truly believe Duke will come out ready to scrap, I don't see them pulling this one out. Notre Dame proved during the regular season that it wasn't just the best team in the conference, it was the best team in the country. I don't see that changing with this game.

Notre Dame 14, Duke 12

#2 North Carolina vs. #3 Syracuse

Need to Know

The crowd at North Carolina was enormous for the senior day of future UNC legends like Joey Sankey, Jimmy Bitter and Chad Tutton. UNC rode that home crowd all the way to a 17-15 victory as Sankey broke Marcus Holman's record for points in a career at Carolina.

UNC's offense was simply too prolific to stop. They have too many weapons that are too good, and if a team tries to take them on in a shoot out, they will lose 10 out of 10 times.

This time around Syracuse will have to tighten up defensively limit UNC's opportunities. They won't be able to completely shut down the Tar Heel offense that oozes depth and veteran leadership. In order to win, they'll need a strong performance out of the goalkeeping tandem of Bobby Wardwell and Warren Hill who combined for 10 saves in these teams' last contest.

But it's not that simple. It all starts with the Orange defense forcing UNC's risk-taking gunslingers into poor shot attempts.

Prediction

The Tar Heels don't have the home crowd to keep hype this time around, but they don't need it. It's the ACC playoffs. Guys like Sankey and Bitter don't need anything more to get them hype for a big game like this one. I think they'll take this one, but it'll be a good one for sure.

North Carolina 16, Syracuse 15

Will The Real Myles Jones Please Stand Up

He's a monster of a man. 

Standing at 6-foot-4 and 235 pounds, Duke midfielder Myles Jones is every coach's dream physically and athletically. Leading the nation in points by a midfielder, he's far and above the best attacking middie in the nation, with about 4 goals a game. The next closest midfielder is averaging almost a point less.

But in the past month, Jones has been streaky to say the least.

The towering gunslinger was not only kept relatively silent against Notre Dame, but he didn't score in the first half against North Carolina a week ago and didn't score at all against Syracuse the week before that.

Between the Blue Devils contests against Georgetown and North Carolina, Jones encountered a scoring drought that lasted more than 100 minutes—not what you want from your leading offensive threat.

While Jones's sheer athleticism allowed him to dominate early in the season, as Duke has played tougher competition and better defense, Jones has begun to struggle.

Since accumulating eight points against Georgetown in the middle of march, Jones has only been able to muster up six points in the past three games. In those three games, he's only scored three goals—the same total he had in one game against the Hoyas.

To give Jones his credit, he's been playing against higher caliber defenses. Notre Dame came into Koskinen Stadium Saturday with the top-ranked defense in the ACC and the 12th ranked defense in the nation. UNC held Virginia to six goals and held one of the other top middies in the game, Ryan Tucker, scoreless. Syracuse was no slouch of an opponent either—they're ranked in the top 20 in terms of points against too.

But that's no excuse for a player poised to become the most prolific offensive midfielder in Duke history. Jones only needs 11 points to pass Jim Gonnella as the all-time leading Blue Devil point getter from the midfield.

There's no reason for the junior to not be dominant.

When Jones is at his best, he uses his physical gifts to beat his opponents with one powerful dodge up top and quickly rip a shot or find the open man.

Lately that has not been the case. Instead of playing patiently, Jones has tried to make extra moves to force himself into the heart of defenses, and good opponents have made him pay with turnovers.

In the past three games, Jones has lead his team in turnovers in every single game and piled up a total of 12. 

Jones's stick work has never been his strong suit. He's a great player because of his whale of a shot and his ability to bully defenders to draw double teams.

But we haven't seen that Myles Jones as of late.

If Duke wants to get over this three game skid and mold itself back into the championship contender everyone thought they were early this season, it's going to start with finding that Myles Jones again—the man they hope to be the real Myles Jones.