University of North Carolina Athletics
Carolina Shoots For ACC Regular Season Title Saturday
April 2, 2003 | Men's Lacrosse
April 2, 2003
2003 UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA MEN'S LACROSSE GAME NOTES
#7 North Carolina Tar Heels (5-3, ACC 2-0) vs. #6 Virginia Cavaliers (5-2, ACC 0-1)
Saturday, April 5, 2003, 1:00 p.m., Klockner Stadium, Charlottesville, Va.
Media Contact: Dave Lohse, 919-962-7257, dlohse@uncaa.unc.edu
CAROLINA TRAVELS TO CHARLOTTESVILLE TO FACE CAVALIERS:
The No. 7 North Carolina men's lacrosse team will be looking to bounce back from a heartbreaking loss last Saturday at the hands of No. 1 Johns Hopkins when the Tar Heels travel to Charlottesville, Va., this Saturday to meet No. 6 Virginia. Match time is 1 p.m. at Klockner Stadium. UNC enters the match with an overall record of 5-3 after winning four of its last five games to recover from a 1-2 start. The Tar Heels are coming off an 11-10 loss to No. 1 Johns Hopkins last Saturday in overtime. Carolina was seeking its first win over a No. 1 team since April 6, 1996 and it led the Blue Jays late before Hopkins tied the match with 1:16 to play in regulation and then won the game on the first possession of the overtime period. Prior to the loss to the Blue Jays Carolina had run off four wins in a row. The No. 6 Cavaliers started the season 5-0 before dropping back to back 8-7 decisions the past two Saturdays at the hands of Johns Hopkins and Maryland.THE ACC RACE: North Carolina enters the match against Virginia Saturday with a 2-0 record in the Atlantic Coast Conference. This is the first time that UNC has won two regular season games in the same season since 1996. A win over UVa on Saturday would give the Tar Heels their first ever 3-0 ACC regular season mark and first conference regular season title since the 1992 campaign.
A QUICK LOOK AT THE HEELS' PERSONNEL: Carolina has been led by a solid defense and an opportunistic offense so far in 2003. The defense is yielding only 7.53 goals per game behind starting close defenders Ronnie Staines, Charley Conkling and Stephen McElduff and key reserves Matt Pessagno and J.J. LaSeta. Long stick middies Bowen White, Hayward Howard and Billy Staines have also done a great job as have short stick defensive middies Andrew McElduff, Dan Stringer and Dave Duffy. Sophomore Paul Spellman has a 7.58 goals against average so far this season and a save percentage of .620. Offensively, Carolina has its most depth in several years and has consistently played five attackmen while running three midfield units in games. Sophomore attackman Jed Prossner leads the Tar Heels in scoring with 28 points on 17 goals and 11 assists. Senior middie Austin Garrison has been spectacular with 22 points (15 goals, 7 assists) and a .375 shooting percentage. Sophomore attackman Mike McCall is tied with sophomore middie Bryant Will for third on the team in scoring, each with 18 points. McCall has 13 goals and 5 assists and has scored on .419 percent of his shots. Will has 18 points on eight goals and 10 assists. Freshman attackman Ryan Blair, who has started the last four games, has six goals and 10 assists for 16 points. Blair and Will are tied for second on the team in assists with 10 behind Prossner's 11. Other leading scorers are senior midfielder Kyle Bell (9 goals, 5 assists, .333 shooting percentage), freshman attackman/middie Scott Falatach with seven points, sophomore middie Lance Zimmerman with six points, junior attackman Andrew Lucas with three points and senior middie Steven Will with two points. Carolina is also getting key contributions in the midfield from senior Peter Anselmo, junior Johnny Seivold and freshmen Kyle Henderson.
BACK TO BACK UPSET WINS FOR UNC: With the 14-9 win over No. 8 Duke on March 19 and the 10-6 win over No. 2 Maryland on March 22, the Tar Heels claimed back to back upset victories in the first two games of a four-match stretch against teams all ranked ahead of UNC in the USILA poll. The Tar Heels also pulled off a third straight upset but fell just short when it lost to No. 1 Johns Hopkins 11-10 in overtime last Saturday in Chapel Hill. The fourth game in the stretch comes this Saturday when No. 7 UNC visits No. 6 UVa in Charlottesville for a 1 p.m. start. The win over Duke was the first by UNC over a team ranked higher in the poll since Carolina had upset a No. 5 ranked Blue Devil team last year in Durham by a 9-7 score. Carolina then came back just three days after the win over Duke to defeat the second-ranked Terrapins of Maryland 10-6 in College Park. The win over Maryland was Carolina's first over the Terps since March 23, 1996 when UNC defeated Maryland 17-16 in Chapel Hill on the strength of midfielder Jason Wade's school record eight goals (on eight shots taken). The win also marked the highest ranked opponent that the Tar Heels had beaten since a 10-9 victory over a No. 2 Duke team on April 14, 1999 in Durham, N.C.
NORTH CAROLINA VS. VIRGINIA: Since Carolina became a varsity team in 1949 the Tar Heels have met Virginia 55 times with the Cavaliers winning 36 times and UNC 19. Virginia won the first 16 games before UNC claimed its first win over the Wahoos 13-10 in 1976. Beginning with that 1976 game, Virginia leads the series 20-19. The Wahoos have won eight of the last nine meetings. The only win in that time by Carolina came on April 7, 2001 when the Tar Heels defeated a No. 4 Virginia team 7-5 in Charlottesville.
CAROLINA VERSUS THE ACC: North Carolina's wins over Duke and Maryland last month were two more milestone victories for Carolina in Coach John Haus' rebuilding effort. UNC has now won four of its last eight matches against Atlantic Coast Conference opponents. The March 19 win over Duke was also, rather amazingly, UNC's first home ACC win since beating Virginia 19-18 on April 6, 1996, making it almost seven years between wins over ACC teams at home. Compare the 4-4 record in the last eight games with the fact UNC was 1-19 against ACC foes from the start of the 1997 season through the first two ACC games of the 2001 campaign. Carolina is also 2-0 in the ACC for the first time since 1994 when the Tar Heels won their opening two ACC games against Duke and Maryland. The last time Carolina finished 3-0 in the ACC was 1992. Since the start of the 1997 season UNC is 1-8 versus Virginia, 1-7 versus Maryland and 3-7 versus Duke. The Tar Heels had not beaten Maryland prior to the 10-6 win on March 22 since 1996.
THE DEFENSE HAS NOT RESTED: North Carolina has proved to be a much better defensive team than in the past few years and that has held true through the first seven games of the 2003 season. The Tar Heels have a goals against average of 7.53 goals per game in eight contests. Under Coach John Haus, Carolina averaged giving up 8.95 goals per game in 2001 and 8.78 goals per game in 2002.
GARRISON IS ACC PLAYER OF THE WEEK MARCH 16: Senior middie Austin Garrison was named ACC Player of the Week March 16 after his performance in two wins over Ohio and Denver. The New Canaan, Conn. senior had three goals and one assist in each of the wins over the Buckeyes and the Pioneers.
PAUL SPELLMAN IS TAPPED FOR ACC HONOR MARCH 23: Sophomore Paul Spellman was named the ACC Men's Lacrosse Player of the Week March 23 after making 32 saves and allowing only 15 goals in the previous week's 14-9 win over Duke and the 10-6 win at Maryland. This is the second time in his UNC career he was named player of the week in the league. He also earned the honor on February 25, 2002.
PROSSNER NAMED A TEWAARTON TROPHY FINALIST: Sophomore attackman Jed Prossner was named last week as a finalist for the prestigious Tewaarton Trophy given to the National Player of the Year. Prossner, an Easton, Md., native is the Tar Heels' leading scorer with 28 points so far this season. He is the first Tewaarton Trophy finalist since the awarded was instituted during the 2001 season.
A BEVY OF CLOSE GAMES: Of Carolina's last 25 games, 14 have been decided by one or two goals, including four matches this year. Four of those 14 nailbiters have gone to overtime.
YOUTH WINS OUT: Carolina's top offensive stat leaders are a group dominated by underclassmen as only two seniors and one junior are amongst the Tar Heels' top nine scorers so far this season. Midfielder Austin Garrison as the second leading scorer, midfielder Kyle Bell as the sixth leading scorer and attackman Andrew Lucas as the ninth leading scorer are the exception to the freshman/sophomore dominance on the offensiv end.
A BURST OF OFFENSE: Carolina scored its most goals of the season with 14 in the win over Duke on March 19. It was also the most goals against an ACC opponent since the Tar Heels lost to Virginia 17-16 in double overtime in the 2000 ACC Tournament semifinals on April 21, 2000.
BELL LEADS HEELS PAST BUCKNELL: Senior middie Kyle Bell led Carolina past Bucknell in UNC's season opener this year with the first hat trick of his career.
THE PROSSNER FILE: Carolina sophomore attacker not only leads the Heels in scoring with 28 points but he has at least four points in six of eight games. Prossner had successive hat tricks against Bucknell and Navy and then had two goals and two assists against Denver. Against Duke Prossner equaled his career high for points in a game with six on four goals and two assists. He also had two goals and three assists against Johns Hopkins.
BRYANT WILL STEPS UP: After a slow start, sophomore middie Bryant Will showed his best stats of the season so far in the outing against Denver. Will had two goals and two assists versus the Pioneers. That tied his career high for points in a game with four. He had four points in a game as a freshman against both Bucknell and Delaware.
MCCALL PLAYS TALL AGAINST DUKE: Carolina attackman Mike McCall stepped up his game against Duke March 19 as he scored a season high three goals and equaled his season high for points with three as well. McCall's play was highlighted by a behind the backer in the fourth quarter against the Blue Devils.
FALATACH STARTING TO GEL ON OFFENSIVE END: Freshman attackman/midfielder Scott Falatach has started make some big contributions to the UNC offense in the past few games as he had one goal and one assist against Denver and two goals in the win over Duke.
GARRISON, BLAIR AND SPELLMAN GET THEIR GROOVE ON AGAINST THE TERPS: Three Tar Heels had career games against Maryland in North Carolina's 10-6 win over the Terps on March 22. Sophomore goalkeeper Paul Spellman shattered his career high for saves in a match with 25 against the Terps, allowing only six goals. Spellman previously had 18 saves against Johns Hopkins as a freshman and 18 against Ohio State on March 12 of this season. Garrison meanwhile has four goals and one assist in the win over the Terps. That equaled his career high for points in a match. He also had five points as a freshman against Virginia on April 21, 2000. Meanwhile, freshman attackman Ryan Blair really broke out of his shell in a big way against the Terps (no pun intended) as he had five points on a goal and four nifty assists.
FACING OFF: Carolina is batting .559 in the faceoff circle so far. Junior Kevin Frew is .560 in the circle and sophomore Paul Burnett is at .558. Frew won 16 of 17 faceoffs against Bucknell this year, best individual faceoff percentage in a game in UNC history and tied for fifth in number of faceoff wins in a game.
SPELLMAN BETWEEN THE PIPES: Sophomore goalkeeper Paul Spellman enters the Johns Hopkins game with a 7.58 goals against average and .620 save percentage. His 18 saves against Ohio State on March12 equaled his career high set originally at Johns Hopkins last season. He then broke that career high with 25 saves against Maryland on March 22. In 21 games as a Tar Heel, Spellman has had only two games where he did not have more saves than goals allowed.
CAROLINA IN THE POLL: UNC is ranked No. 7 this week by the coaches in U.S. Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association poll.
COACH JOHN HAUS: North Carolina head coach John Haus, a 1983 Carolina graduate, is in his third 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 19-14 in three seasons. In eight years as a collegiate head coach his teams are now 86-42. Including his time as a player, assistant coach and head coach he has been involved with teams that have a combined record of 191-77 in the collegiate ranks.
THE LONGEST GAME IN NCAA HISTORY: When the North Carolina Tar Heels defeated the Navy Midshipmen on March 2, 2002 by an 11-10 score, they found themselves making some college lacrosse history too. The game was six overtimes in length and lasted 83 minutes and 39 seconds. That made it the longest game in college history. 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. Carolina and Navy nearly topped that this season when the Mids avenged those three defeats with a 9-8 overtime win at Annapolis. It was the second longest game in UNC history. And remarkably the game went overtime only when Andrew Lucas tied it for UNC with three-tenths of a second left in regulation.
AN EIGHT-WIN SEASON FOR CAROLINA: When North Carolina finished last season 8-5 it gave the Tar Heels eight wins in a season for only the second time since 1996 when UNC finished 12-5. Carolina's only other eight-win season since then was 2000 when the Heels were 8-6. Carolina has also had only its second winning season since 1996. Carolina was 6-7 in 1997, 7-8 in 1998 and 6-9 in 1999, then went 8-6 in 2000 and 6-6 in 2001 in Coach John Haus' first season.
