April 23, 1999

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Despite being held scoreless in the fourth quarter, third-ranked Duke hung on to defeat fourteenth-ranked North Carolina 9-7 Saturday night in first round action at the ACC men's lacrosse tournament in Chapel Hill.

Duke junior attackman T.J. Durnan paced the Blue Devils with three goals in front of the crowd of 2,670 at Fetzer Field, while Tar Heel junior Matt Crofton added two goals and an assist. The Blue Devils finished with only one assist all evening which came from junior Jared Frood on Duke's first goal.

Crofton struck first for the Heels early in the first with an unassisted goal. Duke responded, rattling off four straight goals, including two by Durnan to take a 4-1 lead. Tar Heel midfielder Justin Bowman scored with 14 seconds left in the first to cut the lead to 4-2. In the second quarter, Duke struck twice with goals from Craig Schubert and Greg Patchak while Carolina's Chase Martin scored the short handed goal with 44 seconds left in the half to cut the Blue Devils' halftime lead to 6-3.

Scott Diggs scored his second goal of the game 1:23 into the third quarter while Frood added another two minutes later to inflate the Duke lead to 8-3. Durnan scored again for the Blue Devils as they took a game-high six goal lead midway through the third quarter.

Sparked by the biggest deficit of the game, the Tar Heel offense sprung to life in the fourth quarter, outshooting Duke 19-3 and outscoring the Blue Devils 3-0. However the three fourth quarter goals were not enough to overcome the Duke lead as the Blue Devils hung on for the victory in Chapel Hill 9-7.

The win avenges the only Blue Devil loss of the season which came at the hands of Carolina last Wednesday in a 10-9 Tar Heel victory in Durham. With the win, the Blue Devils improve to 11-1, while the Tar Heels fall to 6-8.

Duke will face Virginia, who defeated Maryland 15-6 in the first ACC semifinal game, in the ACC Tournament finals 3:30 Sunday at Fetzer Field in Chapel Hill, the game will be televised by Home Team Sports.