SBU Sports: Men’s lacrosse battles in road loss against Nov. 11 North Carolina
Stony Brook men’s lacrosse played a strong first half, but fell to No. 11 North Carolina, 9-4, on Feb. 14 at Dorrance Field in Chapel Hill, N.C.. Carson Boyle tallied a pair of goals and Jamison MacLachlanmade a season-best 17 saves in net.
Stony Brook opened the scoring on the strength of a Tanner Williams shot at the 7:37 mark of the first quarter.
MacLachlan stopped all four of UNC’s first quarter shots on goal, holding the Tar Heels scoreless for the entire opening 15 minutes of play.
Boyle converted on a man-up opportunity for the Seawolves, with Williams assisting on the goal. Stony Brook carried a two-goal advantage into the second quarter.
The Tar Heels were held off the board for an additional 50 seconds to start the second half before a Ty English goal to slash their deficit in half.
MacLachlan stopped two more Tar Heel attempts on goal before UNC’s Dominic Pietramala got going offensively. Pietramala scored the game’s next three goals, two of which were unassisted, to put North Carolina ahead 4-2.
Ray O’Brien got involved in the action late in the first half, beating the UNC goalie with 1:44 to play to make it a one-goal game.
The second half went more than 11 minutes before the icebreaker, with MacLachlan making five more stops over the opening 10 minutes of second-half action.
English scored a pair of goals in a 44 second span to give the Tar Heels a 6-3 cushion. North Carolina added two more tallies before the end of the third quarter to build a five-goal lead heading into the final stanza.
Boyle added another goal on another man-up opportunity for the Seawolves, but it would stand as Stony Brook’s lone tally of the second half.
UNC’s Michael Gianforcaro made five of his 11 total saves in the fourth quarter, closing out a 9-4 victory for his side.
“I am proud of the effort and toughness. I thought we played really hard and I thought our defense and JaMo kept us in the game all night long. There were just too many mistakes, especially when you don’t have the ball that much. You have to capitalize when you have it and score on extra man opportunities,” head coach Anthony Gilardi said.
“We have a really young team and our focus from day one is all about focusing on the process of getting better. We need to improve and progress each rep, each practice and each game. We are excited to get back to work for a quick turnaround versus a rested Queens team on Sunday,” Gilardi added.
Up next, the team stays in North Carolina, heading to Charlotte to face Queens University on February 16. The contest is slated to begin at noon and will stream live on ESPN+.
