Lax team a Top 5 but with a top notch schedule
Sean DeLaney
Well, believe it or not, while the football team is waiting to see which bowl game they go to, the men’s basketball team is working through their tough non conference schedule, the men’s lacrosse team is already on the minds of many. One of those that are thinking about Lax is Inside Lacrosse, who has come out with their pre-season Top 25. Seeing the Top 5 of this pre-season ranking the Heels have good news and not so good news.
The good news is that head coach Joe Breschi’s squad are ranked fourth in the poll. And that is something that any team would be happy with. Unfortunately for UNC there is not one, but two pieces of bad news. One is Duke and the second is Virginia, which are ranked first and third in the same poll. Rounding out the Top 5 is #2 Syracuse, last season’s national champions and #5 Cornell, the runner up from the `09 season. So basically the top five teams in the rankings are either ACC teams or teams from upstate New York (a hot bed for lacrosse).
The other thing to think about is that out of the 12 game schedule the Tar Heels will have this season half of their opponents are ranked in this poll from Inside Lacrosse. The schedule has UNC playing three of these games playing in Chapel Hill and three on the road. This means that it is going to be a long and tough season if Carolina wants to stay in the Top 5.
However the Heels do have four players on the Inside Lacrosse All-American teams. Leading the way is junior attackman Billy Bitter (46 goals/25 assists), who made the first team. While last season’s Offensive MVP senior middi Sean DeLaney (35 goals/8 assists) and `09 Defensive MVP junior defender Ryan Flanagan were put on the second team. Finally, sophomore defenseman Jimmy Dunster was tabbed at the honorable mentions spot. All but Dunster started each game last season for North Carolina.
In the end this should be a very good season to tune into lax and if you do not know the game, to learn it. If you like a fast moving, hard hitting, smart thinking game then lacrosse is something you need to get involved with!
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