Friday's editions included a Q&A with North Carolina junior faceoff specialist Stephen Kelly, a Lutherville resident and Calvert Hall graduate who won 20 faceoffs in the No. 3 seed Tar Heels' 19-12 thrashing of Colgate in the first round of the NCAA Division I tournament on Sunday. Due to space constraints, here are some answers that didn't make the cut.
How have you evolved as a faceoff specialist?
I had to completely change my stance and my technique, and I was really starting from square one. I used to be on my feet with a neutral grip. Now I'm on my knee with a "motocross" grip. I really had to change a lot, and I did that a week before the season because the way my technique was before, it really wasn't working with the new rules. As the year's been going on, I've been getting better and better and have been working really hard.
Has your personal success this spring helped bury the memory of a disappointing 2014 campaign shortened by a broken wrist against Harvard in the eighth game of the season?
Last year was the first time I had ever had a serious injury in my career. So that really gave me a perspective of how lucky I am to be on the field and to have a hard work ethic because you never know when you'll get injured. So it's been great that I've been able to stay healthy so far this year and I hope I can stay healthy as we make a playoff run here.
How disappointing was last year's injury?
It was tough. I had just come off a pretty big game [13 of 20 and five ground balls] against Duke [9-8 overtime loss on March 15] and a very well-known player and a first-team All-American in Brendan Fowler. That was a big game for me and a confidence booster, knowing that I could be with the best and hang with the best. Then unfortunately, I broke my wrist in the very next game against Harvard [on March 18], and it definitely was one of the low moments in my career. But what happened and the timing, it was all meant for a reason. I just trusted that God had a plan for me down the road. Obviously, it was definitely a very tough time, and it stunk having to sit on the sideline and watch the last month, month-and-a-half of the season. But I think it gave me an even harder work ethic, a different perspective of enjoying the moment of playing each day.
Was the disappointment compounded by missing out on the latter half of your brother Frankie's last season as a player?
Not at all. Last year was his senior year, and it was cool that I got to play with him. What's really cool and what a lot of people don't know is, I played with him for one year on our middle school team, one year in high school, and one year in college. That's pretty cool as brothers to play at every level together. We actually played the same position, facing off, and we were great together. It didn't matter who was starting or who was doing well. We were always helping each other in practice and were always very supportive of each other. Seeing how he worked last year and how he went at it each day especially when I was hurt, it really helped my work ethic this year and really put things into perspective that no matter what your situation is, you should always work as hard as you can. It was really cool to see how my brother -- even though we lost in a tough way to Denver [9-5 in the first round of the NCAA tournament] -- played a really good game. I think that was emblematic of his career as far as his desire to finish until the end of the race. That was the last game of his career, and he had one of the best games of his career [7-of-11 and four ground balls]. So that was really cool to see. And he's a grad assistant manager this year, and he's been with the team all year. I actually live with him down at school. So we're really hoping that since this is our last time together in the lacrosse world, we can bring home a championship, which would be pretty special.
And you currently play with your cousin Patrick, a junior midfielder?
My cousin Patrick is on the team, and he plays midfield and attack although he's been a midfielder this year. That's been cool as well, and I have a cousin coming next year in [Calvert Hall senior attackman] Timmy Kelly. That will be fun to play with him next year. I guess you can say it's been somewhat of a Kelly affair down in Chapel Hill. I've played with Patrick my whole life, ever since I started playing lacrosse. So it's been cool to play with him at each level of lacrosse.
Is there pressure knowing that North Carolina hasn't played in a Final Four since 1993?
We embrace that as a team. But Coach [Joe Breschi] told us [Monday] at practice that this is our team. What has happened in the past is in the past. We're the team now, and we've just got to focus on ourselves. That's been hanging over our heads, and our team knows it. People know it and people talk about it, but we just try to focus on what our team has next. We're just trying to get better each time. We know we're playing for a great goal, and our goal isn't to just get to the Final Four. We want to win a championship. We're taking that one day at a time, and we're going to work as hard as we can.
No. 6 seed Maryland, which is your team's quarterfinal opponent, won the regular-season meeting, 10-8, on March 21. Is this a rematch you and your teammates wanted?
Absolutely. I think when we saw the bracket and saw that we had a chance to play them again, we thought that would be awesome. It was a great game in California that was what it was, but we're excited that we get another chance at them. We think it's going to be a different result this time, and we're going to be prepared as possible. I know that the guys in the locker room are going to go after it this week. So we'll be ready for another shot at them. They're obviously a very talented team and a great program. So we've got nothing but respect for them, but we're ready to get after them.
How excited are you about returning to Maryland to play in the quarterfinals?
That's awesome. If you look at the four teams playing in the quarterfinals – Hopkins, Maryland, UNC and Syracuse – that's like a Final Four right there. It'll be great to be back close to my hometown. Annapolis is about 40 minutes from where I live, but I think it's going to be a great atmosphere with two hometown college teams there and two big-time ACC teams. UNC has a lot of Baltimore kids on the team. So I think I'll be a great atmosphere, and I'm excited that we get to go to Annapolis and play.
Are you getting a lot of ticket requests from family and friends?
We're only allowed to get four tickets. So those are going to go to my immediate family -- my mom, my dad, my brother and probably one of my grandparents. The NCAA is pretty strict once you get into the playoffs about who you can give your tickets to. I've had some buddies ask me and some people ask me, and I'm sure I'll have more people ask me if I can hook them up with tickets because I've been able to do that in the past. But it'll be tougher with this game.
How many family members and friends do you expect to see on Sunday?
I know my whole family will be out there. With the Kelly family, I have 19 cousins. I don't know if they will all be out there. I have one cousin, John, who plays for Ohio State [as a sophomore midfielder], and he's going to be in Denver. So his parents might be out there watching him. As far as friends, I'm sure I've got a lot of people coming, close friends that I played with in high school and friends that are back home now from college. I think it will be a pretty sweet atmosphere and hopefully, we can get a win and move on from there.