University of North Carolina Athletics
Men's Lacrosse Meets #3 Maryland Saturday
March 22, 2001 | Men's Lacrosse
March 22, 2001
TAR HEELS LOOK TO BOUNCE BACK SATURDAY AT MARYLAND: After having its three-game winning streak broken this past Wednesday in an 11-8 loss to Duke at Chapel Hill, the 12th-ranked University of North Carolina men's lacrosse team will have a quick opportunity to bounce back this Saturday when the Tar Heels visit College Park, Md. for a 1 p.m. matchup with undefeated Maryland at Byrd Stadium. It will be Carolina's second look at a Top 10 team this week as Maryland is currently ranked #3 in the STX/U.S. Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association rankings. Coach Dick Edell's team is off to a great start this year with a 5-0 record and a 1-0 mark in the ACC. Earlier this season the Terrapins drubbed the same Duke team that Carolina lost to on Wednesday by a 13-5 margin. UNC had won three in a row before running into Duke Wednesday night. The Heels head into Saturday's game with a record of 4-2 overall and 0-1 in the ACC.
NORTH CAROLINA VS. MARYLAND: North Carolina and Duke first met in men's lacrosse in 1964. The Terrapins lead the all-time series 28-17. Six of the last nine games in the series have been decided by one goal. The Terps have won five matches in a row over Carolina with three of those wins by one goal. The streak started in 1997 with a 13-12 overtime win over the Tar Heels at Byrd Stadium. In the most recent meeting the Terps edged the Tar Heels 10-9 last year at Fetzer Field. Maryland has won three in a row at Byrd Stadium over the Tar Heels, winning 13-12 in 1995, 13-12 in overtime in 1997 and 13-8 in 1999. Carolina has only defeated Maryland six times in history at Byrd Stadium with the most recent of those wins coming in the 1993 ACC Tournament championship game by an 18-10 score. UNC's last victory anywhere over the Terps was at Fetzer Field in 1996 when Jason Wade took eight shots and scored a UNC school record eight goals in a scintillating 17-16 victory over the Terrapins.
COMMON OPPONENTS: North Carolina and Maryland have played two common opponents so far this season. Both teams played Duke on their home fields with Maryland winning 13-5 and North Carolina losing 11-8 to the Blue Devils. Both teams also played Delaware on the road with UNC winning 13-4 and Maryland triumphing 10-4.
CAROLINA VERSUS THE ACC: When the Tar Heels take the field Saturday to play Maryland UNC will be looking to reverse a trend of dreadful results against Atlantic Coast Conference opponents in recent years. In their last 18 meetings with conference teams the Tar Heels are 1-17. 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 1-6 versus Duke. Six of the 18 matches have been decided by one goal and the Tar Heels are 1-5 in those games.
SHORING UP THE DEFENSE: Carolina will be looking to record a better defensive effort on Saturday against Maryland than it did in its Wednesday night loss to Duke. The Tar Heels were set back on their heels on that game as Duke rang up seven goals on the scoreboard in the first 19:39 of the game. Carolina held the Blue Devils to four goals in the game's final 40:21 but the Duke defense was as strong as usual and the Blue Devils eventually won 11-8. The Duke game marked the first time this season that Carolina has allowed more than 10 goals in a game this season.
THE STARTING LINEUP: Carolina will likely use the same starting lineup that it has in recent games. The probable starters are:
Attack
#7 Steven Will Sophomore
#8 Jeff Sonke Senior
#41 Andrew Lucas Freshman
First Midfield
#5 Tim Gosier Junior
#27 Austin Garrison Sophomore
#32 Lance Zimmerman Freshman
Second Midfield
#15 Pat Jackson Junior
#21 Johnny Seivold Freshman
#29 Kyle Bell Sophomore
Third Midfield
#9 Mac Hammer Senior
#12 Ryan Damon Senior
#43 Judd Lattimore Senior
Defense
#13 Bobby Gormsen Senior
#28 Ronnie Staines Freshman
#45 Hunter Sims Senior
Goal
#1 Robert D'Urso Senior
THE EXPERIENCE FACTOR: The Tar Heels will start four seniors against the Terrapins Saturday but that may overstate the experience factor of this Tar Heel team. Carolina had a big senior class on last year's team which included two starters at attack--Matt Crofton and Chase Martin--two starters on close defense--Todd Maher and Hunter Lewis--and one senior starting midfielder in Jordan Herrick. The team was hurt even more when Zack Leader, a junior returning starter on defense was lost to the team because of academic problems. Injuries to senior midfielder Ryan Damon and junior goalkeeper Kris Blindenbacher have complicated Carolina's experience problems. So the only starters on Saturday who started a year ago are senior attackman Jeff Sonke, who is by leaps and bounds the most experienced Tar Heel in his fourth year as a starting attackman, and senior defenseman Bobby Gormsen. However Gormsen is in his first year as a starter as a close defenseman. His previous starting experience always came as a defensive midfielder. The remainder of the Tar Heel starting unit is made up of players in their first years as UNC starters including sophomore Steven Will and freshman Andrew Lucas on attack, junior Tim Gosier, sophomore Austin Garrison and freshman Lance Zimmerman in the midfield, senior Hunter Sims and freshman Ronnie Staines on defense and senior Robert D'Urso in the goal.
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 4-2. In seven years as a collegiate head coach his teams are now 71-30. 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 176-65 in the collegiate ranks.
THE SCHEDULE TOUGHENS: The docket for the Tar Heel lacrosse team began heating up with Wednesday night's game against #10 Duke. Carolina is currently in a stretch of five games that 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 six games of the season only three 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, defeated #20 Navy 11-10 on March 3 and lost to #10 Duke this past Wednesday 11-8
SONKE'S START: Preseason All-America attackman Jeff Sonke leads the Tar Heels in scoring so far this season with 23 points. 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.
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 19 faceoffs in the last three games, including 12 in the win over Butler. That gives Damon 309 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 broke into the Top 10 in career goals scored Wednesday night against Duke and he is close to breaking into the Carolina Top 10 career lists in points and assists. Sonke enters the Maryland game with 91 goals, 51 assists and 142 points in his career. He is now ranked ninth in career goals scored, tied for that spot in Carolina history with Ryan Wade (1991-94) who also ranks 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.
LUCAS HAS FIRST HAT TRICK: Freshman attackman Andrew Lucas recorded the first hat trick of his career on March 17 when he scored three goals in Carolina's 12-10 win over Butler.
PAIR OF TAR HEELS SCORE FIRST CAREER GOALS AGAINST DUKE: A pair of UNC players scored the first goals of their careers on Wednesday against Duke. Junior midfielder Peter Anselmo scored his first career goal on a fast break in the second quarter as part of a five-goal run that brought the Tar Heels back from a 7-2 deficit to a 7-7 tie early in the third quarter. Red-shirt freshman midfielder Joey Seivold, whose father was an All-America midfielder for the Tar Heels in the 1980s, scored his first career goal in the third quarter against the Blue Devils. At the time the goal cut the Blue Devil lead to 10-8 but the Tar Heels were unable to score against Duke in the fourth quarter and lost 11-8.
