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Lacrosse gets set for big conference matchup

Virginia travels to North Carolina to take on the Tar Heels

<p>Senior attackman Ryan Lukacovic notched&nbsp;four goals and three assists in Virginia's loss to Duke.</p>

Senior attackman Ryan Lukacovic notched four goals and three assists in Virginia's loss to Duke.

The No. 20 Virginia lacrosse team has an opportunity to make an impression in their conference schedule Sunday afternoon as they travel to take on No. 11 North Carolina. The showdown between the nationally-ranked ACC rivals comes after the Cavaliers (6-5, 0-2 ACC) earned their first shutout win in over nine years, and the Tar Heels (6- 4, 1-0 ACC) were victorious in an overtime contest against then-No. 9 Duke.

Both teams are coming into Sunday’s contest with plenty of momentum. Virginia recorded a remarkable three-game winning streak in a span of seven days, and earned a shutout win over in-state foe Richmond to take back a spot in the national rankings this week. On the other hand, the Tar Heels won at Duke for the first time in six years.

North Carolina will be looking to defend their unbeaten ACC record, while the Cavaliers are hoping to break into the win column in ACC play. Like Virginia, North Carolina earned a win over No. 16 Johns Hopkins earlier in the season, as the Tar Heels recorded a 15-11 win over the Blue Jays. North Carolina also took on Richmond, and posted a convincing win of 15-6.

The Tar Heels also boast the one of the ACC players of the week with senior attackman Steve Pontrello earning offensive player of the week honors. Pontrello scored a career-high number of six goals in North Carolina’s win over the Blue Devils.

While two of four losses have come to top-five opponents, No. 4 Denver and No. 5 Maryland, the Tar Heels suffered a 10-5 loss to unranked Hofstra early in the season. Tough losses are something that Virginia can commiserate with, as the Cavaliers have worked hard to find their rhythm this season.

“They’re in the same boat that we are now,” coach Dom Starsia said. “They have kind of been finding their way over the course of the season.”

However, Virginia has much to be proud of now, coming off a week that included an overtime win over Johns Hopkins, its highest score of the season against Virginia Military Institute, and a shutout against Richmond. Starsia attributes much of the team’s success to their improved defensive performance.

“Defensively we’ve been better, and I believe that tells the story of where we’ve been the past couple of weeks.” Starsia said.

Defense surely has been the story for the Cavaliers, as junior goalie Matt Barrett earned ACC defensive player of the week honors after his performance against the Spiders. Barrett has now earned the accolade once in every year that he has played for Virginia after earning the award in both 2014 and 2015.

“[Barrett] seems to be a little more relaxed in the cage at the moment,” Starsia said. “He’s a little more patient, and waiting for the ball. He’s just been much better the last couple of weeks for us.”

The offense has gotten the job done for the Cavaliers recently as well. In Virginia’s matchup against the Keydets last Tuesday, the Cavaliers saw 16 different players score points to propel them to the 19-4 win. One of those key offensive players has been junior attackman Ryan Lukacovic, who has scored goals in each of Virginia’s last three victories.

“Now that our defense is playing really well, our offense is starting to hit some shots,” Lukacovic said. “Hopefully our confidence can carry us through to North Carolina this weekend, and then for the rest of the season.”

Defeating the Tar Heels at Kenan Stadium Sunday will be no easy task, and the Cavaliers recognize that. Last season, when North Carolina visited Charlottesville, Virginia fell by a score of 10-6. North Carolina now holds the second place position in the ACC.

“I don’t think that I have to spend a lot of time getting the players attention for [North Carolina],” Starsia said. “I think that everyone understands that it’s an important game. It probably comes at the right time for us.”

The Cavaliers are hoping that they have peaked at the right time going into Sunday’s contest, as Virginia will be seeking its first ACC win since the 2013-14 season. For now, though, the Cavaliers are just taking it game by game.

“We’re excited to get out there and compete against a really good team,” Barrett said. “We’ll get to really see how much we’ve improved.”

Sunday’s game will be televised nationally on ESPNU, and faceoff is set for 2 p.m.

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