University of North Carolina Athletics
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Maryland
Walters Leads No. 4 Maryland Past North Carolina 9-6
March 25, 2006 | Men's Lacrosse
March 25, 2006
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Fourth-ranked Maryland went on a 5-0 scoring run in the third and fourth quarters Saturday afternoon to rally past North Carolina 9-6 before a crowd of 1,744 fans at Fetzer Field. Joe Walters' five-goal performance keyed the Terrapin victory while freshman Ben Hunt had the first two goals of his career to pace the offensive effort for the Tar Heels.
The Tar Heels twice had one-goal leads in the game but they were unable to clamp down on the Terps defensively in the second half, allowing Maryland to get close-in shots that the Terps canned for goals. Meanwhile, Maryland's defense held the Tar Heels scoreless for a span 21:36 in the third and fourth quarters while going on the decisive 5-0 scoring run.
The Terps have now won five successive games over the Tar Heels in Chapel Hill and three consecutive games against Carolina overall. They improved to 6-1 overall on the season and 2-0 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Carolina fell to 2-7 overall and 0-2 in the ACC. The seven-match losing streak is the longest for UNC since the Tar Heels fell in 14 consecutive games in a three-season span in 1953, 1954 and 1964. UNC did not have a varsity lacrosse team from 1955-63. UNC has not lost three successive home games since the 1999 season when it lost to Johns Hopkins, Duke and Loyola.
The frustration for the Tar Heels Saturday came in the fact they for the most part dominated the game statistically. UNC had 41 shots to 31 for the Terps and Carolina also won the ground ball battle 41-31. The Tar Heels forced the Terps into 20 turnovers while making only 15 of their own.
But shooting accuracy became the key statistic in the match as UNC put only 14 of its 41 shots on goal while Maryland had 18 of its 31 shot attempts on goal. Maryland's Harry Alford made eight saves for the Terrapins while Grant Zimmerman had nine saves for Carolina including five in the opening period allowing the Terps to lead only 1-0 at the end of the first quarter.
Maryland led 2-1 in the second quarter before the Tar Heels got back-to-back goals by Rob Driscoll and Ben Hunt to take their first lead of the match at 3-2 with 2:56 left in the period. The Terrapins got a key goal by Walters off a feed by Brendan Healy with five seconds to play before halftime to tie the game at 3-3 and seize momentum going into the locker room.
Maryland's Maxwell Ritz opened the scoring in the second half but goals by Hunt and Brian Connors put UNC up 5-4 with 7:34 to play in the third quarter. That would be UNC's final lead of the game. Michael Phipps scored for the Terps just 1:08 later to tie the game and then Maxwell Ritz had the go-ahead goal for the Terps with 3:23 left in the period. Maryland never relinquished the lead after that with Walters adding two goals and Bill McGlone another to make the score 9-5 with 5:10 to play.
UNC's Bart Wagner scored with 1:08 to play off a Ryan Blair assist to make the final score 9-6.
Walters had five goals to lead Maryland and Maxwell Ritz had two scores. Brendan Healy led the Terps with two assists. Ben Hunt had the two goals for UNC and Ryan Blair and Brian Connors both scored a goal and had an assist for the Tar Heels.
UNC will try to get back on the winning track when the Tar Heels play No. 9 Johns Hopkins at Homewood Field in Baltimore, Md. next Saturday at 1 p.m. in a televised game on WMAR TV in Baltimore, Md.
One of the top goals on UNC's agenda in next week's Johns Hopkins matchup will be to improve play in close games. UNC is now 1-11 in games decided by three goals or less since an 11-9 loss to Virginia in the semifinals of the 2004 ACC Tournament.
