University of North Carolina Athletics
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Tar Heel Men's Lacrosse Team Collars Retrievers 17-6
April 17, 2004 | Men's Lacrosse
April 17, 2004
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Sophomore attackman Scott Falatach had a career-high six points and three UNC players scored their first-ever college goals as the No. 5 North Carolina men's lacrosse team whipped UMBC 17-6 before 1,165 fans at sun-drenched Kenan Stadium Saturday afternoon. Falatach as well as junior attackman Mike McCall and senior attackman Andrew Lucas all scored three goals each for the Tar Heels, who won their second in a row and improved to 7-3 on the season. The Retrievers fell to 4-5 with the loss.
Carolina launched a season-high 60 shots in the victory as compared to 24 for UMBC and the Tar Heels won the ground ball battle, 49-24. UNC also dominated the faceoff circle, winning 23 of 27 draws. Senior Kevin Frew won 18 of 21 faceoffs, one short of his career high for faceoff wins, and he tied his career high for ground balls in a game with 13. Sophomore Dave Werry came on in relief of Frew in the fourth quarter and won five of six faceoffs.
UMBC was led by Rob Cross who had two goals. Kevin Cepelak made 19 saves for the Retrievers, including 10 in the first quarter when the Tar Heels outshot UMBC 23-1.
Paul Spellman played the first 51:05 in goal for the Tar Heels and he had eight saves while allowing two goals.
Falatach's six points (three goals and three assists) were one more than the five he had against Virginia on April 18, 2003 and against Air Force on April 26, 2003. Andrew Lucas tied his career high for goals in a game with three as he has now done that five times in his career. It was also the fifth time in his career he has had four points in a game.
Three Tar Heels -- sophomore midfielder Ryan Tolson, freshman midfielder Tom Sciolla and freshman attackman Jeff Hoffman -- all scored their first career goals for UNC. Forty of the 42 players on the UNC roster saw action in the game -- all except Drew Habeck and Ryan Walterhoefer, who are red-shirting.
Carolina came out firing on all cylinders, outshooting the Retrievers 23-1 in the first quarter and taking a 5-0 lead. The only reason the score was not more lopsided after 15 minutes was Cepelak's 10 first-quarter saves for UMBC. Jed Prossner started the scoring 1:01 into the opening period as he bounced in a shot and just seven seconds later he fired in a hard, high one off a feed by Mike McCall. McCall then scored himself with 7:15 left in the first quarter as he took a feed from behind by Ryan Blair for an easy putaway.
The Tar Heels got two more goals in the final minute of the first quarter as Tolson scored off an assist by Falatach with 45 seconds to play and Lucas scored an unassisted goal with 12 seconds left.
UNC continued to pummel the Retriever net in the second quarter, outshooting UMBC 15-1. But Cepelak found less support as he made three saves in the period while the Tar Heels scored six times to increase their lead to 11 goals by halftime. Falatach had the first two goals of the second quarter, the second assisted by Blair. The Tar Heels ran off three more goals -- by McCall, Bryant Will and Lucas -- before Falatach rolled the crease to score with seven seconds left before intermission to make it 11-0.
UMBC got on the board 1:06 into the second half as James Hyland found Rob Cross alone on the edge of the crease for a nice putaway. McCall responded with a goal 45 seconds later off an assist by Falatach and then Tom Sciolla took a pass from Falatach for a hard outside shot that resulted in a goal with 7:37 to play in the third period.
Cross got his second goal of the game for the Retrievers as he batted in a loose ball off a rebound with 4:11 remaining in the period before Blair beat Cepelak with a nifty shot into the upper right corner with 15 seconds left in the quarter.
Carolina's lead grew to 15-2 on a goal by Lucas with 8:02 to play in the game before the Retrievers went on a run to score four of the last six goals of the game. Travis Tomczak scored for the Retrievers with 6:35 and that was followed by an extra-man goal by Franklin Berry 46 seconds later.
UNC's Jeff Hoffman scored an unassisted goal on his first career shot with 4:56 to play and that goal was answered by an EMO goal by James Hyland, assisted by Brendan Mundorf, with 3:10 left. Hoffman scored again with 2:24 to play and Mundorf finished the scoring at 1:36, again on an EMO.
Carolina's next game will be in the 2004 Atlantic Coast Conference Lacrosse Tournament as the Tar Heels are the No. 2 seed and will play No. 3 seed Virginia (4-6) next Friday at 8:30 p.m. at Fetzer Field. No. 1 seed Maryland will meet No. 4 seed Duke in the first semifinal match at 6 p.m. The championship game of the ACC Tournament is Sunday, April 25 at 3:30 p.m. at Fetzer Field.
UMBC returns to action this coming Wednesday when the Retrievers host Loyola at 7:30 p.m. at UMBC Stadium in Catonsville, Md.
