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.

North Carolina's Pontrello Getting Back Into The Mix

It's a scene North Carolina men's lacrosse fans are used to seeing. Steve Pontrello receives the ball up top with a short-stick defender guarding him. The Jersey kid licks his chops, splits his defender, steamrolls by him and pings the upper left corner on a rifle of a running shot.

It's what we're all used to seeing, but what we haven't seen nearly enough of this year.

When Pontrello scored his lone goal against Duke in UNC's 15-14 win Saturday, it wasn't just another mark on the scoresheet. Pontrello's goal represented a turning point in the Tar Heels season.

"We made adjustments at halftime with Tutton, Pontrello and Simpson on the first midfield line," coach Joe Breschi said. "We need (Pontrello) at this point in the season."

For the first 11 games of the season, Pontrello was used sparingly, only playing in six games as he started the season with an injury. Now that UNC has hit the toughest portion of its schedule—ACC play—the Tar Heels need Pontrello.

While Peyton Klawsinki and Patrick Kelly have performed better than expected with Pontrello and Shane Simpson's absences, there's no way the Tar Heels can replace Pontrello's strong right-handed shot and dodging ability.

With a physical presence that forces defenses to account for his driving and extend themselves to prevent his shot, Pontrello's abilities go beyond just scoring goals. He opens up space for other middies like Chad Tutton to find openings and improve the offense’s efficiency on the whole.

"It's been a gradual progression," Breschi said. "We were a little conservative, heading (toward starting Pontrello). Finally it was time to open up."

As a two-year starter coming into his junior year, Pontrello was expected to improve upon being the fourth leading scorer on the team from 2014. With 17 points, Tutton was the only midfielder to best the 5-foot-8, 195-pound corner-ripping specimen.

He might not reach those numbers this season, but if the Tar Heels are going to make a deep run all the way to memorial weekend, they'll need to see a lot more of the Pontrello we all got a glimpse of against Duke.

"Pontrello is getting to 100 percent," Breschi said. "But he's still lethal at 80 percent."