Tar Heels Pull Away From Penn In Fourth Quarter, 13-6

Tuesday, March 14

Fetzer Field

7:00 PM ET

North Carolina

Pennsylvania

March 14, 2000 | Men's Lacrosse

By: UNC Athletic Communications

March 14, 2000

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- The eighth-ranked University of North Carolina men's lacrosse program held 12th-ranked Pennsylvania scoreless for the final 20:41 of the game and rallied to post a 13-6 win over the Quakers before 537 fans at chilly Fetzer Field. Carolina improved to 5-0 on the season, the Tar Heels' best start since it also opened the 1996 season with five straight wins. Pennsylvania fell to 2-1 on the campaign.

The game proved to be one of streaks with the Tar Heels dominating the opening 15 minutes and the final 20 minutes of the game. Penn was at its best in the first 10 minutes of the third quarter.

North Carolina was led by five different two-goal scorers and the brilliant play of sophomore Kris Blindenbacher in the goal. Blindenbacher made 17 saves on the game, allowing only six goals. He helped stake the Tar Heels to a 5-2 halftime lead by stopping nine of the 11 Quaker shots on goal in the first half of play.

But Penn came out of halftime on fire and goals by four different players lifted the Quakers to a 6-5 lead with 5:41 left in the third quarter. Carolina senior defenseman Todd Maher then made the biggest play of the game for the Tar Heels as he scooped up a ground ball near the midfield line and charged down the field to score past Penn goalkeeper John Carroll. The goal came 2:28 left in the third quarter and ended a scoreless streak for the Tar Heels which had extended for nearly 28 minutes. Just 1:02 after Maher tied the score for Carolina senior attackman Chase Martin beat his defender on the left side of the goal and scored easily past Carroll to give the Tar Heels the lead for good 7-6.

North Carolina dominated the fourth quarter of play, outscoring the Quakers 6-0 and converting on one-half of its final period shots. Freshman Steven Will scored a goal for the Tar Heels 2:44 into the fourth quarter on an assist by Mac Hammer as Carolina quickly capitalized on an illegal substitution call against the Quakers which cost Penn possession. Less than a minute later sophomore attackman Andy Jonas scored from 10 yards out on the left, assisted by Jordan Herrick. UNC then broke the game open with extra-man goals by Will and by senior attackman Kevin Mehm and a powerful shot by freshman middie Kyle Bell from 15 yards away over the next five minutes of play. Hammer's second goal of the game with 5:14 to play closed out the scoring for UNC as the Tar Heels exploded for an 8-0 run over a time frame of 12:14.

Carolina will return to action on Saturday when it plays host to Ohio State at 2 p.m. at Fetzer Field. The Buckeyes are coached by former Tar Heel All-America Joe Breschi, '90, who served as an assistant coach at UNC from 1990-92.

#12 Pennsylvania (2-1) vs. #8 North Carolina (5-0)

Fetzer Field, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, N.C.
Tuesday, March 14, 2000, 7:00 p.m. E.S.T.

SCORING SUMMARY

Qtr.	Team	Scoring Time	Score of Game	Goal By	Assist By
1	UNC	13:39	UNC 1-0	Matt Crofton	Chase Martin
1	Penn	12:14	Tied 1-1	Todd Minerly
1	UNC	11:38	UNC 2-1	Matt Crofton	Chase Martin
1	UNC	7:57	UNC 3-1	Jeff Sonke (SHG)	Jordan Herrick
1	UNC	6:32	UNC 4-1	Mac Hammer	Matt Crofton
1	UNC	:20	UNC 5-1	Chase Martin (EMG)	Jeff Sonke
2	Penn	9:56	UNC 5-2	Peter Janney	Pat Wolfington
3	Penn	11:26	UNC 5-3	Todd Minerly (EMG)	Adam Solow
3	Penn	7:26	UNC 5-4	Peter Janney
3	Penn	6:02	Tied 5-5	Billy Reidy	Jake Martin
3	Penn	5:41	Penn 6-5	Scott Solow
3	UNC	2:28	Tied 6-6	Todd Maher
3	UNC	1:26	UNC 7-6	Chase Martin
4	UNC	12:16	UNC 8-6	Steven Will	Mac Hammer
4	UNC	11:27	UNC 9-6	Andy Jonas	Jordan Herrick
4	UNC	10:26	UNC 10-6	Steven Will (EMG)	Matt Crofton
4	UNC	8:53	UNC 11-6	Kyle Bell	Pat Jackson
4	UNC	6:53	UNC 12-6	Kevin Mehm (EMG)	Matt Crofton
4	UNC	5:14	UNC 13-6	Mac Hammer	Peyton Chane