UNC-Wilmington Completes Undefeated Season, Earns D2 Conference Title

Article and Photos by Isabella Schlösser

The battle of the Carolinas continued April 26 as Coastal Carolina University and the University of North Carolina – Wilmington took the field for the Atlantic Lacrosse Conference (ALC) Division II national championship game.

The Seahawks came out on top with an 11-9 victory over the Chanticleers. As the DI championship was a sea of orange, the DII championship was a sea of blue between the two teams, but only one came out on top.

Coastal managed to put its name on the board first with three unanswered goals. The first goal came early, 48 seconds into the first quarter, from senior attacker Kyle Maccaull off an assist from sophomore midfielder Colin Manitta.

Sophomore midfielder Cooper Legatto scored two in a row, with one off an assist from junior midfielder George Psaltis and the other unassisted. The first quarter ended with both teams tied, 3-3.

In the second quarter, Coastal struck first again with two back-to-back goals from Harris, one unassisted and the other with an assist from junior midfielder Zach Jarvis. The Seahawks retaliated quickly, trying to stay in the hunt.

Junior midfielder Dylan Bryson netted the first unassisted and sophomore midfielder Trevor Cooling later scored his unassisted. 

The Chanticleers continued to grow their lead as Harris and MacCaull both scored with assists from Jarvis to go into halftime.

Going into the third quarter, UNCW still trailed 7-5. Coastal pulled even farther ahead with two more goals from Jarvis and MacCaull.

The Seahawks came back into the third quarter with fire in their eyes as they netted five unanswered goals to pull ahead 10-9. Three of these goals came from Parker, all unassisted.

The other two came from senior attacker Ryan Kazella, one unassisted, the other assisted by Legatto. The third quarter ended with UNCW in the lead going into the final quarter.

The fourth quarter only saw one goal from the Seahawks when Cooling put one in the back of the net with an assist from Kazella. 

The game concluded when the Seahawks claimed a ground ball with just over 20 seconds left and iced the clock. Wilmington claimed their first conference title, taking the trophy back to the beach before heading to Richmond for the National tournament May 4 .