North Carolina
UMBC
Men's Lacrosse Gets Back in Win Column
April 15, 2000 | Men's Lacrosse
April 15, 2000
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - The University of North Carolina's 10th-ranked men's lacrosse team put a stop to a four-game losing streak Saturday afternoon as it blasted 18th-ranked Maryland-Baltimore County 15-9 before 898 fans at rain-soaked Fetzer Field. The win, which lifted the Tar Heels to 7-4 on the season, kept alive UNC's hopes of gaining an at-large bid to the 2000 NCAA Tournament and also gave Carolina head coach Dave Klarmann his 99th career win in his 10 seasons as the head mentor in Chapel Hill.
Carolina was led to the victory by outstanding efforts from its two senior attackmen as both Matt Crofton and Chase Martin rang up some big numbers. Crofton finished with four goals and three assists and was just one point short of his career high he set against Ohio State in 1998. Martin added two goals and had three assists and the third starting attackman, junior Jeff Sonke, added a troika of goals. Two freshmen midfielders--Austin Garrison and Steven Will--each added two goals to the UNC cause. The 15 goals was the season-high total in a game for Carolina and they were also the most goals UMBC has surrended in a game this season.
UMBC, which fell to 4-6 with the loss, was led by junior midfielder Charlie Gibson, who had two goals and two assists for the Retrievers. Sophomore midfielder Collin Merrholz added a pair of goals for Coach Don Zimmerman's team and senior attackman Dan Marohl had one goal and two assists.
After a first quarter that ended tied at 1-1, the two teams traded goals early in the second period before an extra-man goal by Will put the Tar Heels up for good in the game 3-2 with 10:56 left in the second quarter. It was 4-3 Carolina late in the second period but Garrison and Martin each scored their second goals of the game just 39 seconds apart in the quarter's 13th minute to boost the lead at intermission to 6-3.
After being outscored by a combined margin of 17-6 in the third quarter in its last four games, Carolina reversed the trend against the Retrievers Saturday and went on a 6-1 scoring run in the game's third stanza. Sonke scored for Carolina just over two minutes into the third quarter but that goal was answered by UMBC defenseman Zack Burke 46 seconds later. After the goal, however, Burke was flagged for a one-minute, unreleasable penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct and the Tar Heels took full advantage as Will and Crofton scored goals on the ensuing extra-man opportunity to make it 9-4 Carolina. Before the third quarter was over, sophomore midfielder Tim Gosier, Sonke and Crofton would added goals to the UNC total to make the score 12-4 in favor of UNC after three periods.
The Retrievers would rally in the fourth quarter to outscore Carolina 5-3 but the closest they got the rest of the way was five goals at 14-9 with 1:52 to play in the game.
Carolina outshot the Retrievers 50-30 and won the ground ball battle by a decisive 49-35 margin. UNC goalkeeper Kris Blindenbacher made 11 saves and allowed six goals in 54:23, while UMBC's Steve Cusa went all the way in goal and made 13 saves.
UNC's next game will be in the semifinals of the 2000 Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament on Friday, April 21 at 6 p.m. at Byrd Stadium in College Park, Md. UNC will play the winner of Saturday night's Virginia-Duke game in the semifinals of the tournament.
