University of North Carolina Athletics
No. 2 Virginia Visits Chapel Hill As Tar Heel Men's Lacrosse Team Seeks End To Two Game Skid
April 5, 2002 | Men's Lacrosse
April 5, 2002
After starting the season 6-0, the seventh-ranked University of North Carolina men's lacrosse team has dropped its past two games. And things will get no easier for Coach John Haus' second Tar Heel team as second-ranked Virginia visits Fetzer Field Saturday for a 1 p.m. game.
The game Saturday will be the fourth in a backbreaking four-game midseasn stretch for the youthful Tar Heels. UNC started the stretch with an upset win at then fifth-ranked Duke 9-7. But the last two decisions have not gone Carolina's way with a 7-5 home loss to then fifth-ranked Maryland and a heartbreaking 12-11 loss at then third-ranked Johns Hopkins.
On the other hand, Virginia is the hottest team in the nation with five successive wins since a 15-13 home loss to 2001 NCAA runnerup Syracuse on March 2 in Charlottesville, Va. Since then, the Cavaliers have run off five straight impressive wins against 2001 NCAA champion Princeton, Notre Dame, Towson, Johns Hopkins and Maryland. Virginia is 6-1 overall and 1-0 in the ACC.
A win by Carolina (6-2, ACC 1-1) Saturday would clinch the #1 seed in the 2002 ACC Tournament for the Tar Heels. If the Cavaliers beat the Tar Heels they would still need to beat Duke on April 13 to assure itself the #1 seed in the tournament which will be held April 19 and 21 in Durham, N.C.
IN THE FUTURE: After playing Virginia Saturday in its final ACC regular season game of the season, the Tar Heels will return to non-conference play when they host UMBC on Saturday, April 13 at 4 p.m. That game will be played in Kenan Stadium.
Following the UMBC game, the Tar Heels will play in the ACC Tournament semifinals at Duke on April 19 at either 6 or 8:30 p.m. depending on the seeds and pairings. A win in the ACC semifinals would propel the Tar Heels into the ACC Championship game on April 21 at Duke with a 3 p.m. start.
The Tar Heels will close the regular season with back-to-back non-conference games against Fairfield on April 27 in Fairfield, Conn. at 1 p.m. and against Hofstra on May 1 at 7:30 p.m. in Hempstead, N.Y.
NORTH CAROLINA VS. VIRGINIA: Historically, the Cavaliers have held the upper hand in the series with the Tar Heels, winning 34 of 53 previous meetings. The most recent encounter went to Carolina, however, as the Tar Heels sprung a 7-5 upset against the Cavaliers last season in Charlottesville. That win by Carolina broke a six-game losing streak to the Cavaliers. The last time the Tar Heels beat Virginia in Chapel Hill was 1996 when UNC won an improbably 19-18 shootout at Fetzer Field.
CAROLINA IN THE ACC STATS: Carolina freshman midfielder Bryant Will leads the Tar Heels in scoring this season and he is the only UNC player ranked in the Top 10 in the ACC in scoring. Will ranks 10th with 2.50 points per game.
Sophomore attackman Andrew Lucas and junior attackman Steven Will are tied for fifth in the ACC in goals per game at 1.63 per game. In assists, Bryant Will is sixth in the ACC with 1.38 per game while freshman Jed Prossner is eighth, averaging 1.25 assists per game.
UNC sophomore midfielder Kevin Frew ranks third in the ACC in both ground balls per game and faceoff winning percentage. Frew averages 5.0 ground balls per game and he has won .573 percent of his faceoffs. Freshman goalkeeper Paul Spellman is ninth in the ACC in ground balls per game with 3.63, third in save percentage at .590 and third in goals against average at 7.95.
COMMON OPPONENTS: North Carolina and Johns Hopkins have played two common opponents this season and the results of those games don't bode well for the Tar Heels. The Cavaliers defeated Johns Hopkins 12-6 two weeks ago in Charlottesville while UNC lost to the Blue Jays 12-11 last weekend in altimore. Both teams played close games against Maryland with Virginia winning 11-10 last weekend in College Park and the Tar Heels falling to the Terrapins 7-5 here in Chapel Hill two weekends ago.
CAROLINA VERSUS THE ACC: Carolina's 9-7 victory at Duke March 20 was truly a breakthrough win for Coach John Haus' young team.
The win was only the third for Carolina in its last 23 meetings with Atlantic Coast Conference opponents, a skein of frustration which started with the opening ACC game in the 1997 season. From 1997 through 2000 the Tar Heels went 1-16 against ACC teams (0-4 in 1997, 0-5 in 1998, 1-3 in 1999 and 0-4 in 2000). The only win in that time was a 10-9 regular season win over Duke in Durham in 1999.
Since John Haus took over as head coach of the Tar Heels prior to last season, the Heels have been able to win two of their past six games against ACC teams. Last season Carolina posted a 7-5 win at Virginia and then the Heels won 9-7 at Duke this past Wednesday night.
Since the start of the 1997 season UNC is 1-6 versus Virginia, 0-7 versus Maryland and 2-7 versus Duke. The Tar Heels have not beaten Maryland since 1996. Carolina has not posted a win against an ACC opponent at home since beating Virginia 19-18 in 1996.
A win over Virginia this Saturday would give the Tar Heels a winning record against ACC teams for the first time since 1996.
THE DEFENSE HAS NOT RESTED: North Carolina has been a much better defensive team than in the past few years through the first eight games of the 2002 season. The Tar Heels have a goals against average of 8.00 goals per game in eight games, third best figure in the ACC behind Maryland at 6.50 goals per game and Duke at 7.86 goals per game. Virginia is fourth in goals allowed at 8.57.
THE OFFENSE IS OPPORTUNISTIC: While not necessarily explosive this season, Carolina's offense has been opportunistic, pulling the Tar Heels to victory in six of eight games. Opponents are allowing UNC 10.71 goals per game in eight games which have included nine overtime periods. Maryland leads the ACC in scoring at 12.88 goals per game with Virginia second at 12.71 and UNC third at 10.71. Duke is fourth in the league in scoring with 9.86 goals per game.
A BEVY OF CLOSE GAMES: In the first eight games of the 2002 season the Tar Heels have been in a rash of close games. Of Carolina's eight games, the Tar Heels have won three games by one goal and one game by two goals while losing one game by one goal and one game by two goals. The Tar Heels have played in two overtime games, winning both. One game went three overtimes and the other game six overtimes.
THE STARTING LINEUP: Carolina will likely use the same starting lineup that it has used for the past eight games. The probable starters are:
Attack
#1 Jed Prossner Freshman
#7 Steven Will Junior
#13 Andrew Lucas Sophomore
Attack Reserves
#36 Mike McCall Freshman
#18 Andy Jonas Senior
#41 Drew Habeck Freshman
First Midfield
#5 Tim Gosier Senior
#27 Austin Garrison Junior
#28 Bryant Will Freshman
Second Midfield
#15 Pat Jackson Senior
#21 Johnny Seivold Sophomore
#29 Kyle Bell Junior
Third Midfield
#19 Peter Anselmo Junior
#26 Dave Duffy Sophomore
#37 Teddy Hayes Freshman
Defense
#6 Zack Leader Junior
#8 Ronnie Staines Sophomore
#20 Matt Pessagno Sophomore
Faceoff Specialist
#12 Kevin Frew Sophomore
#25 Paul Burnett Freshman
Long Stick Defensive Midfielders
#44 Bowen White Sophomore
#47 Charley Conkling Freshman
#32 David DiBianco Freshman
#43 J.J. LaSeta Freshman
Short Stick Defensive Midfielders
#31 Dan Stringer Sophomore
#22 Justin Reed Junior
Goal
#40 Paul Spellman Goalkeeper
#3 Kris Blindenbacher Goalkeeper
THE EXPERIENCE FACTOR: The Tar Heels will likely start one senior against the Virginia Cavaliers on Saturday but that may actually overstate the experience factor of this Tar Heel team. This is the first Carolina team to take the field without a returning All-America player since 1979. The top 28 players in the Carolina rotation include four seniors, seven juniors, seven sophomores and 10 freshmen.
CAROLINA IN THE POLL: UNC is ranked #7 this week by the U.S. Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association. The Tar Heels were ranked #13 in the Faceoff Preseason coaches poll and they were rated #10 in the first two USILA polls of the regular season on March 4 and March 11. The Tar Heels moved up to the #9 spot in the rankings March 18 and the #7 spot in both the March 25 and April 1 polls.
COACH JOHN HAUS: North Carolina head coach John Haus, a 1983 Carolina graduate, is in his second 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. As the Tar Heel head coach he is 12-8 in two seasons. In eight years as a collegiate head coach his teams are now 79-36.
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 184-670 in the collegiate ranks.
THE SCHEDULE TOUGHENS: The docket for the Tar Heel lacrosse team began heating up with the March 20 game against #5 Duke, an upset of the Blue Devils by a 9-7 score in Durham. Carolina is currently in a stretch of four games that are all against teams ranked in the Top Five of the STX/USILA poll. The Tar Heels also hosted Maryland March 23, tied with Duke at #5 in that week's poll, on Saturday, losing 7-5. Last Friday, UNC lost a heartbreaker 12-11 at third-ranked Johns Hopkins setting up the opportunity to host #2 Virginia on April 6.
THE LONGEST GAME IN NCAA HISTORY: When the North Carolina Tar Heels defeated the Navy Midshipmen on March 2 by an 11-10 score, they found themselves making some history too. The game was six overtimes in length and lasted 83 minutes and 39 seconds. The longest previous games in history were five overtime affairs involving Cornell on two occasions.
Even more remarkably it was the third successive season in which Carolina had beaten Navy 11-10. The Heels beat Navy 11-10 in Chapel Hill in 2000 on a goal in the first overtime of that game and the Heels beat the Mids in Annapolis, Md. in 2001 by 11-10 on a goal by Jeff Sonke with one second to play.
This year's marathon event was finally decided when senior midfielder Pat Jackson intercepted a Navy clearing pass just inside midfield and scored into an empty net from 40 yards out.
THE BALANCED TAR HEEL OFFENSE: In looking at the Carolina stat sheet this year no one player stands out offensively. Balance has been the key as the Tar Heels have outscored their opponents 86-68 during their 6-2 start.
The top five scorers are all underclassmen, led by freshman midfielder Bryant Will who has 20 points with nine goals and a team-leading 11 assists. Junior midfielder Austin Garrison is second on the team with 18 points on 11 goals and seven assists. Garrison had three of his 10 goals March 20 as the Tar Heels upset fifth-ranked Duke in Durham by a 9-7 score.
Third on the points list are freshman attackman Jed Prossner with 17 points (seven goals, 10 assists) and sophomore attackman Andrew Lucas has 17 points with his team-leading 13 goals and four assists. Junior attackman Steven Will also has 13 goals and he has three assists for 16 points.
Senior midfielder Tim Gosier has 12 points (all on goals), senior midfielder Pat Jackson 10 points (eight goals, two assists), freshman attackman Mike McCall eight points (six goals, two assists) and junior midfielder Kyle Bell seven points (two goals, five assists). McCall came off the bench March 20 at Duke to score a goal and add two assists in the second half as the Tar Heels rallied past the Blue Devils.
SPELLMAN NAMED ACC PLAYER OF THE WEEK FEBRUARY 26: Tar Heel freshman goalkeeper Paul Spellman was named the Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Week on February 26 after leading the Tar Heels to a 12-3 win over defending Patriot League champion Bucknell on March 23. Making only his second career start, the Cockeysville, Md. native had 12 saves and three goals allowed in 60 minutes of play.
GOSIER HELPS DOWN BUCKEYES, SEIVOLD SCORES WINNER: The Tar Heels opened the season with a 13-12 triple overtime win over Ohio State on February 16. Senior midfielder Tim Gosier and sophomore midfielder Johnny Seivold were both keys in that come-from-behind victory.
Gosier scored three goals in the game, a career high for him in a single contest, and Seivold scored the game-winning in the third overtime. Of Seivold's four career goals as a Tar Heel none was obviously bigger. He is the son of a pair of Carolina All-America athletes. His mother Joan was an All-America soccer player at UNC and his father Joey and All-America lacrosse player.
Gosier equaled his career high with three goals in a game again in the win over Delaware on March 9.
Gosier has 12 goals this season in eight games. That is the most goals in a season in his Carolina career. He had 10 goals in 2001.
FREW IN THE FACEOFF CIRCLE: North Carolina sophomore midfielder Kevin Frew has done an outstanding job for the Tar Heels in the faceoff circle this season. Through the first eight games of the season Frew has won 82 of his 143 faceoff attempts, a winning percentage of .573. He has helped Carolina improve as a team to 53.8 percent in the faceoff circle. A year ago the Tar Heels won only 49.5 percent of their draws.
Frew also leads the 2002 Tar Heels in ground balls with 40, 11 ahead of goalkeeper Paul Spellman who both has 29.
FRESHMAN STARTING IN THE CAGE: North Carolina is starting a freshman at goal on a regular basis for the first time since Tom Sears did so in 1980. St. Pauls School graduate Paul Spellman, from Cockeysville, Md., has started all eight games for UNC and played all 513 minutes and six seconds in goal. He has 98 saves and 68 goals allowed for a save percentage of .590. Spellman has a goals against average of just 7.95 per game. Spellman's season-high for saves was 18 against Johns Hopkins on March 29.
WILL BROTHERS IGNITE OFFENSE AGAINST BLUE HENS: The Will brothers, junior attackman Steven and freshman midfielder Bryant, led the Tar Heels to an impressive 16-9 win over Delaware at Fetzer Field on March 9. Steven Will scored four goals in the game for the Tar Heels, while Bryant Will had one goal and four assists against the Fightin' Blue Hens. Steven Will's four goals were the most he's ever scored in a game. He had three goals each in wins over Butler and Pfeiffer last season.
LUCAS MATCHES HIS CAREER HIGHS: Andrew Lucas, sophomore attackman, equaled his career high for goals in a game with three and in points in a game with four in the Tar Heels' season-opening 13-12 triple overtime win over Ohio State and again in the 12-3 win at Bucknell on February 23. He also had four points in the game at Johns Hopkins on March 29 with two goals and two assists,
As a freshman in 2001 Lucas had three goals in a win over Butler and four points in a win over Fairfield and an ACC Tournament loss to Duke.
GARRISON EQUALS CAREER HIGH FOR ASSISTS: Junior midfielder Austin Garrison matched his career high for assists in a game with three in the 11-10 win over Navy March 2. He also had three in his sophomore year against Fairfield.
THE INJURY SITUATION: Carolina lost four players for the season due to injuries prior to the start of spring practice. Midfielder Lance Zimmerman, who started in the first midfield unit as a freshman last year, and Ben Dobson, who started several games as a close defenseman his freshman year and as a long-stick midfielder his sophomore year, were both lost to torn anterior cruciate ligaments. Zimmerman will return with sophomore status in 2003 and Dobson with junior status.
Senior defenseman Sean Hizey is red-shirting after undergoing off-season wrist surgery. Senior defenseman Dane Almassy's playing career came to an end after injuries suffered in an off-season automobile accident.
