University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Princeton
Tar Heels Stun Princeton in Overtime
June 21, 1999 | Men's Lacrosse
March 20, 1999
Chapel Hill, N.C.--Senior Dan Collins took a feed from senior Justin Bowman and beat Princeton goalkeeper Corey Popham with seven seconds remaining in the first overtime period to lift 16th-ranked North Carolina to a stunning upset win over the three-time defending NCAA champion Tigers 10-9 in collegiate men's lacrosse action before a crowd of 2,432 at Fetzer Field.
Collins was left unattended in front of the Princeton goal in an unsettled situation and found the net to give the Tar Heels one of their biggest victories in year. UNC won its third straight game of the season and improved to 5-2 overall while the eighth-ranked Tigers, winners of the 1996, 1997 and 1998 titles, fell to 0-3 with successive early season losses to Johns Hopkins, Virginia and North Carolina. The key to the game was the Tar Heel defense which buckled down and held the Tigers scoreless for the last 30:02 of the game after the Tigers had taken a 9-6 lead 3:51 into the third quarter. Meanwhile, Carolina was able to chip away at the Tiger lead and the Tar Heels scored the last four goals of the game.
UNC cut the Princeton lead to 9-7 on a goal by Jeff Sonke with 10:03 left in the third quarter. Neither team scored for nearly 15 minutes before Bowman lit up the scoreboard 5:08 into the final period. Carolina finally gained the equalizer with just 3:43 left in the fourth quarter when attackman Matt Crofton took a feed from midfielder Jeremy Carey and beat Popham.
Both teams had two good looks at the goal in the overtime period but both Popham and UNC goalkeeper Jarron Harkness made key saves to keep the game tied. UNC's hustle on an errant Princeton shot in the final 30 seconds of overtime resulted in a Tar Heel possession and set up the heroics by Bowman and Collins.
Carolina came out of the gates strong taking an early 2-0 lead off of goals from sophomore attackman Jeff Sonke and senior midfielder Justin Bowman. Tiger senior attackman Lorne Smith struck at the 5:57 mark to put Princeton on the board and close the score to 2-1. Bowman and Smith each added another goal , putting the score at 3-2 until Princeton junior midfielder Chris Berrier tied things up of an assists from junior midfielder Ryan O'Shaughnessy. The Tar Heels refused to go into the second quarter in a tie as senior midfielder Jeremy Carey scored on the short handed goal off an assist from junior attackman Matt Crofton.
The second quarter was just the beginning of the wild ride that awaited both teams. The lead changed hands four times initiated by two quick Tiger goals within 40 seconds of each other giving Princeton their first lead of the game 5-4 less than two minutes into the second quarter. Carolina retook the lead briefly with two goals in a span of 22 seconds but Princeton closed out the half with tallies by Matt Striebel and Josh Sims to lead 7-6 at the half.
The Tigers came out firing in the second half with Sims and B.J. Prager running the Tiger scoring streak to four goals. But from then on the Tar Heel defense clamped down and refuse to let the Tar Heels lose another close game.
Both starting goalies were shaky but the replacements came up big with Corey Popham making 16 saves and allowing only six goals in 48:53 while Jarron Harkness had six saves and two goals allowed in 33:53 for UNC.
Sims led the Tigers with three goals while both Streibel and Lorne Smith had two for Bill Tierney's team. UNC was led by Jeff Sonke and Justin Bowman with three goals each and Matt Crofton with two.
Carolina will return to action next Saturday with its ACC opener at Maryland College Park, Md.
