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The North Carolina Tar Heels are the 59th team in our 2018 schedule preview series and the second team from the ACC. Despite finishing 8-8, the Tar Heels did win the ACC Championship and made the NCAA Tournament, but lost to No. 8 Albany, 15-12, in the first round.
Here’s the entire 2018 schedule:
North Carolina’s 2018 Schedule
| Date | Road Team | Home Team | Special Notes | Last Year's Meeting(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Road Team | Home Team | Special Notes | Last Year's Meeting(s) |
| 2/3 | Lafayette | North Carolina | First ever meeting | |
| 2/10 | Furman | North Carolina | 7-3 W | |
| 2/17 | Lehigh | North Carolina | 15-8 W | |
| 2/23 | North Carolina | Johns Hopkins | 13-5 L | |
| 2/28 | Mercer | North Carolina | First meeting since 2012 (20-7 W) | |
| 3/3 | St. John's | North Carolina | First ever meeting | |
| 3/5 | Denver | North Carolina | 13-9 W | |
| 3/10 | North Carolina | Hofstra | 11-9 L | |
| 3/14 | North Carolina | Richmond | 6-5 L | |
| 3/24 | North Carolina | Maryland | Pacific Coast Shootout (in Costa Mesa, California) | 15-7 L |
| 3/30 | North Carolina | Duke | ACC | 12-8 L |
| 4/7 | Virginia | North Carolina | ACC | 15-12 W |
| 4/14 | North Carolina | Syracuse | ACC | 12-11 L/OT, 16-15 W |
| 4/21 | Notre Dame | North Carolina | ACC | 14-13 L, 14-10 W |
The Tar Heels add Lafayette, Mercer, and St. John’s to their nonconference schedule, replacing Dartmouth and UMBC. UNC adds one more game this year.
Let’s check out some notable games on this schedule:
Best Nonconference Game: vs. Denver
Looking at the schedule, I had to make sure a few times that the day was right. A marquee matchup is on a Monday afternoon. They’ll have the entire lacrosse world focused on Chapel Hill, and these meetings have always been entertaining. How will the loss of Stephen Kelly at the face-off X affect UNC’s draw game against Trevor Baptiste? Either Riley Graham or Charles Kelly will need to be up for that task.
Best Conference Game: vs. Notre Dame
The two teams have met twice in each of the past two years, with UNC going 3-1 in that span. Their meetings have had implications for deciding the ACC regular season and ACC Tournament champions. Both teams have some key players lost to graduation, and will count on their incoming freshmen and depth from last year to step up their game, including Brendan Collins and Pierre Byrne in the Fighting Irish midfield.
Under The Radar Game: vs. Lehigh
I mentioned the loss of Stephen Kelly in regards to the Denver game. The Lehigh game could also be a game where Kelly’s departure hurts the team. The Mountain Hawks have a pretty good sophomore FOGO in Conor Gaffney, who went 11-of-23 against the Tar Heels last year. He could cause problems to Graham or Kelly this year.
Possible Upset: @ Hofstra
The Pride have taken the past two meetings in Chapel Hill. It doesn’t help that this year’s meeting is in Hempstead. Hofstra loses Josh Byrne, but does have Ryan Tierney, Brendan Kavanagh, Dylan Alderman on offense, and goalie Jack Concannon to propel them towards a possible CAA championship.
For other schedules and team rosters, check out our Men’s Division I matrix.