At No. 8, the North Carolina Tar Heels were the higher seed entering their opening round matchup of the NCAA Men's Lacrosse Tournament on Saturday against Denver. Things, however, didn't go exactly as planned, as the Tar Heels were undone by the unseeded Pioneers, 16-14 at Fetzer Field in Chapel Hill, N.C., marking the second straight season they had stumbled in an opening round tournament game.
For Denver, Mark Matthews scored a team-high five goals, while Jeremy Noble and Wes Berg finished with three apiece to lead the way.
For the Tar Heels, who led 10-8 at halftime, Marcus Holman scored a game-high six goals.
The Pioneers will advance to the next round and face No. 1-seeded Loyola (MD) next weekend in Annapolis. The Greyhounds cruised past Canisus by a final score of 17-5 in their opening round matchup earlier on Saturday, improving to 15-1 overall on the year.
For more on college lacrosse head over to College Crosse.