University of North Carolina Athletics
Carolina Battles PrideWednesday Night On The Island
March 16, 2005 | Men's Lacrosse
March 16, 2005
2005 UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA MEN'S LACROSSE GAME NOTES
#15 North Carolina Tar Heels (1-2) vs. Hofstra Pride (0-3)
Wednesday, March 16, 2005, 7:30 p.m. Hofstra Stadium, Hempstead, N.Y.
North Carolina Men's Lacrosse Media Contact: Dave Lohse, 919-962-7257, dlohse@uncaa.unc.edu
Carolina Athletics on the World Wide Web at http://TarHeelBlue.collegesports.com
TAR HEELS HEAD TO LONG ISLAND SEEKING TO END LOSING STREAK: The 15th-ranked North Carolina men's lacrosse team will be looking to end a two-match losing streak Wednesday night when the Tar Heels take on the Hofstra University Pride on Long Island. The Tar Heels and the Pride will stage their opening faceoff at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday night at Hofstra Stadium in Hempstead, N.Y. Both teams are desperate for a victory to turn their seasons in their right direction. The Tar Heels have fallen to 15th in this week's U.S. Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association poll and they are 1-2 on the season and currently on a two-match losing streak, having lost the past two games to Navy 9-6 and Notre Dame 9-7. Hofstra has also struggled so far this season with the Pride sporting an 0-3 record with the two most recent losses to Brown 10-2 and to the No. 1 team in the nation, Johns Hopkins University, 11-5. Wednesday night's game with be televised by Fox Sports New York.
CAROLINA SQUAD LOOKING TO GIVE HAUS 100TH COLLEGE COACHING WIN WEDNESDAY: In addition to securing a regionally-televised win over Hofstra on Wednesday, the North Carolina lacrosse team will also be seeking to reward Tar Heel Head Coach John Haus with his 100th collegiate career coaching victory. Now in his 11th season as a college head coach, Haus has mentored teams which have compiled records totaling 99-52. In four seasons at Washington College from 1995-98, his teams went 47-21. Haus then coached at Johns Hopkins for two seasons in 1999 and 2000 where his squads were 20-7. Now in his fifth year at UNC, Haus has led the Tar Heels to a 32-24 ledger.
TAR HEELS COMPETE AGAINST MONSTER SCHEDULE IN 2005: North Carolina is playing what may possibly be the toughest schedule in the nation during the 2005 season. Carolina faces another talented team in Hofstra on Wednesday night. But the Pride represent just one of many obstacles on the road to success for Carolina. In fact, UNC plays seven of the top 12 teams in this week's U.S. Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association coaches poll and eight teams in the Top 25. The Tar Heels have already played No. 24 Denver, beating the Pioneers 18-12. Following that match, UNC dropped back-to-back games against No. 6 Navy 9-6 and No. 9 Notre Dame 9-7. After Carolina's match with Hofstra, the Tar Heels face the following five opponents in a row, a veritable Who's Who of the Nation's top teams -- No. 3 Duke, No. 12 Cornell, No. 4 Maryland, No. 1 Johns Hopkins and No. 2 Virginia.
THE SERIES WITH THE PRIDE: North Carolina has had little success playing against Hofstra during the Tar Heels' lacrosse history. Going into Wednesday night's game in Hempstead, N.Y., the Pride lead the all-time series 4-1. Wednesday's game will also mark the sixth successive time in the series the teams will have played on the Pride's home field at Hofstra Stadium in Hempstead, N.Y. The teams have never played in Chapel Hill, N.C. or on a neutral field. Hofstra beat UNC in the opening game in the series in 1978 by a 10-9 score in overtime. More recently the teams have met four times since 1996 but the Pride continues to control the run of the play in the series. Hofstra defeated the Tar Heels 10-9 in 1996 but the Tar Heels bounced back a year later in 1997 to earn their only victory in the history of the series by a 10-4 score. The last two meetings have resulted in lopsided wins for Hofstra. The Pride won 20-12 in 2000 and 12-7 in 2002.
McCALL STEPS UP AGAINST IRISH: Despite a 9-7 loss on Notre Dame on March 12, Tar Heel senior attackman Mike McCall did have an outstanding game for UNC. McCall took eight shots in the game, all on goal, and scored five of UNC's seven goals in the match. The five goals were just one shy of McCall's career high for goals in a game.
PROSSNER RANKS NO. 10 IN CAREER GOALS: North Carolina senior attackman Jed Prossner (Easton, Md.) heads into the Hofstra game as the 10th leading goal scorer in North Carolina men's lacrosse history. Prossner, after scoring five goals against Denver in the season opener and three goals against Navy, currently has 93 career goals at UNC. That is two goals behind Jason Wade (1993-96) who is 9th on the chart with 95 goals. The all-time leader at UNC is Bert Fett who scored 128 goals from 1972-75. Prossner passed Ryan Wade (1991-94) in the Navy game. Ryan Wade was 10th on the list with his 91 career goals. Prossner scored 41 goals during the 2004 season. That was the fifth most goals in a single season in Tar Heel history. The record output was 47 by Dennis Goldstein during UNC's national championship run in 1991.
McCALL & WILL PASS MILESTONES: A pair of Tar Heel seniors passed career milestones in the season's first two games. Senior Mike McCall (Yorktown, N.Y.) has passed the 75 mark in career goals this season. McCall's 13 goals this season has pushed his career total to 82. McCall is chasing the Top 10 list at UNC. Jason Wade currently ranks ninth in career goal scoring at UNC with 95 and McCall's current teammate, Jed Prossner, is 10th with 93 goals. Senior midfielder Bryant Will (Phoenix, Md.) has recorded six assists this season to pass the 50 mark in his career. Will now has a total of 52 assists. He is aiming for the UNC Top 10 list which currently has Matt Crofton (1997-2000) and Chase Martin (1997-2000) tied for the No. 9 spot with 63 assists apiece.
SPELLMAN NOW THIRD IN CAREER SAVES: Tar Heel senior goalkeeper Paul Spellman (Cockeysville, Md.), who has started 43 of the 44 games the Tar Heels have played since he arrived on campus in 2002, heads into the Hofstra game with 562 career saves. That total ranks third in Carolina history. Ahead of him on the chart are Tom Sears (1980-83) with 629 and Dave Shreiner (1971-73) with 621. Spellman had a season-high 16 saves against Navy on March 5 while allowing only nine goals in a hard-fought game against the second-ranked Midshipmen in which UNC fell short 9-6.
TAR HEELS POST BIGGEST OFFENSIVE EXPLOSION SINCE 2001: When North Carolina defeated Denver 18-12 on February 26, 2005, 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.
TAR HEELS ON PRESEASON ALL-AMERICA TEAM: Six UNC players were named to the preseason All-America teams named by Face-Off Yearbook and Inside Lacrosse for the 2005 season. The Tar Heels had two players named to the first team with senior attackman Jed Prossner (Easton Md.) and senior midfielder Bryant Will (Phoenix, Md.) tapped for the top team. Junior defenseman Stephen McElduff (Yorktown, N.Y.) was named to the second-team preseason All-America team while senior attackman Mike McCall (Yorktown, N.Y.), senior midfielder Lance Zimmerman (Cockeysville, Md.) and senior goalkeeper Paul Spellman (Cockeysville, Md.) were all named honorable mention.
THE ALL-TIME HOME RECORD: North Carolina has a record of 208-101-2 in home games dating back to the start of the varsity program in 1949.
