UPDATED: April 14, 2017 at 8:02 p.m.

North Carolina head coach Joe Breschi saw Luke Goldstock play for the first time at the Maverik Showtime in Connecticut. He knew the sophomore in high school had potential.

“I just remember his shot, and I was like woah,” Breschi said. “I told him to come by for a visit because I knew we could do something with that.”

Goldstock wanted to stay home at home to play out his collegiate lacrosse career. After receiving offers from both North Carolina and Maryland, the then-sophomore in high school called the Syracuse coaching staff. SU told the Niskayuna (New York) High School product they wanted to wait to see how his junior season played out.

Goldstock totaled over 140 points in his junior campaign. But, the offer never came.

Instead, Syracuse will be tasked with stopping the senior attack when No. 17 North Carolina (6-5, 1-1 Atlantic Coast) hosts No. 1 Syracuse (9-1, 3-0). After not recording a start in his first season, the senior captain has started all 46 games for the Tar Heels over the last three seasons. In his sophomore season, he broke a 24-year-old single-season scoring record by pouring in 50 goals for the Tar Heels. Eleven games into his final season, the 2016 Tewaaraton Award nominee ranks second on the team with 28 points, one behind junior attack Chris Cloutier.

“I’m a shooter,” Goldstock said. “… I’m best when I let my teammates draw attention and then leave me open where I’ve got a free shot.”

Goldstock’s rise into one of UNC’s top scoring threats began in the garage of Niskayuna assistant coach Patrick Williams during the summer following his freshman year of high school. He was too undersized to break into the JV starting lineup as a freshman. So the then-5-foot-5 lanky attack began with basic BFS (bigger, faster, stronger) training. These exercises focused on bench presses, squats and deadlift.

Courtesy of Jeffrey A. Camarati | UNC Athletics

Initially, a lack of mobility limited Goldstock in the exercises. By the next summer, the now-varsity starter had surpassed Williams basic training program. Williams, who is not a certified strength and conditioning coach, turned to YouTube videos from Olympic lifting coach Greg Everett. What initially began as a small group in Williams garage, grew into a full-team workout at the school facilities. The BFS training was replaced with more advanced Olympic lifts: jerks, cleans and overhead squats. By the time Goldstock was entering his senior season, the team was completing sets of overhead squats followed by quarter-mile sprints.

“I wanted to push him,” Williams said. “And more importantly, he wanted to be pushed.”

In the summer following his junior season, Williams told the players to find a partner of equal size to fireman carry — a drill in which you throw someone on your shoulders and carry them — 100 yards down the field. He then matched himself with Goldstock claiming they weighed around the same. The then-180-pound attack hauled his coach the length of the football field. He finished first as usual. After crossing the goal-line Goldstock gasped for air and looked at his coach in dismay.

“180 pounds my ass,” Goldstock chirped to his coach.

He was right. Williams estimates his weight to be around 205 pounds at the time.

The work with Williams paid off. Goldstock was a high school All-American his junior and senior year at Niskayuna. When he arrived on campus at Chapel Hill he stood 6-foot-1 and 190 pounds. Since then he has grown another two inches and added 15 pounds to his frame.

“Never once did we do anything lacrosse,” Williams said. “It was just in the weight room. Blood sweat in tears in a different way.”

But the hard work led to an opportunity to play for North Carolina, not Syracuse. Since breaking the starting lineup his sophomore season, Goldstock has faced SU four times and scored seven goals in those games.

In a 2014 game against Syracuse, Goldstock posted four goals in a 17-15 win at Chapel Hill. He used his size to score the first, pulling away from a scrum with a ground ball and finishing the ball in the net. In his next two goals, he flashed speed and quickness first scoring with his right hand then his left.

“He is a big offensive leader for them.” Syracuse head coach John Desko said. “… He wants to get into shooting spots. He’s very smart he’ll put his defender in a spot where he wants his defender to slide and then he has the space to get that shot in.”

Breschi knew that with some time, Goldstock would develop into that offensive threat. Now it’ll be up to the school that shunned him to figure out a way to slow him down.

Published on April 14, 2017 at 3:36 pm

Contact Josh: jlschafe@syr.edu | @Schafer_44