University of North Carolina Athletics
No. 13 Carolina Heads To Rocky Mountains For Weekend Tournament
February 24, 2006 | Men's Lacrosse
Feb. 24, 2006
CAROLINA HEADS TO COLORADO FOR THIRD TIME IN SEVEN YEARS: The 13 North Carolina lacrosse team heads to the Rocky Mountains this weekend when the Tar Heels play Air Force and Denver in the 2006 Pioneer Face-Off Classic at the University of Denver. The tournament will mark Carolina's second appearance in the tournament. UNC also played in the 1999 Pioneer Face-Off Classic. UNC also traveled to Colorado in 2004 to play single games against Denver and Air Force. UNC and Air Force will play the opening game of the tournament on Saturday at 11 a.m. MST with Denver against Manhattan at 1:30 p.m. On Sunday, Manhattan Air Force face off at 11 a.m. followed by UNC and Denver at 1:30 p.m. This will be the fifth straight year the Tar Heels and the Pioneers have played each other and the fourth successive year UNC has faced off against the Falcons.
IN THE RANKINGS: In the preseason of every college lacrosse season there is always a confusing hodge podge of polls in NCAA Division I. The Tar Heels were ranked No. 18 in the Lacrosse Magazine ranking and No. 14 in the Inside Lacrosse/Face-Off Yearbook coaches poll in preseason rankings issued in December 2005. Denver checked in at No. 22 in the Inside Lacrosse/Face-Off Yearbook poll and No. 15 in the Lacrosse Magazine poll. The Inside Lacrosse/Face-Off poll was based on the voting of 55 NCAA Division I head coaches out of the total of 56 NCAA Division I teams. The Inside Lacrosse media poll began on February 6, 2006 with a preseason poll where North Carolina placed No. 15. After the college lacrosse season began February 11 with the first regular-season games of the new year, the first regular season Inside Lacrosse media poll was issued February 13 with the Tar Heels again at No. 15. After a win over Ohio State, UNC moved up to No. 13 in this week's poll. Denver has been No. 20 in all three Inside Lacrosse media polls.
THE NORTH CAROLINA-AIR FORCE SERIES: North Carolina leads the all-time series with Air Force 8-0. Of the eight previous meetings five were played in Chapel Hill, two in the state of Colorado and one at Manhasset High School on Long Island. Saturday's match will be the third meeting in the last five played in Colorado. UNC played Air Force in the 1999 Pioneer Face-Off Classic and at Colorado Springs, Colo. in 2004. Last year in Chapel Hill UNC won 14-5.
THE NORTH CAROLINA-DENVER SERIES: North Carolina leads the all-time series with Denver 5-0 and this will be the third of the six meetings played at UD. UNC played in the Pioneer Face-Off Classic in 1999 and in Denver in 2004. UNC won last year's game in Chapel Hill 18-12.
SO FAR THIS YEAR: North Carolina is 1-0 after a season-opening 14-5 win over Ohio State February 18. Air Force is 0-1 after losing its opener at Villanova 11-6 February 18. Denver is 0-1 after losing its opener at No. 4 Virginia February 20.
CAROLINA'S WIN OVER OSU: North Carolina opened its 2006 season by beating Ohio State 14-5 February 18 at Calvert Hall College High School in Baltimore, Md. The story of the game was the dominance of UNC's defense which limited the Buckeyes to only two goals in the first three quarters of the match. Carolina allowed three goals in the final quarter, two on extra-man situations. UNC won the ground ball battle 45-28, forced 21 turnovers and five failed clears. Trey Sheain started his second career game in goal and played all 60 minutes, making 11 saves and allowing on five goals. Offensively, freshmen Michael Burns (3g, 3a), Bart Wagner (3g, 2a) and Bobby McAuley (2g, 1a) led the way for UNC. Sophomore middie Nick Tintle also had a 2 and 1 day and Ryan Blair also had two goals. Sean Link added one goal, only the second of his career, and midfielders Dave Werry and Shane Walterhoefer each had assists for their first career points. Four different Tar Heels had six ground balls -- Bart Wagner, Dave Werry, Bill Staines and Hayward Howard. Wagner and Werry both had career highs for ground balls and Howard was one short of his career high. Staines had a career high nine last year versus Air Force.
Michael Burns TAPPED FOR ACC AWARD: North Carolina's Michael Burns was named the Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Lacrosse Player of the Week after leading the 15th-ranked Tar Heels to a season opening, 14-5 win over Ohio State in Baltimore, Md. Burns led all scorers in the game with six points as he tallied three goals and three assists against the Buckeyes. The freshman attackman earned his first career start against Ohio State playing in only his second lacrosse game in nearly two years. urns made his presence felt immediately as he assisted on North Carolina's first three goals of the game to help give the Tar Heels an early 6-0 lead. The Garden City, N.Y., native would register three goals of his own in the second half leading North Carolina to a season opening win for the eighth straight year.
BLAIR, McELDUFF NAMED TO TEWAARATON LIST: Senior attackman Ryan Blair and senior defenseman Stephen McElduff of the University of North Carolina men's lacrosse team were named Wednesday to the watch list for the 2006 Tewaaraton Trophy, one of the two premier National Player of the Year Awards in collegiate men's lacrosse. The Men's Selection Committee of the Tewaaraton Award Foundation was responsible for issuing this preseason watch list. The players on this list were nominated by the coaches across all three divisions of NCAA lacrosse play and are early season hopefuls for the 2006 Tewaaraton Trophy. A total of 53 players overall made the watch list. Former UNC attackman Jed Prossner, a two-time first-team All-America, was one of the five finalists for the Tewaaraton Trophy in 2004. Ryan Blair is a senior attackman who led the Tar Heels in scoring in 2005 with 22 goals and 29 assists for 51 points. Stephen McElduff was a third-team All-America selection in 2005 on defense and was named this year as a preseason first-team All-America on defense by Inside Lacrosse Magazine and Face-Off Yearbook.
WERRY'S BIG DAY: Senior midfielder Dave Werry had a pair of career highs in UNC's 14-5 win over Ohio State February 18. The senior mid from Ontario won 11 face-offs, his career high, and his six ground balls were also his top career mark.
TREY IN THE GOAL: Junior Trey Sheain made only his second career start February 18 versus Ohio State and responded by making 11 saves and allowing only five goals versus the Buckeyes. Sheain's initial career start was in a 10-9 overtime win at Duke in 2004.
LAX POWER RANKS UNC'S STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE NO. 1 IN 2005: Based on its computer calculations for the 2005 season, Lax Power rated North Carolina's 2005 men's lacrosse schedule the most difficult in the nation. The Tar Heels had an opponents' power rating of 96.26, edging out Johns Hopkins and Maryland in the strength of schedule rating. LaxPower does not compile a preseason power schedule rating but it is hard to imagine many schools playing a tougher docket than the Tar Heels are facing in 2006. Carolina's 13-game regular-season schedule features games against No. 1 Duke, No. 2 Johns Hopkins, No. 3 Maryland, No. 4 Virginia, No. 6 Navy, No. 12 Notre Dame, No. 18 Hofstra, No. 19 Fairfield and No. 20 Denver based on rankings in the February 13, 2006 Inside Lacrosse media poll.
McELDUFF, BLAIR NAMED 2006 PRESEASON ALL-AMERICAS:A pair of North Carolina players were named to the preseason All-America Teams named by Inside Lacrosse and Face-Off Yearbook. Stephen McElduff, a senior defenseman from Yorktown, N.Y., was named a first-team preseason All-America and senior attackman Ryan Blair of Auburn, N.Y. was named an honorable mention All-America choice.
McELDUFF'S CAREER STARTS: Senior defenseman Stephen McElduff is amongst ACC leaders with 41 career starts. That is the seventh highest total number of career starts for any player currently competing in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
BLAIR'S CAREER ASSISTS: Senior Ryan Blair headed into the 2006 season tied for fifth amongst active NCAA Division I players in career assists. Blair has 58 assists to his credit and is tied with Xander Ritz of Maryland and John Walker of Army with that total. Stony Brook's Jason Cappadoro led all active players with 70 assists followed by Jon Birsner of Navy (69), Cam Howard of Delaware (68) and Matt Danowski of Duke (61).
TAR HEELS OPEN STRONG AGAIN DEFENSIVELY: As they did three times in 2005, Carolina opened the 2006 season by allowing only five goals in their 14-5 win over Ohio State. The last time UNC limited an opponent to fewer than five goals was February 22, 2003 when UNC beat Bucknell 13-3 in Chapel Hill, N.C.
CAROLINA SEEKS 22ND NCAA BID: The North Carolina lacrosse team begins the 2006 campaign hoping to earn the school's 22nd NCAA Tournament bid at the conclusion of the season. Carolina earned its 21st bid to the NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Tournament in 2004, advancing to the NCAA quarterfinals. Only five schools have earned more bids to the NCAA Tournament than Carolina. Johns Hopkins leads all schools with 34 bids to the tournament while Virginia and Maryland have each been invited 28 times. Syracuse has earned 25 bids, Navy has 22 bids and North Carolina is sixth with 21 bids.
LARGEST ROAD MARGIN IN NEARLY TWO YEARS: When Carolina defeated UMBC 11-5 on April 16, 2005, the Tar Heels recorded their largest margin of victory in a true road game since April 23, 2003 when Carolina won 13-7 at Stony Brook. UNC matched that six-goal winning margin in a road game by beating Colgate 12-6 on April 20, 2005 in Hamilton, N.Y. UNC went on the road to open the 2006 season against Ohio State but the game was played at a neutral site in Baltimore. UNC's nine-goal margin of victory was its biggest since a 14-5 win over Air Force last season.
COACH John Haus: North Carolina head coach John Haus, a 1983 Carolina graduate, is in his sixth 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 37-30 in six seasons. In 12 years as a collegiate head coach his teams are now 104-58. Including his time as a player, assistant coach and head coach he has been involved with teams that have a combined record of 209-93 in the collegiate ranks. That record has been compiled over 22 seasons of association with college lacrosse. THE ALL-TIME HOME RECORD: North Carolina has a record of 210-103-2 in home games dating back to the start of the varsity program in 1949.
