University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels Seek To Right Ship Against No. 12 Notre Dame
March 9, 2006 | Men's Lacrosse
March 9, 2006
NO. 12 NOTRE DAME IS NEXT UP FOR TAR HEELS AS UNC SEEKS END TO LOSING STREAK: The University of North Carolina men's lacrosse team heads to South Bend, Ind. Saturday to play the No. 12-ranked University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish in what now shapes up as an early-season must-win situation for Coach John Haus' Tar Heels in the UNC quest to claim a spot in the 16-team field for the 2006 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship. The game will begin with the opening face-off at 1 p.m. on the University of Notre Dame campus in South Bend, Ind. North Carolina needs a win to not only right its own ship after three successive losses but to give the Tar Heels continued hope for claiming an NCAA Tournament berth in 2006. The Tar Heels have dropped three games in a row to nationally-ranked teams, but with six successive games coming up against nationally-ranked teams UNC is still in a position where it can plays itself back into tournament contention. Carolina is playing one of the most difficult schedules in the nation with nine of 13 regular season games being played against USILA Top 20 teams. UNC will also play at least one and possibly two more games in the ACC Tournament against teams ranked #1, #2 and #3 nationally. After opening the season with wins over Ohio State 14-5 and Air Force 8-6, the Tar Heels have dropped consecutive games against No. 13 Denver 11-8 on the road and home losses to No. 4 Navy 11-3 and to No. 20 Pennsylvania 13-4. The game against Notre Dame will be the fourth in a succession of nine consecutive games for Carolina against ranked teams in this week's U.S Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association poll. Four of those games will be played on the road including the next three contests. Following the game against No. 12 Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., the Tar Heels will have games against No. 15 Hofstra in Hempstead, N.Y., against No. 3 Duke in Durham, N.C., against No. 1 Maryland in Chapel Hill, against No. 7 Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Md. and against No. 2 Virginia in Chapel Hill. The Tar Heels end the regular season with a home game against Fairfield and a road game at Providence. The Tar Heels will then play in the ACC Tournament beginning April 28 in Baltimore, Md. So far this season UNC is 2-0 against unranked teams and 0-3 against ranked teams. With the next six games schedule against ranked teams, the Tar Heels must lift their level of play quickly in order to achieve a successful season.
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. The eight-goal margin of victory was the largest in the history of the 20-game series for the Midshipmen.
IN THE RANKINGS: In the early part of every college lacrosse season there is always a confusing hodge podge of polls for NCAA Division I teams. The Tar Heels were ranked No. 18 in the Lacrosse Magazine preseason ranking and No. 14 in the Inside Lacrosse/Face-Off Yearbook coaches poll. Both preseason rankings were 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 THREE-GAME ROAD TRIP: 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. UNC will travel back to Chapel Hill between the Notre Dame and Hofstra games and then make the short trip over to Durham for the March 18 match.
THE NORTH CAROLINA-NOTRE DAME SERIES: Saturday's game will mark the sixth meeting between North Carolina and Notre Dame. The Tar Heels lead the series 3-2. Notre Dame has won two of the last three games. The Tar Heels are 2-0 in games played in South Bend, Ind. UNC won 11-10 in 1996 and 14-11 in 2004 in South Bend. Notre Dame won last season's game 9-7 in Carson, Calif.
BLAIR'S ASSISTS: Senior attackman Ryan Blair needs one assist in the game against Notre Dame 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 2-3 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, an 11-3 loss to Navy March 4 and a 13-4 loss to Pennsylvania on March 7. Notre Dame is 1-1 on the season. The Fighting Irish are coming off a 9-6 loss to Cornell last Saturday.
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 but still prevailed by nine goals. UNC won the ground ball battle 45-28, forced 21 turnovers and coaxed the Buckeyes into 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. Sheain also started against Duke in the 2004 season. 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 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, Billy Staines and Hayward Howard. Wagner and Werry both had career highs for ground balls in a game and Howard was just one short of his career high set against both Cornell and UMBC last season. Staines had a career high nine ground balls last year versus Air Force.
UNC SPLITS IN DENVER: North Carolina split its two games in the 2006 Pioneer Face-Off Classic in Denver, Colo. February 25 and 26. The Tar Heels defeated the Air Force 8-6 in the opening game behind three goals by Michael Burns and a stifling defense that limited Air Force to only 19 shots. The Tar Heels fell in the championship match of the tournament against host Denver the following day as the Pioneers outscored the Tar Heels 6-1 in the fourth quarter of an 11-8 victory. Michael Burns, Ryan Blair and Rob Driscoll each scored two goals for UNC. Denver has moved up to No. 13 in the USILA rankings after posting three successive wins. Carolina had five players on the All-Tournament Team at the Pioneer Face-Off Classic--attackmen Michael Burns and Ryan Blair, defensemen Stephen McElduff and Billy Staines and midfielder Nick Tintle.
TAR HEELS STRUGGLE AGAINST NAVY: No. 4-ranked Navy ruined UNC's home opener while beating North Carolina for the fourth straight year, 11-3, at Fetzer Field March 4. Navy dominated the game offensively with 34 shots to 27 for UNC while also winning the ground ball battle 39-23. Navy led in face-offs 10-8 and the Midshipmen forced UNC into seven failed clears. Redshirt freshman Grant Zimmerman made his first career start in the goal for the Tar Heels and he was credited with eight saves. The three goals scored by UNC were the fewest in a game by the Tar Heels since they lost 10-3 in the 2002 ACC Tournament semifinals to Virginia. The eight-goal victory margin by Navy was the largest in the history of the series which is tied at 10 wins apiece.
PENN'S NINE-GOAL SPURT DOOMS TAR HEELS: North Carolina fell to Pennsylvania in lacrosse on March 7 for the first time since the 1999 season. UNC trailed ony 4-2 at the end of the first quarter by Penn scored nine straight goals to put the Quakers up 13-2 less than two minutes into the fourth quarter. UNC scored two goals in the last five minutes of the game to make the final score more respectable.
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.
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 middie from Ontario won 11 face-offs, his career high, and his six ground balls were also his top career mark. Werry also won six of seven face-offs against Penn on March 7.
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.
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.
TAR HEELS LOOK TO TURN AROUND CLOSE GAME DECISIONS IN 2006: The Tar Heels lost an inordinate number of close matches in 2005 and head coach John Haus and his staff believe the Tar Heels have the makings of a much improved squad this season, the kind of squad which can turn some of those close losses into victories this year. In UNC's five wins last year the Tar Heels outscored their opponents by 31 goals while in the eight losses the Tar Heels were outscored by only 26 goals, an average of only 3.25 goals per game in those eight losses. Despite having a 5-8 record in 2005, UNC actually outscored its opponents 124-119 on the season.
CAROLINA'S WIN OVER AIR FORCE: When UNC defeated Air Force 8-6 on February 25 it marked Carolina's first victory in a match decided by three goals or less since April 11, 2004 when UNC defeated Virginia 11-9 at Fetzer Field. UNC had lost six games in a row in contests decided by three or fewer goals between April 11, 2004 and February 25, 2006. In the middle part of the 2004 season, UNC played in four games in a five game stretch where the winning margin was a single goal. UNC beat Air Force and Duke in those games and lost to Maryland and Johns Hopkins.
BLAIR'S SEASON BEST TOTALS: UNC's 2005 leading scorer, Ryan Blair, had 22 goals, 29 assists and 51 points last season. Those were all season best totals for the attackman from Auburn, N.Y. Previously, Blair's best totals were 18 goals during the 2004 season, 16 assists during the 2004 season and 34 points in the 2004 campaign.
HAUS REWARDED WITH 100TH COLLEGIATE COACHING VICTORY AGAINST BIG RED: When the No. 19 North Carolina men's lacrosse team defeated the Cornell Big Red 9-5 on March 23, 2005 it rewarded Tar Heel Head Coach John Haus with his 100th collegiate career coaching victory. Now in his 12th season as a college head coach, Haus has mentored college teams which have compiled records totaling 105-61. 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 sixth year at UNC, Haus has led the Tar Heels to a 38-33 overall ledger.
McELDUFF'S CAREER STARTS: Senior defenseman Stephen McElduff is amongst ACC leaders with 45 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 45 of 46 games during his UNC career.
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 had 58 assists to his credit and was 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 heading into the season followed by Jon Birsner of Navy (69), Cam Howard of Delaware (68) and Matt Danowski of Duke (61).
TAR HEELS' STOUT DEFENSIVE EFFORT ITS BEST IN 22 MATCHES: When North Carolina defeated Cornell 9-5 on March 23, 2005, the Tar Heels limited the Big Red to the lowest goal total against UNC since the final game of the 2003 season, 22 games previous to that contest. The last time Carolina had limited a team to that few a number of goals was April 26, 2003 when the Tar Heels defeated Air Force 11-5 at Fetzer Field. UNC again limited an opponent to five goals when the Tar Heels defeated Air Force 14-5 on April 13, 2005 at Fetzer Field and when it downed UMBC 11-5 on April 16, 2005 at Baltimore, Md. Despite a 7-5 loss to Johns Hopkins on April 2, 2005, the Tar Heel defense was again outstanding as it limited the eventual national champion Blue Jays to their lowest goal total of the 2005 season.
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 also limited Air Force to only six goals in the second game of the season, an 8-6 victory by the Tar Heels over the Falcons.
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.
THE ALL-TIME HOME RECORD: North Carolina has a record of 210-105-2 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.
FIRSTS FOR SAM AND BEN: When Ben Mark scored in the fourth quarter of the Penn game off an assist by Sam Wagner it gave each of the Tar Heel junior attackmen the opening point of their careers.
