University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels Seek Return To Win Column Against No. 20 Penn
March 7, 2006 | Men's Lacrosse
March 7, 2006
CHAPEL HILL, N.C.--TAR HEELS LOOK TO SPRING UPSET ON NO. 20 PENNSYLVANIA: The University of North Carolina men's lacrosse team will be seeking to break a two-match losing streak when the Tar Heels play host to the 20th-ranked University of Pennsylvania Quakers Tuesday night at 7 p.m. at Fetzer Field, ending a two-match homestand for the Tar Heels. Carolina will begin a three-match road trip when it plays at Notre Dame Saturday. The Quakers (2-0) have started the season in grand fashion as Penn defeated Siena 19-3 in its opener and then downed Villanova last Saturday 9-6. Both games were played at Franklin Field in Philadelphia. Penn moved into a tie for the No. 20 spot in the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association coaches poll this week. The Quakers are tied with Loyola for the No. 20 spot. UNC (2-2) is unranked in the USILA poll but is amongst the teams receiving votes. UNC received the 24th most votes in the poll. Carolina is ranked No. 20 in the Inside Lacrosse media poll. The Tar Heels are the only team in the IL Top 20 with as many as two losses. Penn is unranked by IL but did receive the 21st most votes in this week's poll. After opening the season with wins over Ohio State and Air Force, the Tar Heels have dropped back-to-back games against No. 13 Denver and No. 4 Navy. The game against Penn will be the third in a succession of nine consecutive games for Carolina against ranked teams. Following Penn the Tar Heels will play No. 12 Notre Dame, No. 15 Hofstra, No. 3 Duke, No. 1 Maryland, No. 7 Johns Hopkins and No. 2 Virginia in consecutive games.
A PROGRAM FIRST: In 2006, the Tar Heels played their home opener at the latest point of a season of any year in school history. In its history, dating back to 1949, North Carolina had never started a season with three successive games played away from Chapel Hill, N.C. UNC's home opener in 2006 did not come until the season's fourth match, March 4 against the Naval Academy. The No. 4 Midshipmen defeated the Tar Heels 11-3 in Carolina's home opener. Carolina has lost its home opener in two of the past three seasons.
IN THE RANKINGS: In the early part 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. 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 the February 20 poll. In the Inside Lacrosse poll of February 27 UNC fell to No. 17 and Carolina was No. 20 in the March 6 poll. The first USILA poll of the new season was issued March 6 with the Tar Heels unranked by the coaches.
A TWO-GAME HOMESTAND: Tuesday's game against Pennsylvania will wrap up a two-match homestand for the Tar Heels. After the Penn game UNC will begin its second three-game road streak of the season as the Tar Heels play at Notre Dame March 11, at Hofstra March 15 and at Duke March 18.
THE NORTH CAROLINA-PENNSYLVANIA SERIES: The Tuesday night meeting between North Carolina and Pennsylvania will be the 11th meeting in the series between the two teams. North Carolina leads the all-time series 7-3. The two teams have not met since March 14, 2000 when the Tar Heels claimed a 13-6 win over the Quakers at Fetzer Field. After splitting games a pair of games both played in Chapel Hill in 1970 and 1971, the two teams played six years in a row from 1986-91 with three games played in Chapel Hill and three in Philadelphia. The Tar Heels went 5-1 in those six games with the only loss coming in 1989 in Chapel Hill. The teams played games in Chapel Hill in 1999 and 2000 with Penn winning 14-7 in 1999 and the Tar Heels triumphing 13-6 in 2000. Most of the last eight games in the series have been lopsided. One game was decided by three goals and one by four goals and the other six games by six goals or more.
BLAIR'S ASSISTS: Senior attackman Ryan Blair needs one assist in the game against Pennsylvania to move into a tie for ninth place in Carolina history in career assists. Blair currently has 62 career assists. Bert Fett (1972-75) is eighth in UNC history with 64 assists and Chase Martin (1997-2000) and Matt Crofton (1997-2000) are tied for ninth in assists with 63. Blair is now 11th in career assists with 62.
SO FAR THIS YEAR: North Carolina is 2-2 after a season-opening 14-5 win over Ohio State February 18, a win over Air Force 8-6 February 25,an 11-8 loss to Denver February 26 and an 11-3 loss to Navy March 4. Pennsylvania is 2-0 after beating Siena 19-3 February 25 and Villanova 9-6 March 4.
Michael Burns TAPPED FOR ACC AWARD: North Carolina's Michael Burns was named the Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Lacrosse Player of the Week February 20 after leading the 15th-ranked Tar Heels to a season opening 14-5 win over Ohio State at Calvert Hall College High School in Baltimore, Md. Burns led all scorers in the game with six points as he tallied three goals and passed for 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. Burns 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 in the game shortly before halftime. 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 February 22 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 the preseason watch list. The players on the list were nominated by 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 for 2006. 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.
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 44 career starts. That is the seventh highest total number of career starts for any player currently competing in the Atlantic Coast Conference. McElduff has started 44 of 45 games during his UNC career.
CAROLINA SEEKS 22ND NCAA BID: The North Carolina lacrosse team plays 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.
WINNINGEST SEASON SINCE 1996: When North Carolina finished the 2004 season with a record of 10-5, the 10 wins were the most in a season by the Tar Heels since 1996 when Carolina finished the season with a record of 12-5. It was also the first time since the 1996 campaign that the Tar Heels reached double digits in the win column.
THREE SUCCESSIVE WINNING SEASONS: With a 10-5 record in 2004, UNC posted a winning record for three successive seasons, having gone 8-5 in 2002, 7-6 in 2003 and 10-5 in 2004. 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.
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 38-32 in six seasons. In 12 years as a collegiate head coach his teams are now 105-60. Including his time as a player, assistant coach and head coach he has been involved with teams that have a combined record of 210-95 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 210-104-2 in home games dating back to the start of the varsity program in 1949.
BURNS STARTS WITH THREE MULTI-GOAL GAMES: North Carolina attackman Michael Burns has started his 2006 freshman year in style by compiling three successive multiple goal games. Burns scored three against both Ohio State and Air Force and two against Denver. He leads UNC in scoring with 12 points on eight goals and four assists.
WAGNER'S FAST START: North Carolina freshman attackman Bart Wagner made the opening game of his career a memorable one as he totaled five points on three goals and two assists. Twice in the first three games of the year Wagner has led UNC in ground balls with six against Ohio State and four against Denver.
SHEAIN'S CAREER HIGH: Goalkeeper Trey Sheain had his career high for saves with 12 against Denver on February 26.
SHANE RECORDS CAREER BESTS: Freshman midfielder Shane Walterhoefer recorded career highs for face-offs won with eight and ground balls with six in UNC's 8-6 win over Air Force on February 25. He then matched his face-off high with eight wins against Denver February 25.
BLAIR'S FOUR POINTS: Senior attackman Ryan Blair had a season-high four points against Denver February 26. Blair had two goals and two assists versus the Pioneers.
GOAL NO. 1 FOR CONNORS: North Carolina's Brian Connors scored his first career goal in UNC's 8-6 win over Air Force February 25. His first goal was a big one as it tied the game 3-3 in the third quarter and sparked a 6-0 UNC scoring run that was the difference in the match.
