Carolina Kicks Off Lacrosse Campaign Saturday Versus Lafayette

Saturday, February 3

Chapel Hill, N.C. (Kenan Stadium)

12 Noon

North Carolina

Lafayette

William McBride is one of five Tar Heels sharing captaincy duties in 2018.

Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati

Carolina Kicks Off Lacrosse Campaign Saturday Versus Lafayette

February 1, 2018 | Men's Lacrosse

Watch on ACC Network Extra Follow Live Updates on Twitter 2018 Media Guide (PDF)

Game time is set for 12 noon at Kenan Stadium

By: Dave Lohse

Carolina Opens 2018 Season Saturday vs. Lafayette

2018 UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA MEN'S LACROSSE GAME NOTES
Game 1: North Carolina Tar Heels (0-0, ranked #9 in USILA/NIKE Division I Men's Lacrosse Coaches Preseason Poll, ranked #10 in Inside Lacrosse Maverik Media Preseason Poll) vs. Lafayette Leopards (0-0)
Saturday, February 3, 2018
12:00 p.m. EDT
Kenan Stadium
Chapel Hill, N.C.
KEY LINKS FOR SATURDAY'S GAME
Live Stats: UNC Stat Broadcast
Telecast: ACC Network Extra
UNC Media Guide: 2018 Media Guide
UNC Game Notes: Link TBA
Player Roster & Coaches' Bios: GoHeels.com Roster Page
2017 Final Statistics: Link on GoHeels
UNC Lacrosse Social Media Links: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram

TAR HEELS OPEN CAMPAIGN AGAINST LAFAYETTE LEOPARDS SATURDAY: The 2018 University of North Carolina men's lacrosse team is prepared to start the season on Saturday when the Tar Heels host the Lafayette College Leopards at 12 noon. The game will be played at Kenan Stadium. Admission is free.

GAME DETAILS: North Carolina and Lafayette will both be playing their 2018 season openers on Saturday when they meet at 12 noon.
Live stats will be available on game day on GoHeels.com. Please check back Saturday around 11:45 a.m. to see the live link.
Saturday's game will be webcast nationally by ACC Network Extra with living streaming on WatchESPN and ESPNTheApp. Chris Hooks will serve as the play by play announcer for the game on ACC Network Extra.
The link to the UNC-Lafayette game on ACC Network Extra can be found here.

NEW VENUE FOR 2018: At the conclusion of the 2017 lacrosse season, historic Fetzer Field was razed. Construction on a new Fetzer Field, which will house the men's and women's soccer and lacrosse programs at Carolina, began in May 2017. The new Fetzer Field will reopen in August 2018.
In the interim, North Carolina will play all eight of its home games in 2018 in Kenan Stadium, the Tar Heels' historic football stadium which opened in 1927. All home games will be free of charge.
Fans are encouraged to sit on the South Side of the stadium and enter through gate 6. Parking for weekend games will be free in the Bell Tower Parking Lot. Parking will also be available in the Ramshead Parking Lot for a fee on game days.
The original Fetzer Field was built in 1935 and had served as the home of the Tar Heel men's lacrosse program since 1949, its first varsity campaign.

TAR HEELS IN THE PRESEASON POLLS: North Carolina is coming off an 8-8 campaign in 2017 in which it won the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament championship and earned an NCAA Tournament bid for the 11^th straight season.
Carolina begins the 2018 campaign ranked ninth in the Inside Lacrosse Maverik preseason media poll. Coach Joe Breschi's Tar Heels are also ranked ninth in the preseason United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association preseason coaches' poll.

TWO TAR HEELS NAMED PRESEASON ALL-ACC: A pair of Tar Heel veterans have been named to the preseason All-Atlantic Coast Conference Team selected by the league's five head coaches and released by the conference office on Tuesday, January 30.
Senior attackman Chris Cloutier and junior defenseman Jack Rowlett were named to the preseason All-ACC Team. Both are entering their third years as starters for the Tar Heels. Cloutier was the Most Valuable Player of the 2017 ACC Tournament when the Tar Heels won their 13^th league title in history.

CAROLINA PICKED TO FINISH THIRD IN ACC: The North Carolina men's lacrosse team is picked to finish third in the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2018. The preseason poll voted on by the league's five head coaches was released on Tuesday, January 30. The Tar Heels are the defending Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament champions after having finished fourth in last year's ACC regular season standings.
Duke and Notre Dame are tied atop the 2018 preseason poll with 17 points each in the rating. The Tar Heels are picked third with 12 poll points. Syracuse is fourth with nine poll points and Virginia is fifth with six poll points.

CAROLINA SQUAD CHOOSES FIVE CAPTAINS FOR 2018 TEAM: The University of North Carolina men's lacrosse program, under the leadership of Tar Heel head coach Joe Breschi, has elected the five players to serve as team captains for the 2018 season. UNC will open its regular season in February as the defending Atlantic Coast Conference men's lacrosse champion.
The 2018 Tar Heel team captains include:
• Senior attackman Chris Cloutier of Kitchener, Ontario
• Senior defenseman Joe Kenna of Chantilly, Va.
• Redshirt senior defenseman Ryan Macri of Hamilton, Mass.
• Senior defenseman Kyle Mathie of Smithtown, N.Y.
• Senior midfielder William McBride of Baltimore, Md.
McBride is the second member of his family to serve as a Tar Heel captain. His brother Greg McBride served as a team captain in 2014.
Macri served as a team captain on the ACC championship team in 2017. He is one of just a handful of individuals to serve as a team captain in multiple years for the Tar Heel program, joining the following players.
• Austin Pifani, 2016-17
• Mark Rizzo, 2016-17
• Marcus Holman, 2012-13
• Mike Munnelly, 2007-08
• Austin Garrison, 2002-03
• Joey Seivold, 1986-87
• Lew Floyd, 1953-54

CONGRATULATIONS MARCUS: The U.S. men's lacrosse national team has named its 23-player travel roster that will represent the United States in the Federation of International Lacrosse Men's World Championship July 12-21 in Netanya, Israel.
The U.S. team will again include 2013 University of North Carolina alumnus Marcus Holman, who also played on the National Team when the World Championships were held in Denver, Colo., in 2014. The U.S. Team won a silver medal in that event.

28 TAR HEELS NAMED TO ACC ACADEMIC HONOR ROLL IN 2016-17: A record 385 University of North Carolina student-athletes were named to the 2016-17 Atlantic Coast Conference Academic Honor Roll, announced on July 13, 2017 by the league. It's the second year in a row and the fourth time in the past five years that UNC has established a new high and the fifth year in a row that more than 300 Tar Heel student-athletes have been honored.
Coach Joe Breschi's North Carolina men's lacrosse team was responsible for 28 of the 385 Tar Heels on the Honor Roll last school year. Fifty-six percent of the team's 50 members were tapped for the Honor Roll. The ACC champion 2017 Tar Heels placed four more members on the team than the outstanding number of 24 tapped from 2016's NCAA championship squad for the 2015-16 Honor Roll.
Overall, the 2016-17 school year honorees included freshman Justin Anderson, senior Brian Balkam, sophomore Alex Bassil, junior Bug Carper, freshman Tanner Cook, junior Matt Cunningham, junior Mike D'Alessandro, senior Luke Goldstock, junior Riley Graham, sophomore Jack Halpert, sophomore Cole Haverty, senior Stephen Kelly, sophomore Timmy Kelly, senior Peyton Klawinski, senior Jack Lambert, freshman Patrick Lyons, freshman Cam Macri, junior Ryan Macri, junior Kyle Mathie, sophomore Andy Matthews, junior Patrick McCormick, sophomore Michael Nathan, senior Austin Pifani, sophomore Jordan Prysko, senior Mark Rizzo, freshman Tyler Seminetta, sophomore Kevin Walker and senior Luke Walsh.

TAR HEELS ON TV IN 2018: Carolina will have four of its 14 regular season games televised on ESPNU in 2018. In addition to that, seven more games will be televised on ACC Network Extra with live streaming on WatchESPN and the ESPNApp.
The 2018 ESPNU schedule is as follows:
• Friday, February 23, 5 p.m., North Carolina at Johns Hopkins
• Friday, March 30, 5 p.m., North Carolina at Duke
• Saturday, April 14, 4 p.m., North Carolina at Syracuse
• Saturday, April 21, 12 p.m., Notre Dame at North Carolina
The 2018 ACC Network Extra schedule is as follows:
• Saturday, February 3, 12 p.m., Lafayette at North Carolina
• Saturday, February 10, 12 p.m., Furman at North Carolina
• Saturday, February 17, 12 p.m., Lehigh at North Carolina
• Wednesday, February 28, 4 p.m., Mercer at North Carolina
• Saturday, March 3, 10:30 a.m., St. John's at North Carolina
• Monday, March 5, 4 p.m., Denver at North Carolina
• Saturday, April 7, 6 p.m., Virginia at North Carolina

CAROLINA VERSUS LAFAYETTE THE SERIES: North Carolina and Lafayette will be playing for the first time in history on Saturday.

CLOUTIER'S GOAL SCORING & POINTS STREAKS: Junior attackman Chris Cloutier heads into the Lafayette game with a 20-game goal scoring streak. That is tied for the eighth for longest goal scoring streak in Tar Heel history.
During Cloutier's 20-game scoring streak (four games in 2016, 16 games in 2017) he has scored 55 goals.
Cloutier also has at least one point in 20 successive games. That equals the 18^th longest points streak in Tar Heel lore.

Andy Matthews ASSIST STREAK: Junior attackman Andy Matthews has recorded at least one assist in nine successive games heading into the 2018 season. Matthews began his assist streak against Dartmouth on March 18, 2017. His nine-game assist streak matches the 10^th longest streak in UNC lacrosse history.

Chris Cloutier ON CAREER CHARTS: Junior attackman Chris Cloutier (Kitchener, Ontario) has scored 80 career goals at Carolina heading into the 2018 campaign. Cloutier is currently tied for 29^th place in UNC goal scoring history and he would need to score 48 goals as a senior to tie Bert Fett (1972-75) for the career record of 128 goals.
The senior attackman is currently tied for 36^th in points in Carolina history with 108. He has 80 goals and 28 assists in his career.

POTENTIAL STARTING LINEUP: North Carolina's tentative starting lineup against Lafayette could look something like the following:
Attack – #15 Timmy Kelly (Jr.), #45 Chris Cloutier (Sr.), #12 Andy Matthews (Jr.)
1st Midfield — #77 Tanner Cook (So.), #21 Justin Anderson (So.), #3 William Perry (So.)
2nd Midfield — #11 Brian Cannon (So.), #16 Sean Morris (Fr.), #41 Colin Munro (Fr.)
3rd Midfield — #18 Ryan O'Connor (So.), #17 Ryan O'Connell (Fr.), #31 Steven Schneider (Fr.)
Close Defense Starters — three of these four - #37 Joe Kenna (Sr.), #20 Ryan Macri (Sr.), #88 Kyle Mathie (Sr.), #0 Jake Peden (Jr.)
Goalkeepers — #34 Luke Millican (Fr.)

TAR HEELS AT KENAN STADIUM: Because of field improvements last spring at Kenan Stadium, 2017 marked the first year since 2012 that the Tar Heels did not play a game at Kenan Stadium, the home of the football Tar Heels.
North Carolina had a 6-0 mark in games played at Kenan Stadium from 2012-16 after beating Notre Dame 17-15 there on April 23, 2016.
UNC's last loss in the Tar Heel football stadium came on April 26, 2009 when Duke defeated Carolina 15-13 in the ACC Tournament championship game.
The Tar Heels have defeated Virginia twice (2013 ACC Tournament championship game & 2016 regular season game) and Duke (2013 ACC Tournament semifinals), Johns Hopkins (2013 regular season), Maryland (2014 regular season) and Notre Dame (2016 regular season) once each in its past six games at Kenan Stadium.
Since his arrival as UNC head coach for the 2009 season, Coach Joe Breschi's teams are 7-2 in games played in Kenan Stadium. UNC hosted the ACC Tournament in Kenan Stadium in both 2009 and 2013 during Breschi's tenure. UNC has won seven of its past eight games played at Kenan.

UNC HEAD COACH JOE BRESCHI: Joe Breschi, UNC Class of 1990, leads the Tar Heels in his 10th season at Carolina. Breschi is 102-48 in his 10 years at Carolina, a winning percentage of 68.0 percent. He also coached 11 years at Ohio State and is 194-111 overall in 21 seasons as a collegiate head coach. His overall winning percentage at Ohio State and UNC combined is 63.6 percent. On April 9, 2017, UNC head coach Joe Breschi won his 100th game at Carolina. His 100th win came in Carolina's 15-12 victory against Virginia at Klockner Stadium in Charlottesville, Va. His 190th overall coaching victory came in a 13-9 victory over #1-ranked Denver on March 4, 2017 in Denver, Colo.
Breschi Coaching Facts:
• 102-48 in 10 seasons at UNC (68.0)
• 194-111 in 21 seasons overall (63.6)
• 21-19 in one-goal games at UNC
• 56-42 versus ranked teams at UNC; 46-6 versus unranked teams at UNC
• 78-21 versus non-conference teams at UNC
• 60-16 in home games at UNC

UNC VERSUS?RANKED?OPPONENTS UNDER?COACH?BRESCHI: North?Carolina has played nationally ranked (USILA coaches poll) opponents 98 times in Joe Breschi's nine-year coaching tenure. UNC?is 56-42 in those games, a winning percentage of 57.1 percent.
Conversely, and as would be expected, the Tar Heels are 46-6 against unranked opponents in Breschi's 10 seasons for an outstanding winning percentage of 88.5 percent. Breschi is 102-48 overall at Carolina in his 10 seasons as head coach. During Breschi's tenure, UNC's only losses to unranked teams came at Ohio State in 2011, at home to Lehigh in 2012, at Pennsylvania in 2012, at home to Hofstra in 2016, at Massachusetts in 2016 and at home against Hofstra in 2017.

CAROLINA'S STELLAR MARK IN NON-CONFERENCE GAMES: UNC's record in non-conference games continues to be one of the best in the nation over the past 12 seasons. The Tar Heels have won 100 of their last 125 games against non-conference teams dating back to April 15, 2006 when the Tar Heels beat Fairfield 18-9 at Kenan Stadium.
In Joe Breschi's 10 seasons as head coach, the Tar Heels are a brilliant 79-21 against non-conference teams, a winning percentage of 79.0. The only non-conference losses were to Notre Dame in 2009, to Ohio State and Johns Hopkins in 2011, to Lehigh, Pennsylvania and Denver in 2012, to Massachusetts, Notre Dame and Denver in 2013, to Denver in 2014, to Maryland twice in 2015, to Hofstra, Denver, Massachusetts and Maryland in 2016 and to Johns Hopkins, Hofstra, Richmond, Maryland and Albany in 2017.

NEAR DOMINANCE AT HOME UNDER BRESCHI: UNC?is 60-16 in home games in Coach Joe Breschi's 10 years at the helm of the Tar Heels. That's a winning percentage of 78.9 percent. UNC's only home losses during Breschi's 10-year tenure include regular-season and ACC Tournament games to Duke in 2009, a regular-season loss to Duke in 2011, an NCAA Tournament loss to Maryland in 2011, regular-season losses to Lehigh and Virginia and an NCAA Tournament loss to Denver in 2012, a regular-season loss to Duke in 2013, a regular-season loss to Notre Dame in 2014 regular-season losses to Hofstra and Denver in 2016 and regular-season losses to Johns Hopkins, Hofstra, Richmond, Maryland, Duke and Syracuse in 2017.
The Tar Heels had won 17 successive home games under Breschi's tutelage from 2014-16 before being upset at home by Hofstra on February 20, 2016. That 17-game home winning streak had begun against Bucknell with a 20-4 win on March 11, 2014.

CAROLINA IN HOME GAMES: North?Carolina has an all-time record of 285-129-2 in home games. That included a perfect 11-0 record in 2015. In Joe Breschi's eight-year tenure as head coach he has twice led Carolina to unbeaten records at home – 7-0 in 2010 and 11-0 in 2015. Since 1949, UNC has had eight undefeated home seasons, two under the tutelage of Breschi. UNC?has a 68.9 percent winning percentage all-time in history in home games.

THE ALL-TIME RECORD: North Carolina has an all-time record of 490-296-2 in the sport of men's lacrosse. That is a winning percentage of .624.

CAROLINA'S IMPROVEMENT IN ONE-GOAL DECISIONS: Prior to Joe Breschi taking over as head coach in 2009, UNC went 1-7 in games decided by one goal from midway through the 2004 season through the end of the 2008 campaign. Carolina has improved tremendously in one-goal games since Breschi arrived for the 2009 season. UNC is 21-19 in games decided by one goal over the past nine years.

CAROLINA'S DOUBLE DIGIT SCORING GAMES: In Coach Joe Breschi's nine years as head lacrosse coach at UNC, Carolina's success has in large part been tied to hitting the 10-goal plateau in a game. In fact, UNC's 15-12 loss to Albany on May 13, 2017, marked only the 17th time in Breschi's coaching tenure that the Tar Heels have lost when they have reached the 10-goal plateau.
UNC has scored at least 10 goals in a game in 111 of 150 games under Coach Breschi's direction dating back to the opening game of the 2009 season. Carolina is 94-17 in those 111 games, a winning clip of .854. As would be expected, in the 39 games under Coach Breschi's tutelage in which the Tar Heels have not reached the 10-goal mark, UNC has not fared nearly as well as when it scores in double figures. In fact, the Tar Heels' record in those 39 games?is 8-31, a winning percentage of .210.
Carolina's last win in which it was held to single digits came against Furman in a 7-3 decision on February 11, 2017. That marked the first game the Tar Heels had won in which both teams scored in single digits since a 9-8 win over Princeton on March 10, 2012.
The 10 goals in the UNC-Furman game were the fewest combined goals in a Tar Heel game since Februrary 13, 2010 when UNC beat Bryant 5-4 in Chapel Hill at Navy Field.
In 2017, UNC was 6-3 when scoring in double digits and 1-5 when being held in single digits.

UNC CLAIMS ANOTHER SEASON OPENING WIN: The Tar Heels beat UMBC 17-6 in their 2017 season opener against UMBC on February 4. UNC has won every season opener since the 1999 season, running its streak to 19 seasons in a row with the win over the Retrievers. Carolina's last loss in a season opener came on February 22, 1998 when the Tar Heels fell to Butler 13-12 at Fetzer Field.