MLax Duke 13, Carolina 11

[burnspbesq]

9-3 Duke at the half. By far their best 30 minutes of lacrosse all season. Carolina has as many turnovers as shots.

[burnspbesq]

Carolina has the ball with a man advantage to start the fourth quarter. Big opportunity for the Duke man-down unit to be game-changers.

[burnspbesq]

It got a little hairy at the end, but Carolina took a couple of silly penalties in the last two minutes and Duke was able to run out the clock.

Turnovers killed Carolina. They are as wasteful with the ball as any team I've seen in years.

Fourteen wins in the last 15 games against Carolina. Love it!

[MCFinARL]

This was close to a must-win game for Duke, given that the team already has 3 losses, including one ACC loss to Maryland. Glad to see the team meet the challenge, though the drop off in the second half after the great start was a little concerning. Going forward they will need to work on bringing it all four quarters of every game, and they need to figure out how to score on extra-man opportunities, which has been a glaring weak spot so far this season.

As for UNC, once again they seem to be turning an apparent abundance of offensive talent into--not that much. Not sure why that keeps happening but I will take it gladly.

[burnspbesq]

The 2010 team was also 5-3 after eight games, with losses to Notre Dame, Maryland, and Carolina, and Virginia still to come. However, this year's remaining schedule is significantly more difficult, with Syracuse and Denver still to come. Because of our ridiculous SOS, I think we can get in with six losses. Any more than that will be a real problem.

We're close. We just need to play for 60 minutes.

[MCFinARL]

The 2010 team was also 5-3 after eight games, with losses to Notre Dame, Maryland, and Carolina, and Virginia still to come. However, this year's remaining schedule is significantly more difficult, with Syracuse and Denver still to come. Because of our ridiculous SOS, I think we can get in with six losses. Any more than that will be a real problem.

We're close. We just need to play for 60 minutes.

That seems about right. So out of Virginia, Syracuse, our guaranteed ACC tournament game, and Denver, we have to win at least one, and we have to avoid losing to good teams that we nevertheless "ought to" beat, like Dartmouth today or Georgetown next weekend. It will be challenging, but as you note, it should be doable if the team plays all its games for the full 60 minutes.