WEST POINT, N.Y. – No. 9 Army West Point men's lacrosse (8-1, 3-1 PL) defeated the No. 5 ranked North Carolina Tarheels (7-2), 13-12 on a sunny and warm March Saturday afternoon at Michie Stadium.
Army's senior attacker Jackson Eicher matched a career-high six goals to pace the offensive efforts. It was Eicher's second game this season totaling six goals.
Eicher got his monster game started early netting Army's first goal two minutes into play from an assist by Evan Plunkett.
Army jumped out to an early 2-0 lead a minute later as Gunnar Fellows scored with an assist this time from Eicher.
The Tarheels answered with three straight goals of their own to take the lead after Army's fast start, two by Dominic Pietramala and one by Owen Duffy.
Army responded with an unassisted snipe from freshman Aiden Weisenborn and then a minute and a half later, Evan Plunkett found his little brother Hill Plunkett for a goal to take the lead, 4-3 as the first quarter ended, 4-3.
The Tarheels controlled the early part of the second quarter, scoring three unanswered goals to take a 6-4 lead.
Trailing 6-4 midway through the second quarter, Eicher took over for the Black Knights.
Eicher scored three consecutive goals, including two difficult and impressive top-shelf shots for the Black Knights to retake the lead, 7-6.
Eicher scored four first-half goals, his fifth hat trick of the season.
UNC was able to finally respond and tie the game with 1:05 left in the opening half. However, Army retook the advantage heading into the locker room as freshman Brayden Fountain beat the buzzer, scoring with two seconds remaining on an assist from Evan Plunket to lead 8-7.
In the third, the Eicher show continued as he scored twice more as Army took a 12-10 lead into the final 15 minutes.
In the fourth, Army increased its lead to three goals, 13-10 following Fountain's second goal of the game on a find from Hill Plunkett. Carolina responded and scored two goals to cut Army's lead to just one.
In crunch time, Army stood tall as All-American Defender AJ Pilate made a massive hit to cause a turnover and stop a Carolina scoring chance with about three minutes left to play.
Carolina had the ball in Army territory with less than 30 seconds remaining, but Army's swarming defense did not allow the Tarheels to even get a shot off as the buzzer came to sound as the Army upset No. 5 North Carolina.
Army goaltender Sean Byrne made 10 saves, his fifth game this season making 10+ saves. Midfielder Evan Plunkett had a game-high five assists.
Army has won in back-to-back seasons over North Carolina, defeating them in Chapel Hill last season, 13-12.
The win is Army's seventh win over a top-10 opponent since 2021 and its first over a top-five opponent since defeating No. 4 Maryland in the NCAA Tournament in 2023.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | TOTAL | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Army |
4 |
4 |
4 |
1 |
13 |
|
North Carolina |
3 |
4 |
3 |
2 |
12 |
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