University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels Seek First NCAA Tournament Win Since 1993
May 14, 2004 | Men's Lacrosse
May 14, 2004
2004 UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA MEN'S LACROSSE GAME NOTES
No. 6 North Carolina Tar Heels (9-4) vs. No. 8 Ohio State Buckeyes (12-3)
2004 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship First Round
Saturday, May 15, 2004, 1:00 p.m., Fetzer Field, Chapel Hill, N.C.
Media Contact: Dave Lohse, 919-962-7257, dlohse@uncaa.unc.edu
Carolina Athletics on the World Wide Web at http://www.TarHeelBlue.com
TAR HEELS EARN SPOT IN NCAA TOURNAMENT FIELD FOR FIRST TIME SINCE 1998: The North Carolina Tar Heels (9-4) will make their first appearance in the NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship since 1998 when the sixth-ranked Tar Heels play host to eighth-ranked Ohio State (12-3) in the first round of the 2004 tournament Saturday at 1 p.m. at Fetzer Field on the UNC campus. The Buckeyes, champions of the Great Western Lacrosse League, are in the tournament for the second straight year as an automatic bid while the Tar Heels received an at-large bid. Carolina last played an NCAA Tournament game on May 9, 1998 when the Tar Heels lost a first round game to Duke 16-14 in Amherst, Mass. Ohio State last played in the NCAA Tournament a year ago, falling in the first round to Maryland. Gates to the facility will open at 11:30 a.m. Ticket prices are $5 for adults and $3 for students.
CAROLINA HOSTS FIRST NCAA TOURNAMENT GAME SINCE 1993: Saturday's game against the Ohio State Buckeyes will mark the first time the Tar Heels have hosted a game in the NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship since May 22, 1993. That day the Tar Heels defeated Army 14-5 in an NCAA quarterfinal match played at Kenan Stadium. UNC was coached that day by interim head coach Rob Russell. The Tar Heels advanced to the NCAA championship game that year before losing to Syracuse 13-12.
CAROLINA IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT: Carolina has an all-time record of 23-16 in NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship games. The Tar Heels will be looking to break a five-game losing streak in tournament games when they play Ohio State in a 2004 first-round match this Saturday in Chapel Hill. UNC's last NCAA Tournament win came on May 29, 1993 when Carolina defeated Johns Hopkins 16-10 in the NCAA Tournament semifinals at Byrd Stadium in College Park, Md.
CAROLINA EARNS 21ST NCAA BID: Carolina has earned its 21st bid to the NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship this year. Only four schools have earned more bids. Johns Hopkins leads with 33 bids to the tournament while Virginia and Maryland have each been invited 27 times. Syracuse has earned 23 bids while North Carolina and Navy are tied for fifth with 21 bids each.
UNC FINISHES NO. 6 IN USILA POLL: The 2004 Tar Heel team finished sixth nationally in the final Geico/STX U.S. Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association coaches poll. That is the highest finish for the Tar Heels in the final poll since the 1996 season when UNC was second. The only other time since then when the Tar Heels finished in the Top 10 was 1998 when North Carolina was 10th in the final poll.
THREE TAR HEELS NAMED ALL-ACC: For the first time since 1996, North Carolina has as many as three players named this year to the All-Atlantic Coast Conference Team. Senior defenseman Ronnie Staines (Severna Park, Md.), junior attackman Jed Prossner (Easton, Md.) and junior midfielder Bryant Will (Phoenix, Md.) were all named to the All-ACC Team in a vote by the conference's head coaches. Prossner was voted All-ACC for the second year in a row.
CAROLINA PAIR NAMED ALL-ACC TOURNAMENT: Senior midfielder Kevin Frew (Baldwin, Md.) and junior attackman Jed Prossner (Easton, Md.) were both named to the All-Tournament Team at the 2004 Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament. That was the first time since 1996 that Carolina had more than one player named to the All-Tournament Team.
WINNINGEST SEASON SINCE 1996: North Carolina currently has a record of 9-4 as it heads into NCAA Tournament play. The nine wins are the most in a season by the Tar Heels since 1996 when Carolina finished the season with a record of 12-5.
THREE SUCCESSIVE WINNING SEASONS: No one can question the progress the Tar Heel men's lacrosse program has made under the leadership of head coach John Haus, now in his fourth year as the head mentor at his alma mater. With a 9-4 record this year, UNC has posted a winning record for three successive seasons, having gone 8-5 in 2002 and 7-6 in 2003. The last time UNC had three successive winning campaigns was 1994-96 when the Tar Heels were 10-5, 9-7 and 12-5, respectively.
CAROLINA IN ACC GAMES: Since John Haus' arrival as the Tar Heels' head coach in 2001, Carolina is 6-6 in Atlantic Coast Conference regular season matches. That is a marked turnaround for the Tar Heel program from the previous four-year period of 1997-2000 when UNC posted a 1-11 record in ACC regular-season games.
CAROLINA BOASTS NATION'S SECOND TOUGHEST SCHEDULE: North Carolina has played the nation's second toughest schedule according to the strength of schedule ratings compiled May 13 by LaxPower.com. North Carolina has an average opponent power rating of 95.56 this season. Only Virginia, which an opponent rating of 96.04 had a better schedule than the Tar Heels. The remainder of the Top 10 team in SOS ratings include Maryland, Johns Hopkins, Syracuse, Pennsylvania, Duke, Loyola, Princeton and Georgetown.
CAROLINA IN CLOSE GAMES: Carolina is 4-4 in games decided by three goals or less so far during the 2004 season. This is a decided improvement over Carolina's performance in close games during the 2003 season when the Tar Heels were 1-6 in games decided by three goals or less. UNC's improvement in close games has a lot to do with the fact that Carolina finished the season ranked No. 6 nationally in the USILA poll with four losses. The next highest ranked team with as many as four losses was Towson at No. 9. Three of UNC's four losses this year came by one goal -- to No. 1 Johns Hopkins 10-9, to No. 2 Navy 9-8 in overtime and to No. 3 Maryland 10-9. UNC's fourth loss was an 11-9 setback to Virginia in the semifinals of the 2004 ACC Tournament.
TAR HEELS HAVE BIGGEST OFFENSIVE EXPLOSION IN YEARS: When North Carolina defeated UMBC 17-6 on April 17, 2004, it marked the most goals scored in a game by the Tar Heels since a 27-7 win over Pfeiffer on April 26, 2001. It was the most goals in a game by UNC against an NCAA Division I opponent since March 13, 1999 when the Tar Heels smacked Air Force 18-5 in Colorado Springs, Colo. The 11-goal margin of victory was also the biggest for the Tar Heels in a game since the April 26, 2001 win over Pfeiffer and the biggest against a Division I team since the aforementioned Air Force victory. Carolina went on to equal that 17-goal output when the Tar Heels defeated Limestone, the No. 1-ranked team in NCAA Division II, on Fetzer Field by a 17-8 score on May 5.
A QUICK LOOK AT THE TAR HEELS' PERSONNEL: Carolina features seven players in double figures in points heading into the NCAA Tournament, led by junior attackman Jed Prossner who has 37 goals and 13 assists for 50 points. Other players in double figures include junior attackman Mike McCall with 32 points (25g, 7a), sophomore attackman Scott Falatach with 30 points (16g, 14a), junior midfielder Bryant Will with 29 points (13g, 16a), sophomore attackman Ryan Blair with 28 points (15g, 13a), junior midfielder Lance Zimmerman with 21 points (9g, 12a) and senior attackman Andrew Lucas with 12 points (7g, 5a). Carolina starts a veteran close defense of senior Ronnie Staines, senior Matt Pessagno and sophomore Stephen McElduff that has helped the Tar Heels hold opponents to an average of 8.51 goals per game. Junior goalkeeper Paul Spellman has a goals against average of 8.15 goals per game and he has saved .604 percent of the shots on goal against him. Another key player for the Tar Heels has been senior midfielder Kevin Frew. Frew leads UNC with 117 ground balls and he has won 187 of 285 faceoffs, a winning percentage of .656.
A QUINTET OF PRESEASON ALL-AMERICA CHOICES: Five Tar Heels were named to the preseason All-America Team by Face-Off Yearbook. They were senior defenseman Ronnie Staines as a first-team All-America, junior attackman Jed Prossner as a second-team All-America, junior midfielder Bryant Will as a third-team All-America, senior faceoff man Kevin Frew as an honorable mention All-America and junior goalkeeper Paul Spellman as an honorable mention All-America.
CAROLINA AGAINST RANKED TEAMS AND ON THE ROAD: Carolina has a record of 7-3 this season when they play teams nationally-ranked at the time of the contest. That does not include a 9-8 overtime loss to Navy which is currently ranked No. 2 in the nation but was unraked at the time the Tar Heels played the Midshipmen. UNC finished the 2004 regular season 5-1 away from Chapel Hill. That is the fewest regular-season road losses by UNC since 1993 when Carolina lost only to Virginia on the road and was 5-1 away from Chapel Hill in the regular season.
YOUTH WINS OUT: Carolina's top offensive stat leaders are a group dominated by players who will return to the Tar Heel team in 2005. Carolina's top six leading scorers will all return to the Tar Heel team next season. The top senior scorer is senior attackman Andrew Lucas with 12 points.
THE PROSSNER FILE: Carolina sophomore attacker not only leads the Heels in scoring with 50 points but he also had the top scoring game of his career against Notre Dame in the Tar Heels' 14-11 win over the Fighting Irish on March 14. Prossner scored six goals against Notre Dame, topping his previous high total of five against UMBC on April 13, 2002. Prossner's eight points against the Fighting Irish topped his previous high of six points in the aforementioned UMBC game and against Duke on March 19, 2003.
WILL STEPS UP: Junior midfielder Bryant Will is the top assist producer on the Tar Heel team in 2004 with 16. He is one of five Tar Heels with 10 or more assists this season. Will scored a career high three goals in Carolina's 14-11 win at Notre Dame on March 14; he also had a career high six points in the match. His previous highs for a single game in his career were two goals and four points. Will matched his career high for three goals in a game when he had a hat trick in the Tar Heels' 12-6 win over Ohio State on May 8.
FALATACH HAS CAREER HIGH: Sophomore attackman Scott Falatach produced his career high for points in a game when he had six in the Tar Heels' 17-6 win over UMBC on April 17. The Stevensville, Md. native previously had five points in a match against Virginia on April 18, 2003 and against Air Force on April 26, 2003. Falatach had three goals and a career-high three assists in the win over the Retrievers.
LUCAS BREAKS OUT: Senior attackman Andrew Lucas was a big part of the successful Tar Heel attack in their wins over Virginia and UMBC. In each of those matches Lucas equalled his career high for points in a match with four, something he has done six times now in his Tar Heel career. His three goals against UMBC also equalled his career high, achieved five times.
McCALL MATCHES CAREER HIGH: Junior attackman Mike McCall matched his career high for goals in a game when he scored four against Virginia in the ACC Tournament semifinals. McCall also had four goals against Fairfield on April 27, 2002.
ZIMMERMAN HEATS UP: Junior midfielder Lance Zimmerman has been one of the top producers for Carolina offensively in recent games. The Cockeysville, Md. native had a career-high four points in UNC's 17-8 victory over Limestone on May 5 and he followed that up by scoring a career high three goals in a 12-6 victory over Ohio State on May 8. Earlier in the year, Zimmerman scored the game-winning goal in overtime to defeat Duke 10-9 on March 20, giving the Tar Heels their first overtime victory in over two years.
CAROLINA AS A TEAM IN THE NATIONAL STATS: Carolina heads into NCAA Tournament play ranks high nationally as a team in several categories in the NCAA Division I statistics. UNC currently ranks second in faceoff winning percentage with a team mark of .656. The Tar Heels are fourth in man-up success percentage at .474. UNC ranks seventh in the nation in scoring offense. Carolina is averaging 11.46 goals per game. UNC is ninth in the nation in scoring margin at 2.92 goals per game. The Tar Heels are 11th in winning percentage at .692.
FREW LEADS THE NATION IN GROUND BALLS PER GAME: Carolina's Kevin Frew currently leads in the nation in ground balls per game at 9.00 per contest. He is also third in faceoff percentage at .656. Junior attackman Jed Prossner is fourth nationally in goals per game at 2.85 and he is eighth in points per game with 3.85. Junior goalkeeper Paul Spellman currently ranks 11th in the nation in save percentage with a mark of .604. He is 17th nationally in goals against average, allowing only 8.15 goals per contest.
FACING OFF: Carolina is winning at a solid rate of .656 in the faceoff circle so far this season. Senior Kevin Frew has taken all but 17 faceoffs for the Tar Heels this season and he has won 187 of 285 faceoffs. He has won a season-high 18 faceoffs twice this season. His 18 faceoffs wins in 22 attempts were a key in UNC's overtime win over Duke on March 20. He also won 18 of 21 faceoff tries in Carolina's 17-6 win over UMBC on April 17. Frew has been especially adept at winning faceoffs in UNC's last four games. He won 18 against UMBC on April 17, 16 against Virginia on April 23, 16 against Limestone on May 5 and 17 against Ohio State on May 8. Frew's career high for faceoff victories is 19. It came against Delaware on March 9, 2002.
SPELLMAN BETWEEN THE PIPES: Junior goalkeeper Paul Spellman enters the Ohio State game with an 8.15 goals against average and a .604 save percentage. Spellman had 18 saves and only seven goals allowed in the Tar Heels' 12-7 season-opening win over UMass. Spellman has had multiple games in which he has reached double digits in the saves department. He had 17 saves against Notre Dame, 16 against Virginia in the NCAA Tournament, 14 against Denver, 13 against Maryland and Virginia, 12 against Air Force and 10 against both Johns Hopkins and Duke.
CAROLINA IN THE POLL: UNC was ranked No. 6 by the coaches in the final Geico/STX U.S. Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association poll. UNC was ranked as high as No. 4 in three different polls this season. Carolina had not been as high as No. 4 in the USILA poll since the final poll of the 1996 season.
COACH John Haus: North Carolina head coach John Haus, a 1983 Carolina graduate, is in his fourth 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. As the head coach at Johns Hopkins his teams went 20-7 in 1999 and 2000. As the Tar Heel head coach his teams are 30-21 in four seasons. In 10 years as a collegiate head coach his teams are now 97-49. Including his time as a player, assistant coach and head coach he has been involved with teams that have a combined record of 202-84 in the collegiate ranks.
TAR HEELS WIN IN OVERTIME AT DUKE: When Carolina defeated Duke 10-9 in overtime on March 20, the Tar Heels broke a four-game losing streak in overtime games. Carolina had not won an overtime contest since beating Navy 11-10 in an NCAA record six overtimes on March 2, 2002.
THE SERIES WITH OHIO STATE: The series between Ohio State and North Carolina in men's lacrosse began in 1965. The Tar Heels lead the all-time series by a 10-0 margin. That includes a 12-6 victory by the Tar Heels in the most recent meeting on May 8, 2004 at Fetzer Field in Chapel Hill. Prior to that game, the Tar Heels and the Buckeyes had played back-to-back games decided by a single goal. UNC defeated Ohio State in triple overtime 13-12 on a goal by Johnny Seivold on October 16, 2002 at Henry Stadium in Chapel Hill, N.C. The teams also played in Columbus, Ohio on March 12, 2003 with the Tar Heels winning 9-8.
PROSSNER NAMED ACC CO-PLAYER OF THE WEEK MARCH 1: North Carolina's Jed Prossner was named Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Lacrosse Co-Player of the Week March 1 after leading Carolina to an impressive win over UMass. Prossner, a native of Easton, Md., helped lead North Carolina to a 12-7 win over the Minutemen. The attackman tallied three goals and one assist for four points. The junior had an early assist and then scored three goals early in the fourth quarter to put the game away for the Tar Heels. Prossner has led the Tar Heels in scoring as both a freshman in 2002 and a sophomore in 2003.
PROSSNER CAPTURES ACC PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONORS A SECOND TIME: North Carolina's Jed Prossner was named the week's Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Lacrosse Player of the Week for the second time this season on March 13. The junior attackman scored 11 goals and had four assists in three games as No. 9 North Carolina swept three ranked teams on its spring break trip. The Tar Heels defeated No. 10 Denver 11-6, No. 20 Air Force 10-9 and No. 5 Notre Dame 14-11 in a span of six days. The Easton, Md., native had two goals, one assist and two ground balls against Denver and three goals, one assist and three ground balls versus Air Force. In the Tar Heels' win over Notre Dame, Prossner had a career day with six goals, two assists and two ground balls. His six goals against the Fighting Irish were a career high, as were the eight points he tallied in the match.
STAINES COPS NOD AS ACC PLAYER OF THE WEEK: North Carolina's Ronnie Staines was named the Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Lacrosse Player of the Week March 22. The senior defender was at his best March 20 in No. 8 North Carolina's 10-9 overtime win over No. 5 Duke. The Severna Park, Md., native limited Duke's leading scorer, Matt Danowski, to only two shots on goal and allowed him just one assist. It was the fifth time in the first six games of the season that North Carolina has held its opponents to single digit goals.
SPELLMAN MERITS PLAYER OF THE WEEK ACCOLADES: North Carolina's Paul Spellman was named the Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Lacrosse Player of the Week April 13. Spellman, a junior goalkeeper from Cockeysville, Md., recorded 13 saves while allowing nine goals as No. 5 North Carolina defeated No. 15 Virginia, 11-9, on April 11 at Fetzer Field in Chapel Hill. It marked the first time the Tar Heels have defeated the Cavaliers since 2001. The junior also had five ground balls in the game. With Virginia leading 7-6 in the third quarter, Spellman held the Cavaliers scoreless for nearly 22 minutes while saving nine successive shots on goal by the Wahoos. The Tar Heels went on a 5-0 scoring run to take an 11-7 lead, before winning the conference match-up by an eventual 11-9 score.
FREW WINS 18 FACEOFFS VERSUS DUKE AND UMBC: When Kevin Frew won 18 faceoffs in Carolina's 10-9 win over Duke on March 20 and against UMBC on April 17, that equalled the third most faceoffs won in a single game in UNC history by a single player. Todd Oudemool won a school record 22 faceoffs against Towson on May 13, 1989 and Frew won 19 against Delaware on March 9, 2002. Ryan Damon also won 18 in a game for Carolina on April 11, 1999 against Delaware. Frew has three times this season had a career high 13 ground balls in a game -- against Duke, UMBC and Limestone.
FREW'S CAREER FACEOFF WINS: Kevin Frew has won 414 faceoffs in his career, second most in UNC history. Only Jude Collins (1993-96) with 429 faceoff victories has won more.
FREW'S SET SEASON FACEOFF WINS RECORD FOR NORTH CAROLINA: Kevin Frew's 187 faceoff victories in 2004 are the most in a single season in school history. The past school record was 145 set by Jude Collins in 1996. Frew passed Collins in the ACC Tournament semifinal game against Virginia.
FREW'S SEASON GROUND BALLS: Kevin Frew has claimed 117 ground balls so far in the 2004 season. That is the third most in a single season in UNC history. Jude Collins won 160 ground balls in 1996 and 130 ground balls in 1995 as the only totals to top Frew's 2004 mark.
SPELLMAN RANKS THIRD IN CAREER SAVES: North Carolina junior goalkeeper Paul Spellman enters the NCAA Tournament with 499 career saves. That is fourth in UNC history. Tom Sears (1980-83) is the career leader with 629. Dave Scheiner is second in school history with 621 saves.
THE ALL-TIME HOME RECORD: North Carolina heads into the NCAA Tournament with a record of 206-101-2 in home games dating back to the start of the varsity program in 1949.
