It really shouldn't have been this way.
The weather was near-perfect. The crowd at Duke Lacrosse Stadium was bigger than it has been all season. It was senior day -- the last ever home game for Duke's seven graduating seniors. And it was Carolina.
But neither emotion, nor rivalry, nor home-field advantage could overcome the No. 1 ranked North Carolina squad on Saturday, as it defeated Duke, 13-9. The ninth-ranked Blue Devils fell to 8-4, 1-2 in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
"I got no fault with my guys," Duke head coach Mike Pressler said following the game. "I'm mad at them for the mental mistakes, but not for the physical. We played hard enough, we just didn't play smart enough."
There was no doubt in anybody's mind that Duke had come to play. But for the first three minutes the Blue Devils played scared, seemingly intimidated by the reputation that each year preceeds Carolina's teams. And the Tar Heels capitalized on the fear, scoring on their first two possessions to jump out to an early lead.
But then the Blue Devils began to settle down. Scott Harrison wrapped around from behind the net and notched the first Duke goal. Then it was Ross Moscatelli, who isolated and beat UNC goalie Gary Lehrman to knot the score at 2-2.
Mike Clayton followed just over a minute later, cutting across the middle for another unassisted tally before Carolina finally ended the run with a goal of its own.
Duke would again take the lead on a Blake Holden goal, but the Tar Heels then took advantage of a one-minute slashing penalty on Duke's Derek Thomson and notched two straight tallies.
Now the Blue Devils showed a little resiliency of their own, as Matt Ogelsby went one-on-one and tied the score at 5-5 to end the opening stanza.
"The key to the game early was we shot the ball on target, and it went in," said Pressler, explaining his team's pre-game plan to pepper Lehrman -- Carolina's No. 2 goalkeeper -- with as many shots as possible. "Everything we shot went in, as we thought.
"We were shooting the ball high, and then we started going at his feet. The first five goals we shot in the air, and they go in. For whatever reason, we changed the way we were shooting, and that hurt us."
It hurt, badly. The Tar Heels held Duke scoreless for the next 13 minutes, as much a result of the Blue Devils' poor shooting as Carolina's impermeable defense. Senior tri-captain Jim Mannino -- playing despite a bout with food poisoning -- finally ended the drought with Duke's sixth goal of the game.
But the Blue Devils were still in the game, largely in part because of their defense. Senior goalkeeper Carter Hertzberg turned away four shots during the stretch (15 for the game), and a strong effort from all the defenseman never allowed Carolina's precision attack to get in sync. The Tar Heels could only manage three goals despite dominating the quarter, and went to halftime with an 8-6 lead.
For the entire first half, Duke had shown no evidence of its weakness -- youth and inexperience. Its makeshift defense looked as if it had been playing together all season. And its lack of depth was hidden behind a veil of sheer hustle at both ends of the field.
Hustle, however, can only last so long, and the second half showed what everyone had been denying all day -- right now, Carolina is the stronger team.
This showed in the two team's shots, as the Blue Devils continually rifled balls high and wide of the cage. For the game they recorded 41 shots, but only 23 were on goal. After Mannino's goal, Duke would not find the net again until under four minutes remained in the game, when Ogelsby and Moscatelli each notched their second goals of the game.
It showed on the face-offs, as neither Harrison, nor Holden, nor face-off specialist Andy Droney was successful against any of the players Carolina used on each restart. Out of 26 confrontations at the center stripe, Duke won only 11. Many that did end up in a Blue Devil stick soon fell to the ground, victimized by vicious Tar Heel checks.
And it showed in the ground balls, every loose ball bouncing in the direction of a baby blue jersey, stifling the Duke attack while propelling that of the Tar Heels. Duke recorded a scant 29 loose balls for the game. Carolina finished with 59.
It is these little things that can make or break teams, and win or lose games. It is these little things that make Carolina the nation's No. 1 team. It is these little things that, on Saturday, Duke could not do.
The reason? It's all in the numbers.
"When you only play 18 guys, those 18 gotta be warriors, and we know that," Pressler said. "Carolina plays 35, and their depth got to us. Four midfields against two midfields. Six attackmen against three defenseman. The only person they don't sub is their goalie."
The Blue Devils meet Carolina again this Friday in the first round of the ACC Tournament. The game offers not only a chance to avenge this loss, but also Duke's last chance for the big win that would secure a bid to the NCAA post-season tournament. Even as the the spectators filed out, Pressler optimistically looked ahead.
"I'll get these guys back," Pressler said. "They'll be healthy, and we'll be ready to go Friday night. There's no doubt in our minds now that we can beat these guys. We just gotta regroup and get it done."
Give round one to Carolina. Round two is again up for grabs.
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