University of North Carolina Athletics
NCAA Quarterfinal Game Offers Tar Heels Upset Opportunity
May 17, 2007 | Men's Lacrosse
May 17, 2007
Tar Heel Men's Lacrosse Team Headed to NCAA Quarterfinals for Second Time in Three Years: The University of North Carolina men's lacrosse team is headed to the NCAA Division Men's Lacrosse Tournament quarterfinals for the second time in the past three years and the 20th time in school history. The 2007 season marks the 22nd time the Tar Heels have played in the NCAA Tournament and this marks the 20th time Carolina has advanced to the quarterfinal round. Carolina will play an all too familiar opponent in the quarterfinals as the eighth-seeded Tar Heels meet top-seeded Duke, a school a mere eight miles down the road from Chapel Hill. However, the game will be played at a neutral site on the campus of the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. The Tar Heels and the Blue Devils will match up at 3 p.m. Sunday at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. The Carolina-Duke quarterfinal game is the final of the four quarterfinal games to determine which four teams will advance to the 2007 Final Four in Baltimore, Md. On Saturday, Cornell meets Albany and Johns Hopkins jousts with Georgetown at Princeton. The first game Sunday will match Delaware against UMBC. Duke comes in the match Sunday with a 15-2 record, including two wins over the Tar Heels earlier during the 2007 season. Duke beat Carolina 9-7 in the regular-season meeting at Chapel Hill and the Blue Devils then downed the Tar Heels 13-9 in the ACC Tournament semifinals in Durham. UNC leads the all-time series against its arch-rival 37-19 but Sunday the Heels will seek to end a five-game losing streak against Duke. Each of those games were close in the fourth quarter with the margins of victory being two goals, two goals, three goals, two goals and four goals. This will mark only the second time in history that the two teams will play in the NCAA Tournament. In 1998, Duke defeated the Tar Heels 16-14 in a first-round game at Amherst, Mass. Sunday's game will be televised nationally by ESPNU with Dave Ryan doing the play-by-play and Quint Kessencih serving as the analyst. North Carolina is 10-5 going into the match, a record which equals the 10-5 mark it compiled in its NCAA quarterfinal season of 2004. In NCAA seedings, Duke is No. 1 and North Carolina No. 8. The national rankings are somewhat different. Duke is ranked No. 2 by the Inside Lacrosse media poll and No. 2 by the USILA coaches poll. Carolina is No. 10 in the Inside Lacrosse media poll and No. 9 in the USILA coaches poll.
Tar Heels Show Five and a Half-Game Improvement So Far in 2007: Heading into the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals, the North Carolina Tar Heels rank as the third most improved team in NCAA men's lacrosse in 2007. The Tar Heels have shown a plus five and a half game improvement in their record, going from 4-10 in 2006 to 10-5 in 2007. Holy Cross and Albany rank first with a +6 improvement. North Carolina is third while Drexel and Siena had +5 improvements. The remainder of the Top 10 teams include Brown, Bucknell, Duke, Cornell, Rutgers and Villanova.
UNC Against the 2007 NCAA Tournament Field: In achieving a 10-5 record in 2007, the Tar Heels have played nine of their 15 games against teams which made the NCAA Tournament field. UNC is 4-5 against the field this season and 6-0 against teams which did not qualify for the tournament. Carolina is 0-2 against Duke, 0-1 against Virginia, 1-0 against Johns Hopkins, 0-1 against Maryland, 1-1 against Navy, 1-0 against Notre Dame and 1-0 against Providence. Carolina played in the most difficult conference in the nation this year, the ACC. Despite going 0-4 in ACC games, UNC still received the No. 8 seed in the 16-team NCAA Tournament. ACC teams were seeded No. 1 (Duke), No. 2 (Virginia), No. 7 (Maryland) and No. 8 (North Carolina).
Carolina Reaches The Ten-Win Plateau: With a 12-8 win over Navy on May 13, 2007, the North Carolina men's lacrosse team improved to 10-5 on the season. This marks only the second time since the 1996 season that Carolina has reached the 10-victory standard in a season. The other season was 2004 when Carolina finished 10-5 and reached the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament. The 2007 and 2004 teams are the only Carolina teams since 1996 to win at least 10 games in a season. That 1996 team finished 12-5. Since then UNC was 6-7 in 1997, 7-8 in 1998, 6-9 in 1999, 8-6 in 2000, 6-6 in 2001, 8-5 in 2002, 7-6 in 2003, 10-5 in 2004, 5-8 in 2005, 4-10 in 2006 and 10-5 so far in 2007.
North Carolina Exceeds 2005 and 2006 Win Totals Combined: The win over Navy on May 13 gave this Carolina team more wins than the Tar Heels notched in the previous two seasons combined. North Carolina enters the 2007 NCAA Tournament quarterfinals with a 10-5 record. Those 10 wins exceed the totals of 2005 and 2006 when Carolina had five and four victories, respectively.
Carolina's Record in the NCAA Tournament: North Carolina has an all-time record of 25-17 in 22 NCAA Tournament appearances. The Tar Heels first made the tournament field in back-to-back years in 1976 and 1977 and then Carolina went to The Dance for 17 straight seasons from 1980-96. Carolina's NCAA bids since then have come in 1998, 2004 and 2007. Sixteen of the 42 NCAA Tournament games have been played in Chapel Hill and UNC has a record of 14-2 in those, including a mark of 10-1 in games played at Fetzer Field. The other five games were played at either Kenan Stadium (2-1), Finley Field (1-0) or Navy Field (1-0).
Wins Against Top 10 Team A Big Boost for the Tar Heels: Since the start of the 2005 season the Tar Heels have had particular trouble against teams ranked in the Top 10. That is until the Tar Heels beat a No. 5 Johns Hopkins team 13-10 on March 31 and No. 8 Navy on May 13. Of course much of the difficulty beating Top 10 teams in 2005 and 2006 can be attributed to the fact the Heels had the No. 1 strength of schedule in the country in 2005 and the No. 4 SOS in 2006. The Tar Heels have continued to play a difficult schedule in 2007 and they currently have the No. 3 schedule strength according to LaxPower.com. In each of the last three seasons the Tar Heels have now played a schedule ranked in the Top 4 in the nation in difficulty. In 2004, the Heels went 6-3 against teams ranked in the Top 10, a large part of the reason the Heels advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals that season. Since a 15-9 loss to No. 1-ranked Johns Hopkins on May 22, 2004, the Heels were 1-16 against Top 10 teams heading into this year's game against Hopkins. The only win in that stretch came against No. 10 Cornell on March 23, 2005, a 9-5 Tar Heel victory at Fetzer Field. With the victory over Navy last Sunday, UNC is now 3-18 in its last 21 games against Top 10 teams heading into the game against Duke. In 2004, the Tar Heels won their first four games of the season against Top 10 teams before losing back-to-back games against Maryland and Johns Hopkins. Later in the year the Tar Heels beat a Ohio State team ranked in the Top 10 on back-to-back Saturdays to end the regular season and start the NCAA Tournament.
Versus the Current Top 10: Carolina has played eight games this season against teams ranked in the Top 10 of the May 7, 2007 Nike/Inside Lacrosse poll. UNC is 3-5 against those teams. The Tar Heels beat No. 5 Johns Hopkins, No. 8 Navy and No. 9 Notre Dame while falling to No. 2 Duke twice, No. 3 Virginia, No. 7 Maryland and No. 8 Navy.
Tar Heels Go 8-1 at Home: Carolina finished its home season in 2006 at 1-4. That included losses in the first four home games of 2006. The last time Carolina had lost its first four home games in a season was 1954 when the Tar Heels lost their opening five home games of the campaign. Carolina significantly improved its home record in 2007 with a mark of 8-1. The only loss was a 9-7 setback to No. 2-ranked Duke and that was in a game that the Tar Heels led at one point 6-1 in the second quarter. The eight home wins for Carolina are the most since the Tar Heels went 8-2 at home in 2000.
Bart Wagner's 27-Game Scoring Streak: North Carolina sophomore attackman Bart Wagner of Glen Arm, Md., has a 27-match scoring streak dating back to the third game of his freshman season in 2006. Wagner's scoring streak of at least one goal or one assist in 27 straight games ties for the 11th longest streak in the nation. The streak began with the match against Denver on February 26, 2006 and included the final 12 games of the 2006 campaign. Wagner has also recorded at least one point in each match in 2007. During that 27-match streak, he has 35 goals and 32 assists for 67 points.
Post-Season ACC Awards: Carolina had one player named to the 2007 All-Atlantic Coast Conference team. Junior defenseman Tim Kaiser earned the honors. Kaiser leads the nation in ground balls scooped up by a close defenseman with 69. He is tied for second nationally in caused turnovers with 32. Sophomore Michael Burns was named to the All-ACC Tournament Team. Burns had a career-high five goals against Duke in the semifinals and earned one of the 11 spots on the All-Tournament Team.
Walterhoefer In The Face-Off Circle: Shane Walterhoefer has won 204 of 335 face-offs this season, a brilliant .609 percentage. Walterhoefer leads the ACC and ranks ninth in the nation in face-off percentage this season. Ten times this season Walterhoefer has won 14 or more face-offs in a game including seven games with 15 or more wins. Only 27 times in UNC history has a player won 15 of more face-offs in a match. Walterhoefer has accounted for seven of those 27 performances in the 2007 season alone. Walterhoefer won 19 against Dartmouth, 17 against Maryland and against Providence, 16 against Denver and 15 each against Bellarmine, Vermont and Johns Hopkins. The 19 face-off wins against Dartmouth equaled the second most in a match in UNC history. The school record is 22 wins by Todd Oudemool against Towson on May 13, 1989. The only other 19-win performance came courtesy of Kevin Frew against Delaware on March 9, 2002.
Walt's Season and Career Face-Off Numbers: Shane Walterhoefer's 204 face-off wins this season are the second most in a season in UNC history. Only Kevin Frew with 219 in 2004 exceeds Walterhoefer's total. Walterhoefer now has 318 career face-off wins in less than two seasons and he is in fourth place in UNC history in that statistic. Kevin Frew has the school record of 446 face-off victories. Jude Collins ranks second with 429, Ryan Damon third with 337 and now Walterhoefer fourth.
Walterhoefer and Kaiser Dominate the Ground Balls: Face-off specialist Shane Walterhoefer and defenseman Tim Kaiser are Carolina's ground ball leaders this year with 103 and 69, respectively. The top five on the team is rounded out by goalie Grant Zimmerman with 57, short stick defensive middie Ben Staines with 55 and attackman Bart Wagner with 51. Walterhoefer had a career-high 13 ground balls against Dartmouth while Kaiser had a career-high 10 against Bellarmine. The 13 ground balls by Walterhoefer moved him into a tie for sixth place for most ground balls in a game in Tar Heel history. The school record is 15 which has been accomplished four times and there was another instance where a player had 14.
Kaiser Having All-America Calibre Season: Tar Heel junior defenseman Tim Kaiser is having an All-America calibre season for the Tar Heels so far in 2007. Kaiser has 32 caused turnovers so far this season, tied for second most in the nation. The only other players in double figures on the Tar Heel team are Ben Staines with 15 and Michael Jarvis with 14. Kaiser had five against Bellarmine and three each against Dartmouth, Notre Dame, Maryland, Virginia and Providence. Kaiser's five against Bellarmine equal the season high for any Tar Heel. Ben Staines also had five against Ohio State. Kaiser's 69 ground balls are 12 more than any other Tar Heel who does not serve as a face-off specialist. He had a career high 10 ground balls against Bellarmine. Kaiser ranks first nationally in total ground balls by a close defenseman.
Zim's Career Highs in the Cage:
Sophomore Grant Zimmerman has had at least 10 saves in a game nine times so far in 2007. He had a career high 15 saves in the win over Johns Hopkins and equaled that total of 15 in the overtime loss at Virginia, 13 in the victory over Dartmouth and has had 12 saves on four other instances. Zimmerman has had six games in which he has recorded more saves than his high in any game his freshman season which was 11 against Hofstra. Zimmerman also had eight ground balls against Johns Hopkins, a career high. He also had seven ground balls in the game against Duke and in the ACC semifinals against Duke. He ranks third on the Tar Heel team in ground balls with 57.Carolina's Improved Offensive Production: North Carolina is averaging 10.93 goals per game so far during the 2007 season. That is over a two-goal improvement over the 2006 average to date. The Heels averaged 8.5 goals per game last season. The Tar Heels' goals against average is 9.33, a slight improvement over the 9.93 average last year.
Carolina's Starting Attack Unit: North Carolina's starting attack unit of Bart Wagner, Gavin Petracca and Michael Burns has produced 43, 39 and 34 points so far in the 2007 season in 15 games. Compare those totals to 2006 when the top three attack scorers on the Carolina team had 29, 22 and 20 points, respectively in 14 games. Wagner led last year's scorers with 29 points followed by Ryan Blair with 22 and Burns with 20. Six midfielders have totaled at least 10 points this season -- Nick Tintle with 28, Ben Hunt with 26, Sean Burke with 17, Rob Driscoll with 15, Sean Delaney with 12 and Brian Connors with 10.
Tar Heel Hat Tricks: Carolina has had 13 hat trick performances in the first 15 games of the season. Gavin Petracca had a season-high five goals against Vermont and he also had four versus Ohio State. Michael Burns matched Petracca's season-high five goals against Duke in the ACC semifinals. Bart Wagner had a career high four goals against Duke and he matched that with four against Virginia. Ben Hunt has had a trio of three-goal games and Michael Burns has had four games with three or more goals. Hunt had hat tricks against Dartmouth, Navy and Fairfield. All three efforts were career highs in a game for the sophomore midfielder. Burns had three each against Dartmouth, Vermont and Navy in the NCAA Tournament and he had five against Duke in the ACC semifinals. He also had three each against Ohio State and Air Force as a freshman. Junior midfielder Rob Driscoll scored a career high three goals against Fairfield while freshman midfielder Sean Delaney had his first career hat trick against Providence.
Multiple Assists: Sophomore attackman Bart Wagner has had three or more assists in a game four times this season. He had a career high four versus Vermont and three each against Ohio State, Dartmouth and Duke in the ACC Tournament. Nick Tintle had a career high three assists against Dartmouth and Gavin Petracca had three apiece versus Bellarmine, Notre Dame and Johns Hopkins. Freshman Kevin Federico had his career high for assists in a game with three against Providence.
Five or More Points in a Game: UNC has had 10 performances with at least five points or more in a game this season. Gavin Petracca has had four of those performances with a career-high six points against Vermont and five each against Ohio State, Bellarmine and Notre Dame. Bart Wagner has equaled a career-high five points against Ohio State, Vermont, Virginia and Providence. He also had five points against the Buckeyes as a freshman. Michael Burns had a five-point effort against Duke in the ACC Tournament, one short of his career best total which came against Ohio State in 2006. Nick Tintle is the other player with a five-point game. He had his career high five points against Dartmouth on two goals and three assists. Sean Burke, Rob Driscoll and Kevin Federico have each had games with four points, in all those games representing a career high for points in a game.
Beating Number 5: Prior to beating No. 5 Johns Hopkins on March 31, the last time UNC beat a team ranked as high as No. 5 was March 20, 2004 when Carolina beat No. 5 Duke in Durham by a 10-9 score in overtime. Grant Zimmerman's older brother, Lance Zimmerman, scored the game-winning goal in that game for the Tar Heels.
A Higher Ranked Win: The last time UNC beat a team ranked higher than No. 5 was March 22, 2003 when the Heels whipped No. 2 Maryland 10-6 at College Park, Md.
A More Balanced Scoring Punch: Five Tar Heels have 26 or more points in 15 games. Last season, only three UNC players reached 20 points in 14 games.
