University of North Carolina Athletics
Carolina Plays Saturday In Inaugural First 4
March 9, 2005 | Men's Lacrosse
March 9, 2005
2005 UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA MEN'S LACROSSE GAME NOTES
North Carolina Tar Heels (1-1, #10 USILA Coaches Poll) vs. Notre Dame Fighting Irish (1-1, #14 USILA Coaches Poll)
The First 4, Saturday, March 12, 2005, 5:00 p.m. PST (8:00 p.m. EST), The Home Depot Center, Carson, Calif.
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
INAUGURAL FIRST 4 AWAITS TAR HEELS IN CALIFORNIA: The University of North Carolina men's lacrosse team will be looking to bounce back from a disappointing outcome at second-ranked Navy last Saturday when Coach John Haus' Tar Heel team competes in the inaugural First 4 event Saturday at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. A made for TV doubleheader, the 10th-ranked Tar Heels will take on the 14th-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish Saturday at 5 p.m. PST (8:00 p.m. EST) followed by a matchup between No. 5 Syracuse (1-1) and No. 11 Georgetown (1-1) at 7:30 p.m. PST (10:30 p.m. EST). The games are being played at The Home Depot Center, the national training facility center for United States Soccer and the site of the 2003 Women's World Cup and the 2004 NCAA Men's Soccer Championship. Both contests Saturday will be televised live by College Sports Television (CSTV). The Home Depot Center is located adjacent to the campus of the California State University Dominguez Hills. UNC and Notre Dame both enter Saturday's game with records of 1-1. The Tar Heels opened their season with an 18-12 win over Denver at Fetzer Field on February 26 before being taken to task by second-ranked Navy 9-6 in Annapolis last Saturday. The Midshipmen, 2004 NCAA Tournament runners-up, were rewarded this week with the No. 2 ranking in the U.S. Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association's opening poll of the season and they received one first-place vote as well. The Tar Heels are ranked No. 10 in this week's opening USILA poll of the campaign. Notre Dame, ranked No. 14 this week, has opened its slate with two road games. The Fighting Irish humbled No. 17 Penn State 14-6 in State College, Pa., in the opener before dropping a heartbreaker last Saturday at sixth-ranked Cornell by an 11-10 score. Notre Dame's game at No. 20 Villanova on Tuesday was postponed due to inclement weather. The two teams Saturday can expect a high of about 75 degrees when they hit the field in Carson, Calif. After playing Notre Dame, UNC will fly to Long Island on Monday and then play against the Hofstra University Pride on Wednesday, March 16 at 7:30 p.m. at Hofstra Stadium in Hempstead, N.Y. Weather for that game is expected to be in the low 30s with possible snow. It will be a week of contrasts for the Tar Heels.
CAROLINA SQUAD LOOKING TO GIVE HAUS 100TH COLLEGE COACHING WIN SATURDAY: In addition to securing a nationally-televised win over Notre Dame on Saturday, 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 99-51. 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 32-23 ledger.
THE SERIES WITH THE FIGHTING IRISH: North Carolina and Notre Dame will be meeting for the fifth time in men's lacrosse on Saturday with the Tar Heels holding a 3-1 series edge. The two teams met in the season opener on March 5, 1995 and the Tar Heels prevailed over a 17th-ranked Notre Dame in a tough battle 11-8. The following season in Notre Dame, Ind., Carolina had to rally from three goals down in the fourth quarter to overcome a Notre Dame team ranked seventh nationally. UNC won that game 11-10 on April 13, 1996. In the past two seasons, the teams have traded wins on each others' home fields. On March 8, 2003, the Fighting Irish defeated North Carolina 10-8 at Fetzer Field behind a four-goal, one-assist effort by Matt Howell and a 14-save performance from Stewart Crosland. Carolina jumped out to a 2-0 lead and led 3-2 before a goal by Dan Berger with 2:19 left in the first half tied the game at intermission. Notre Dame completely dominated the third quarter, scoring four goals in a span of only 4:23 to go ahead 7-3. Howell had the first two goals in that scoring run for Notre Dame. UNC's Austin Garrison scored with 7:23 left in the third quarter to make it 7-4 but neither team dented the scoreboard the remainder of the period. Howell scored his third goal of the game with 10:26 to play to put the Irish up 8-4. Carolina tried desperately to get back in the game late. Ryan Blair scored with 7:55 to play and Garrison added his second goal with 6:58 left but Howell retaliated for Notre Dame just 17 seconds later to restore a three-goal lead. Mike McCall scored for Carolina with 6:04 to play and Kyle Bell added a goal with 4:04 left to cut the Notre Dame lead to 9-8. But the Tar Heels never got the equalizer and the Fighting Irish capped the win with a goal by Chris Richez with four seconds to play. Although Notre Dame was outshot 43-32 by UNC, Crosland's 14 saves in goal were the difference. Last year, the teams met in Notre Dame, Ind. on March 14, 2004 and Carolina defeated the fifth-ranked Irish 14-11. UNC was led by Jed Prossner career best effort of six goals and eight points in a match while Bryant Will also had his career highs for goals in a game with three and points in a match with six. Notre Dame outshot the Tar Heels 46-39 with Paul Spellman making 17 saves for UNC and Stewart Crosland recording 14 for Notre Dame. After Notre Dame opened the scoring, the Tar Heels ran off the next five goals of the match, including three goals by Prossner and one on which he assisted, to take a 5-1 lead with 5:50 left in the opening quarter. Carolina never successfully pulled away from the Fighting Irish all day but after that scoring run UNC led the rest of the afternoon. Several times the Fighting Irish cut the Tar Heels' lead to two goals in the match. The last time came with 6:40 to play in the game when a goal by Pat Walsh cut the Tar Heel lead to 12-10. But Prossner scored his sixth and final goal with 5:42 to play and he then assisted on Will's third goal of the match with 2:02 to play to restore a four-goal margin for Carolina at 14-10. Pat Walsh led the Irish on the afternoon with his three goals and three assists.
PROSSNER RANKS NO. 10 IN CAREER GOALS: North Carolina senior attackman Jed Prossner (Easton, Md.) heads into the Notre Dame 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 92 career goals at UNC. That is three 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 past two games. Senior Mike McCall (Yorktown, N.Y.) has passed the 75 mark in career goals this season. McCall's eight goals this season has pushed his career total to 77. Senior midfielder Bryant Will (Phoenix, Md.) has recorded five assists this season to pass the 50 mark in his career. Will now has a total of 51 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 42 of the 43 games the Tar Heels have played since he arrived on campus in 2002, heads into the Notre Dame game with 550 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.
Jed Prossner AND Bryant Will NAMED TO TEWAARATON TROPHY WATCH LIST: Tar Heel senior attackman Jed Prossner (Easton, Md.) and senior midfielder Bryant Will (Phoenix, Md.) were named in the preseason to the list of 37 players on the Watch List for the 2005 Tewaaraton Trophy given to the National Player of the Year. Prossner was named to the Watch List for the third straight year. A year ago, Prossner became the first Tar Heel men's lacrosse player in history to be named a finalist for the prestigious Tewaaraton Trophy. Five finalists are named for the award each year.
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. In 2005, the Tar Heels will be seeking a winning record in the ACC for the third straight season. UNC was 2-1 in ACC play in both 2003 and 2004. The last time Carolina had three straight winning records in ACC play was 1992-94.
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.
