It started off innocently enough. Sixty-one degrees and sunny under a pure blue sky, as the Virginia men’s lacrosse team whooped their way through warmups at American Legion Memorial Stadium.
It looked like any other game, and early in the second quarter it looked like one specific game. Virginia and North Carolina’s regular-season matchup, two weeks ago in Charlottesville, opened with three goals for Virginia and then seven for North Carolina. Sunday’s rematch opened with two for North Carolina and then seven for Virginia. Call it a mirror image.
The mirror ended up being one of those funhouse mirrors. The ones that distort things to wild proportions, turning a human being into an alien — or stretching a scoring run to 11 goals. By halftime, Virginia had scored 11 in a row, and graduate goalie Jake Marek had made 10 straight saves. No. 4 seed Virginia led No. 2 seed North Carolina 11-2, and the ACC Tournament final was over…