Duke Dispatches North Carolina, 14-7; Advances to ACC Title Game

Friday, May 2

Charlotte, N.C.

8 p.m.

Duke University

North Carolina

Photo by: Duke Athletics

Duke Dispatches North Carolina, 14-7; Advances to ACC Title Game

5/3/2025 1:29:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score Box Score

CHARLOTTE, N.C.— Duke sophomore Tomas Delgado recorded a hat trick, and the third-seeded Blue Devils held North Carolina without a goal for 31 minutes en route to a commanding 14-7 victory over the No. 2-seed Tar Heels in the ACC Men's Lacrosse Championship Semifinals Friday night at American Legion Memorial Stadium.

Duke advances to play No. 4 seed Syracuse, Sunday, May 4 at noon on ACC Network.

Delgado, in his first career start, notched his first career hat trick and finished the night with four points. Liam Kershis also had four points with a goal and three assists. Defensively, Duke held North Carolina to just two goals through three quarters, leading 12-2 after 45 minutes of action.

Duke had eight different goal scorers and Luke Engelke was solid at the faceoff dot, winning 11-of-21 against the nation's third-ranked faceoff specialist.

How it Happened

Duke raced out to an early 3-0 lead with goals from Delgado, Andrew McAdorey and Max Sloat. Delgado opened the scoring on a pass from rookie Liam Kershis while McAdorey and Sloat connected on solo efforts.
The stout Blue Devil defense picked up right where it left off the past few weeks, holding North Carolina to just two shots in the first 10 minutes while forcing three turnovers.
Delgado and Kershis connected again at the 4:37 mark of the first quarter, extending Duke's lead to 4-0.
North Carolina broke through for its first goal of the game with a transition tally from Dominic Pietramala at the 2:20 mark.
After a 4-1 first quarter in favor of the Blue Devils, scoring slowed in the second with neither team finding the cage in the first six minutes. Benn Johnston ended Duke's drought, sneaking his shot under North Carolina goalie Michael Gianforcaro for the 5-1 lead.
Graham Blake stretched Duke's lead to 6-1 while the career game continued for Delgado as the sophomore registered his third of the evening with 11 seconds left for a 7-1 Blue Devil advantage at the half.
Duke held North Carolina without a goal in the second quarter and kept the Tar Heels to just 12 shots in the opening 30 minutes.
Everything continued to go right for the Blue Devils in the third period as Duke added four more goals in the first eight minutes for a commanding 12-1 lead. Eric Malever got his first of the night while Blake and McAdorey both added a second. Jack Pappendick and Max Sloat threw in their firsts of the evening to give Duke seven different goal scorers.
Ty English ended North Carolina's scoring drought ended at 31 minutes with 59 seconds left.
Liam Kershis became Duke's seventh goal scorer of the game with a behind-the-back finish on a feed from Malever. The ball continued to find its way into the North Carolina net with Malever getting his second of the night for a 14-3 advantage.
The Tar Heels scored the final four goals to bring it to the 14-7 final.
In goal, Patrick Jameison made 10 saves while Gianforcaro had eight stops for the Tar Heels. Duke had the 36-34 edge in shots and won the ground ball battle, 29-23.

Team Notes

Duke improves to 24-24 all-time in ACC Championship action and 17-15 in semifinal games. The Blue Devils are 9-5 against North Carolina in ACC postseason action and 3-6 all-time as the No. 3 seed.
Duke held North Carolina scoreless in the second quarter – just the fourth team and fifth quarter the Blue Devils have done so this season. The 31-minute scoreless stretch for the Tar Heels is the longest scoring drought by a Duke opponent this season.
The Blue Devil defense held North Carolina to 34 shots for the game – 10.5 below its 44.5 season average. The seven goals scored are the second fewest by the Tar Heels this season and over six below their season average of 13.46. UNC's .206 shot percentage is its second lowest of the season. The Tar Heels entered the game shooting .302.
Duke's .389 shot percentage (14 goals on 36 shots) is the fourth highest this season and the best since hitting .400 against Air Force March 8. The Blue Devils shot .235 against ACC foes during the regular season and .194 versus the Tar Heels in the April 12 matchup.

Player Notes

In his first career start, Tomas Delgado finished the game with a career-high three goals. Delgado has five goals and an assist in the past two games after notching just one goal and one assist in his previous 23 games.
Charlie Johnson recorded two caused turnovers to push his season total to 28, tying him for fourth with Tom Montell in Duke single-season history. Johnson held North Carolina's top scorer Owen Duffy to a goal and an assist and forced four turnovers. Duffy entered the game averaging 4.15 points per game (2.31g, 1.85a).
Max Sloat scored two goals to give him 23 for the season – best his 19 in 19 games last season.
With a goal and an assist, Benn Johnston surpassed his freshman season total of 29 points in 19 games. Johnston has 30 points (24, 6a) in his 16 outings this season.
Eric Malever registered two goals and an assist, pushing him to 32 goals and 29 assists for a career-best 61 points. Both the 30 tallies and 28 helpers are also career bests.
Liam Kershis had a goal and a career-high three assists for a career-best four points. The rookie attackman nine points in the past four games after being held without a point in the previous four.
Patrick Jameison made 10 saves for his 10th double-digit saves performance this season and the 22nd of his career.