University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Bellarmine
Tar Heels Bounce Back Into Win Column Against Bellarmine
March 7, 2007 | Men's Lacrosse
March 7, 2007
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - ack-to-back goals by freshman attackman Gavin Petracca in the second quarter gave No. 15 North Carolina the lead for good as the Tar Heel men's lacrosse team defeated Bellarmine University 10-6 Wednesday night before 403 fans at Fetzer Field. Petracca led the Tar Heels with two goals and three assists as the Tar Heels improved to 4-1, equaling their win total for the entire 2006 season when the Heels finished 4-10.
The Tar Heels outshot the Knights 48-21 but had trouble finishing their chances as two Bellarmine goalkeepers combined to make 17 saves in the match.
Petracca led the Heels with a two and three night while junior midfielder Nick Tintle had two goals and an assist for Carolina. Bellarmine (1-3) was led by Adam Gardner with two goals while four other players had one goal each for the Knights.
Besides outshooting the Knights, UNC also was dominant in the face-off circle as Shane Walterhoefer won 15 of 20 face-offs, the third time this season Walterhoefer has won 15 or more draws in a game. UNC led in ground balls 47-37 as junior defenseman Tim Kaiser had a career-high 10 ground balls. Kaiser also led the Tar Heels with five caused turnovers. The UNC defense forced Bellarmine into 24 turnovers and 10 failed clears, limiting the Knights' offensive chances.
But the game remained close throughout because of sterling play in the Bellarmine goal. David Haas played the first half for the Knights and had seven saves and four goals allowed. J.C. Hutchens played the second half and had 10 saves and allowed only six goals.
The Tar Heels scored the only goal of the first quarter as UNC converted on a fast break opportunity with 4:43 left in the opening period. Michael Burns took a feed from Gavin Petracca to finish the opportunity.
Bellarmine would rally to take a 2-1 lead in the first five minutes of the second period. Adam Gardner tied the game off an assist by Jarrett Davis with 11:45 left in the second quarter and, shortly after the Tar Heels killed off an extra-man opportunity for the Knights, Dylan MacDougal scored an unassisted goal with 10:40 to play to put the Knight up 2-1.
Petracca scored the next two goals of the game to put UNC ahead for good. With 8:57 left in the second quarter the Heels got their second transition goal of the game as Tim Kaiser fed Petracca for the tying score. The Heels went up 3-2 with 3:09 left in the first half as Petracca took a feed from Burns to his second goal in succession. Just 45 seconds later, freshman middie Sean Burke took a pass from Nick Tintle to give the Heels a 4-2 advantage. But a goal by Adam Gardner with 35 seconds left in the half tightened the game just before intermission.
In the third quarter the Tar Heels outshot the Knight 19-1 and ouscored them 3-0 to build a 7-3 lead with 15 minutes remaining. The damage could have been greater by the Heels but Hutchens made eight of his 10 saves in the third quarter.
With 12:33 left in the quarter, Nick Tintle made it 5-3 as he bounced in an outside shot past Hutchens. Junior middie Ryan Walterhoefer finished a feed from Petracca with 6:44 left in the quarter to make the score 6-3 and then Bart Wagner drove the crease and scored with 44 seconds left in the third quarter to put the Tar Heels up by four.
The teams traded six goals in the fourth quarter in the only period of the game where Bellarmine outshot the Tar Heels (9-8). With 8:24 left in the game Jarrett Davis took a feed from Ray Finnegan and scored to make the score 7-4. Just 1:04 later the Heels restored their lead to four goals as Tintle scorched the net with a high, hard one into the upper right of the frame.
Just 11 seconds later the Knights were back within three as Finnegan scored an unassisted goal after the Knight won the face-off. The Heels would then score the next two tallies to put the game away and build their biggest lead at five goals. Freshman attackman Sean Delaney scored his first career goal off an assist by Petracca with 5:51 left on an extra-man situation after a tripping penalty by Bellarmine's Matt Holland. UNC made the score with 10-5 with 4:38 to play on the first goal of the season by sophomore midfielder Bobby McAuley.
The Heels were killing the clock in the last two minutes when a turnover led to a final goal by Bellarmine with 37 seconds to play.
UNC will return to action Saturday when the Heels host No. 14 Notre Dame (2-1) at Fetzer Field at 1 p.m. It will be the Fighting Irish's first trip to Fetzer Field since the 2003 season. The Irish have won three of the past four meetings between the two teams with ND winning in 2003, 2005 and 2006 and the Heels in 2004.
