Most college lacrosse fans are surely aware of the name Brady Wambach and the weight that he carries as one of the most impactful specialists, or player period, in the sport at the moment.
At 5’9”, 185, he’s a compact force that tries, and usually succeeds, to lay a beating on his opponents each and every game. His relentless physicality means that every face-off is an adventure to win possession. And even by his own lofty standards, he’s having a massive year for the North Carolina Tar Heels.
Now
a junior, Wambach has been owning restarts for the Heels for three years now, and he just keeps getting better. As a freshman, he started his career winning 61 percent. As a sophomore, he took over 400 face-offs and won 68 percent of them. This season, he’s already taken 241, and he’s leading the country with a ridiculous 71.8 percent success rate.
The main issue for opponents with all of Wambach’s success is that the team that surrounds him is among the deepest and most talented in the country. The Tar Heels rank fourth in the nation in scoring offense (14.90), eighth in scoring defense (8.80) and, of course, first in the nation in face-offs (.685) thanks to Wambach’s work.
That’s just an incredibly dangerous combination of success all over the field, and it all starts with Carolina’s very own No. 22 in blue and white.
And that’s usually where it starts, too, meaning that Wambach has taken 241 of UNC’s 273 face-offs this year, just over 88 percent of their restarts. In contrast, Johnny Mullen has taken 81 percent of ‘Cuse’s draws. That’s not too crazy a difference, but it works out to a few more face-offs that Wambach takes per game than Mullen, which tracks back to the amount of violations Johnny’s been averaging per game.
The main task for Johnny, Drew Angelo and the wings will be to avoid getting bulldozed by the Heels FO unit, because Wambach has the capability to lead that charge.
Last weekend, in a neutral site game against Harvard, Carolina laid waste to the Crimson in the middle of the field, winning 23-of-27 (.852) with Wambach going 22-of-25 (.880). UNC rolled to a 17-7 victory in a game that was not close after the opening few minutes.
Going back to their last four games, they went 83-of-106 on face-offs (.783) with Wambach accounting for 78 of the wins and a .796 win percentage against Brown, Penn State, Army and Harvard.
Giving North Carolina the chance to gain that much possession for Owen Duffy, Dom Pietramala and the rest of their talented, young, emerging offense is a nightmare scenario for any opponent, especially when coupled with a dearth of possession for your offense against a solid Carolina defense with an ever-improving freshman between the pipes.
Avoiding getting blown out on face-offs is an obvious goal for every team in every lacrosse game, but it’s worth it’s extra share of attention when the numbers are what they are for the Heels. Gary Gait knows as much, and here’s what he had to say on the team’s approach heading into the weekend:
It’s tough. The guy’s just so good, that you’ve got to be prepared to, A, see if you can compete. So, John Mullen’s very good, as well. So, he’ll get a shot to go head-to-head, and then if it’s not going your way, you’ve got to have a plan B. And that’s to counter, mix it up, create loose balls. So, that’s what we’re going to do. Go with ‘A’, follow up with ‘B’, and see what happens. He’s definitely a difference maker for them. The possessions, the number of shots they get, it’s a glaring stat when you look at their numbers. It’s impressive.
It’s time for the Orange to muck it up at the dot on Saturday. That may be their best chance to come out on top in this big-time ACC battle.
