University of North Carolina Athletics
Men's Lacrosse Set To Battle Blue Devils
March 20, 2001 | Men's Lacrosse
March 20, 2001
TAR HEELS HOST BLUE DEVILS WEDNESDAY IN CARLYLE CUP MATCHUP: North Carolina's men's lacrosse team returns to the friendly confines of beautiful Fetzer Field Wednesday night when the Tar Heels play host to the Duke Blue Devils at 7:30 p.m. in an Atlantic Coast Conference game. The Tar Heels have won three games in a row and now stand at 4-1 on the season. Wednesday's game will be the Atlantic Coast Conference opener for Carolina. Duke is on a two-game winning streak and is now 5-2 overall and 0-1 in the ACC. The Blue Devils opened their ACC season with a 13-5 loss at Maryland on March 4. Wednesday's match will be worth three points in the 2000-01 Carlyle Cup standings. The Carlyle Cup goes to the annual winner of the all-sports rivalry between North Carolina and Duke. UNC leads the current Cup standings 17-11.
NORTH CAROLINA VS. DUKE: North Carolina and Duke first met in men's lacrosse in 1952. The Tar Heels lead the all-time series 34-12. Recently, however, the Blue Devils have dominated the series. Duke has won seven of the past nine games between the two teams dating back to 1995. Duke has also won the two most recent meetings, a 13-8 decision in Durham last year, and a 9-7 win over Carolina in the semifinals of the 1999 ACC Tournament in Chapel Hill. UNC's last win came in the 1999 regular season meeting at Durham when the Tar Heels came away with a 10-9 victory.
CAROLINA VERSUS THE ACC: When the Tar Heels take the field Wednesday to play Duke UNC will be looking to reverse a trend of dreadful results against Atlantic Coast Conference opponents in recent years. In their last 17 meetings with conference teams the Tar Heels are 1-16. The only win against an ACC opponent in that time came on April 14, 1999 when UNC defeated Duke 10-9 in Durham. Since the start of the 1997 season UNC is 0-6 versus Virginia, 0-5 versus Maryland and 1-5 versus Duke. Six of the 16 matches have been decided by one goal and the Tar Heels are 1-5 in those games.
CAROLINA IN THE POLLS: UNC is ranked #12 this week by STX/U.S. Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association, in a tie for with Hobart #13 by Warrior/InsideLacrosse.com and #13 by Brine/360Lacrosse.com.
COACH JOHN HAUS: North Carolina head coach John Haus, a 1983 Carolina graduate, is in his first year as the head coach of the Tar Heel program. Prior to returning to UNC he was the head coach at Washington College for four years where his teams were 47-21 and the head coach at Johns Hopkins where his teams went 20-7. His first Tar Heel team is now 4-1. In seven years as a collegiate head coach his teams are now 71-29. Including his time as a player at UNC and seven years as an assistant at Johns Hopkins he has been involved with teams that have a combined record of 176-64 in the collegiate ranks.
THE SCHEDULE TOUGHENS: The docket for the Tar Heel lacrosse team heats up beginning with Wednesday night's game against #10 Duke. Carolina's next five games are all against teams currently ranked in the Top 11 of the STX/USILA poll. This Saturday the Tar Heels play at #3 Maryland. They host #5 Johns Hopkins on March 31, play at #9 Virginia on April 7 and are at #11 UMBC on April 14. After the UMBC game the Tar Heels will head to Orlando, Fla., where they will match up against Top 10 conference foes again. Of Carolina's first five games of the season only two have been played against teams currently in the Top 20 of the STX/USILA poll. The Tar Heels lost to #15 Bucknell 9-4 on February 24 and defeated #20 Navy 11-10 on March 3.
SONKE'S START: Preseason All-America attackman Jeff Sonke has had three on games and two off games to start the 2001 season. Three times so far he has produced six points in a game, which is one shy of his career high of seven set last year against Lehigh. Sonke had five goals and one assist against both Fairfield and Delaware. Those five goals are one short of his career high of six goals in a game, also set against Lehigh on May 4, 2000. Sonke was named the Division I National Player of the Week by Warrior and InsideLacrosse.Com after his three goals and three assist performance in UNC's 11-10 win at Navy on March 3. Sonke's goal with one second left in regulation time was the difference in the game. A year ago Sonke had scored in the first overtime period to give the Tar Heels a win over Navy by the same 11-10. As good as Sonke has been in those three games he has struggled against Bucknell and Butler, shooting 0 for 15 in the two games combined and getting three assists combined.
D'URSO NAMED ACC PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Senior goalkeeper Robert D'Urso earned accolades as the Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Lacrosse Player of the Week on March 12, 2001. D'Urso's honor came after the Tar Heels defeated Delaware 13-4 in Newark, Del. on March 10. D'Urso earned only his second career start against the Fightin' Blue Hens and had 11 saves and only four goals allowed in 60 minutes of play.
BREAKING THE ROAD JINX: When the Tar Heels defeated Navy 11-10 in Annapolis on March 3 of this season the victory broke a seven-game road losing streak for Carolina. The last time the Heels had won on the road prior to that game was April 14, 1999 when Carolina defeated Duke in Durham 10-9. A week after the win at Navy the Tar Heels defeated Delaware 13-4 in Newark, Del. That gave the Tar Heels back to back road wins for the first time since March 13 and 14, 1999. The Tar Heels had defeated Air Force 18-5 on March 13, 1999 in Colorado Springs, Colo. and then beaten Denver 7-4 on March 14, 1999 in Denver, Colo.
HOLDING DOWN THE HENS: When UNC defeated Delaware 13-4 on march 10 the Tar Heels in the process allowed their fewest goals in a game in almost two years. The last time a team had been held to as few as four goals by Carolina was March 14, 1999 when the Heels defeated Denver 7-4 in Denver, Colo. The last time Carolina limited an opponent to fewer than three goals was on April 8, 1997 when the Tar Heels defeated Radford 16-3 in Chapel Hill.
HEELS BEAT DELAWARE BY NINE: Carolina's nine-goal margin of victory over Delaware on March 10 was the largest in a game for the Tar Heels since UNC defeated Air Force by 13 goals (18-5) on March 13, 1999 in Colorado Springs, Colo.
WILL LEADS CAROLINA PAST BUTLER: Sophomore attackman Steven Will scored three goals and had one assist in UNC's 12-10 win over Butler on March 17. The four points in that game tied Will's career high originally set against Virginia on April 21, 2000. His three goals were a career high. He had scored two goals in a game twice last season as well as in Carolina's season-opening win against Fairfield.
DAMON ON THE CAREER CHART: Senior Ryan Damon has now won more faceoffs in his career than all but one other Carolina player in history. After missing the first two games of the season rehabilitating from a leg injury suffered last fall Damon has won 16 faceoffs in the last three games, including 12 in the win over Butler. That gives Damon 306 faceoff victories in his career. The only other UNC player to ever win more faceoffs was Jude Collins who won 429 from 1993-96.
SONKE ON THE CAREER CHARTS: Senior Jeff Sonke is close to breaking into the Carolina Top 10 career lists in points, goals and assists. Sonke enters the Duke game with 89 goals, 51 assists and 140 points in his career. He is just one goal shy of tying Justin Bowman (1996-99) and David Wingate (1991-94) on the career goals list with 90. Ryan Wade (1991-94) ranked ninth in career goals with 91. Sonke could also move into the Carolina Top 10 in both points and assists in the near future as well. Spencer Deering (1994-97) currently ranks 10th in career points with 150 and Chase Martin (1997-2000) and Matt Crofton (1997-2000) are tied for ninth in career assists with 63 each.
JACKSON AND GOZIER BOOST MIDFIELD: Junior midfielders Pat Jackson and Tim Gosier are having productive years for Carolina so far. Both players have already scored more goals this season than they did all of last year. Gozier has eight goals and Jackson five goals on the campaign. Last year Gosier scored five times and Jackson only twice.
