Missed shots, errant passes, poor communication - it was just that kind of a day for the No. 4 Virginia men's lacrosse team as they lost to No. 19 North Carolina, 7-5, Saturday at Klockner Stadium.
The loss to the Tar Heels (5-4, 1-2 ACC) not only snapped a four-game winning streak for the Cavaliers (5-4, 1-1), which included wins over No. 5 Johns Hopkins and No. 1 Maryland, but also prevented them from winning the ACC regular-season title outright. Now, if the Cavaliers win at Duke this Saturday, they will be in a three-way tie for first place heading into the ACC Tournament on April 20-22.
The Virginia offense, which had outscored its opponents, 53-18, during the winning streak, mustered only five goals against Tar Heel goalkeeper Kris Blindenbacher, who recorded 18 saves on the day.
"We took a step backwards today," junior attackman Conor Gill said. "I don't see our offense putting up 15 goals a game. So far we haven't even shown that we can play a full 60 minutes. We've played quarters, we've played halves, but it's going to take [the offense] deciding that we're going to put up 15 goals a game no matter what the defense throws at us. You can blame this one on me and Chris Rotelli - people look to us to take the lead - but we struggled today and that shouldn't have happened."
Though Gill was quick to blame himself and his linemates for Virginia's woes on Saturday, junior defenseman Mark Koontz was hesitant to hold the offense solely responsible.
"We didn't play as well as we could have all over the field," Koontz said. "It wasn't our offense's fault, and it wasn't our defense's fault. Just across the board, we didn't work hard enough. We didn't play as well as we played these past couple games."
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