Every week during the regular season, we’ll award an NCAA.com Offensive and Defensive Player of the Week for Division I men’s lacrosse.
Offensive Player of the Week
Luke Goldstock | North Carolina | Jr. | A | Niskayuna, New York
Goldstock keyed North Carolina’s 17-15 comeback against top-ranked Notre Dame, leading an 8-1 scoring outburst in the fourth quarter.
Goldstock totaled four goals and two assists with all but one of those points coming in the final 11 minutes of the game. Goldstock assisted Michael Tagliaferri’s goal with 8:16 to play to cut Notre Dame’s lead to 15-12. He then added back-to-back goals, less than one minute apart, to pull the Tar Heels within a point. Goldstock finished his day assisting Patrick Kelly’s goal that turned out to be the final score of the game.
Junior attackman Goldstock was the key player in an 8-1 fourth-quarter scoring burst as No. 16 North Carolina came from five goals down with less than 10 minutes to play to upset top-ranked Notre Dame, 17-15.
Defensive Player of the Week
Stephen Kelly | North Carolina | Jr. | M | Lutherville, Maryland
Kelly was integral in the Tar Heels’ rally against the Fighting Irish. The junior won 19 of 35 faceoffs, including seven of 10 in the fourth quarter, and matched a season high picking up 12 ground balls.
Kelly scored North Carolina’s game-winning goal off his own faceoff win with 2:50 remaining.
The efforts helped North Carolina clinch the No. 1 seed in this week’s Atlantic Coast Conference Championship. UNC faces Syracuse Friday, April 29.
When you wake up on Monday morning and realize it’s ACC Tournament Week pic.twitter.com/zw3Cgl7DtV
— UNC Men's Lacrosse (@uncmenslacrosse) April 25, 2016
Honorable mention: Trevor Baptiste, Denver (defense); Connor Fields, Albany (offense); Jules Heningburg, Rutgers (offense); Foster Huggins, Loyola (defense); Zach Ornstein, Albany (defense); Will Walker, Harvard (offense).
