One second. That was all No. 11 Virginia needed to force overtime Saturday at Klöckner Stadium, all it took to erase what had been a four-goal fourth-quarter hole. But one minute and 17 seconds later, the Cavaliers’ comeback was quickly finished.
North Carolina’s James Matan scooped up a rebound off a Dominic Pietramala shot attempt and beat graduate goalie Jake Marek, lifting No. 3 North Carolina (11-2, 2-1 ACC) past No. 11 Virginia (7-6, 2-2 ACC) 16-15 in front of 4,025 fans.
The loss meant a second-straight one-goal defeat, three weeks after back-to-back wins over then-No. 1 Notre Dame and then-No. 7 Duke. Virginia still clinched a spot in the four-team ACC Tournament when Duke fell to Notre Dame 7-6 later Saturday.
“I couldn’t be any happier with my men, the fight back,” Coach Lars Tiffany said. “[Brady] Wambach is the best in the nation for a reason. He’s a Tewaaraton finalist for a reason … and just unfortunately, how that final one went in off the rebound.”
Virginia led just once — in the opening eight minutes. Freshman attacker Brendan Millon got the scoring going a minute into the first quarter. Defenseman Tommy Snyder and attacker Truitt Sunderland followed with back-to-back goals to make it 3-0.
Then came the flood.
North Carolina scored seven consecutive goals across the next 15 minutes of game time, highlighted by four straight man-up strikes in the final minutes of the first quarter. Two unnecessary roughness calls on defenseman Hudson Hausmann and an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on junior faceoff specialist Andrew Greenspan handed the Tar Heels three extra-man opportunities across a three-minute stretch. North Carolina converted on all of them — two goals from freshman attackman Nate Sage, one each from Pietramala and freshman midfielder Luke Bair, three of them assisted by junior attackman Owen Duffy.
“We were man-down a ton that first quarter in a sequence there, and dug ourselves a hole,” Tiffany said. “But every other phase was efficient. We shot the ball well.”
The faceoff X was brutal. Wambach took every one of the game’s 33 draws and won 23 of them. In the second quarter alone, the Tar Heels won eight of nine at the X. Greenspan went 2-for-11, junior Henry Metz managed just 2-for-8 and freshman Griff Meyer finished the rotation at the X with 6-for-14. Virginia finished minus-13 in possessions won off of the draw.
“When you've got to overcome those 13 possessions, you've got to be really good at all the other phases,” Tiffany said. “Unfortunately, we weren't good at the man-down phase.”
What kept the Cavaliers in the game was, in large part, Marek. The graduate has become the engine of Virginia’s back-half season, stopping 14 of 30 shots on goal in the face of North Carolina’s 52-shot onslaught — the most a Virginia opponent has attempted all season. Marek made more saves in the first quarter alone, six, than North Carolina starter Josh Marcus managed all afternoon with just three.
“For [Marek] to step up and make those saves that he did, and then make the save in overtime — and then unfortunately, the bounce of the ball right to them,” Tiffany said.
Down 11-7 at halftime, Virginia outscored North Carolina 3-1 in the third to cut the deficit to two, then watched the Tar Heels push it back to 15-11 with nearly seven minutes left in the fourth on a Mason Szewczyk goal. Four straight Cavalier strikes followed. Senior midfielder Joey Terenzi, Brendan Millon, senior attacker Ryan Colsey and — with one second left on the clock — sophomore midfielder Ryan Duenkel.
“Last week against Syracuse, we weren't as unselfish as we like to be,” Brendan Millon said. “But I think [today] was a good showing of what the U.Va. offense is like. We don't really care how the ball gets in the back of the net — we just want it to get there.”
Brendan Millon finished with three goals and three assists and now sits at No. 3 on Virginia’s all-time freshman points list, moving past Steele Stanwick. Colsey extended his scoring streak to 28 games with three of his own.
Junior attacker and elder brother McCabe Millon — named one of 25 nominees for the Tewaaraton Award earlier Saturday — added two goals and two assists. His second helper was the feed to Duenkel that sent the game to overtime.
But getting there took a scramble in Virginia’s defensive zone. With 52 seconds left and the Cavaliers down one after a Colsey goal, Tiffany burned his final timeout to reset against a North Carolina possession that was bleeding clock.
Coming out of the break, long-stick midfielder Robby Hopper and senior close defenseman John Schroter doubled Duffy and forced him to step on the end line. Virginia cleared.
“John Schroter, our captain, our All-American, along with Robby Hopper, are able to create a turnover on Owen Duffy, one of the best in the country,” Tiffany said. “That was huge.”
Colsey rang a shot off the post with 18 seconds to play. North Carolina’s Ty English scooped the rebound and promptly turned it over. Colsey picked up the ground ball and McCabe Millon found Duenkel. Duenkel — playing through illness that had kept him out of practice for days — found twine.
“Ryan Duenkel is a guy who needs an IV right now,” Tiffany said. “He’s completely dehydrated, hasn't been able to eat well … what he did out there was absolutely heroic."
Overtime could have been Virginia’s chance. An unnecessary roughness call on English on the game-tying Duenkel goal meant the Cavaliers would start the extra period a man up. They never got to use it. Meyer was whistled for kicking Wambach’s crosse on the opening draw, handing North Carolina possession despite playing a man short. The Tar Heels killed off English's penalty. Then Pietramala swept across the front of the cage. Marek deflected the shot, and it sprayed back out. The rebound found Matan, alone on the crease.
“You just stand there — you feel helpless,” Tiffany said. “At this point, there’s no scheme here, there's no strategy.”
North Carolina’s players bounded onto the field in celebration. Virginia’s drifted towards the sideline in a loose clump. Marek squatted at the edge of it, head bowed, leaning on his stick. The loss clearly stung for the standout goalie.
Virginia returns to Klöckner Stadium Friday for Senior Day and its regular-season finale against Drexel. First draw is set for 2:30 p.m. The ACC Tournament begins May 1 in Charlotte, N.C., and the NCAA Championships follow three weeks later at the Cavaliers’ own Scott Stadium.
“I just think we need to continue to be us,” Brendan Millon said. “A team that believes in one another, a team that prepares hard, a team that gets after it, looks out for one another, has a great culture. If we continue to do that, we'll make it pretty far.”
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