The Chapel Hill men’s lacrosse team finished its season as DAC-VI champions, going undefeated in conference play and making the playoffs for the fifth time in the past six years.
Despite beginning the season 0-2, losing to Wakefield and Croatan high schools, the Tigers bounced back, picking up wins against Ravenscroft on March 12 and Seaforth the day after.
Eleven days after losing to Croatan by one point, the Tigers lost to Page High School by one.
With a third of the regular season already done, the Tigers could have easily been undefeated or sitting at 4-1; instead, they sat at 2–3.
On March 22, a rainy Friday night, the Tigers were challenged by their crosstown rivals, the East Chapel Hill Wildcats.
The Tigers started out the game strong, scoring four goals to the Wildcats’ two. However, in the second quarter, the Wildcats adjusted, scoring four goals of their own and only allowing the Tigers to score two.
At halftime, the score stood at 6-6, and fans knew they were in for a treat.
The second half seemed to be a replica of the first one.
The Tigers came out strong, crushing the Wildcats in the third quarter. But just like in the second quarter, East Chapel Hill mounted a comeback, scoring six goals in the fourth quarter to make the score 13-13 and forcing overtime.
It was yet another game that was going to come down to one goal. It wasn’t looking good; the Wildcats had momentum, and the Tigers were 0-2 in these situations.
Despite the unfavorable odds, the Tigers prevailed as junior Colin Tanner hit the game-winning goal in overtime.
“The win against East felt like it brought us together as a team and helped lead us to more good things going forward and our eventual conference championship,” Tanner said.
The Tigers seemed to love tight games, as over the next two games they lost to Warren Township by one and beat Hayes by one.
Chapel Hill’s record stood at 4-4, and with less than half the season left, finishing the season strong was crucial for the Tigers.
The Tigers ended up finishing the second half of the regular season 6-1, going undefeated in conference play to capture the conference championship.
Along this stretch of wins, head coach Jacob Manning picked up his 100th career win.
“We definitely weren’t the most talented team in the state, but the guys worked hard for one another, and we won our conference and got to the second round of the playoffs,” Manning said.
The Tigers secured a 7-seed and a first-round bye in the playoffs.
Unfortunately, the Tigers lost to the Holly Springs Golden Hawks in the second round on May 3, 17-5.
Over the course of the season, lacrosse captains and twins Connor and Noah Markwell combined for a whopping 99 points.
“I’m very proud of how we came together as a team. We had a rough start, but came together at the end of the year and swept East Chapel Hill, our rivals, and won the conference,” Noah Markwell said.
The future looks bright in Chapel Hill, as the Tigers will only graduate nine seniors this year and look to have 15 returning players next year.
“I’m really excited to help lead the team to great things next season. We have the tools; we just need to execute,” sophomore starting goalie Silas Munday said.
