University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Johns Hopkins
Tar Heels Shock Defending NCAA Champion Johns Hopkins
March 29, 2008 | Men's Lacrosse
March 29, 2008
BALTIMORE, MD. - Ninth-ranked North Carolina bounced back from a tough loss to Maryland last Saturday by bolting to an 11-3 lead after three quarters en route to a 13-8 victory over defending NCAA champion Johns Hopkins at Homewood Field on the JHU campus in Baltimore before a crowd of 4,250 fans. It was Carolina's first win at Johns Hopkins since the 1994 season, breaking a six-match road losing streak to the Blue Jays.
It was Carolina's 14th successive non-conference victory during the past two seasons. Carolina's last non-league loss was against Navy on March 2, 2007 in Annapolis by a 19-8 score.
Redshirt junior goalkeeper Grant Zimmerman was brilliant once again for the Tar Heels as he made 14 saves and allowed only eight goals. Zimmerman has been a consistent presence all year and his play against Hopkins was on the same level as against earlier wins against Top 10 teams Cornell and Notre Dame. He also had four ground balls and led the clearing game for UNC, which failed on only three of 19 chances, a tremendous improvement over the Maryland game when UNC was only 9 of 17.
Zimmerman had six saves in the first quarter as the Tar Heels built a 4-0 lead despite being outshot 11-7 by the Blue Jays in the opening 15 minutes. He ended up with 13 saves through the first three quarters before Hopkins pecked away at UNC's the significant lead heading into the final period. By that time Carolina had built its biggest lead of the match at 11-3, running off the final five goals of the third quarter in the process.
Hopkins outshot the Tar Heels 40-30 in the game, had a 30-27 edge in ground balls and won 15 of 24 face-offs. But the Tar Heels forced Hopkins into 16 turnovers while Carolina committed only nine and UNC's looks at the goal were of a quality nature all day, leading to great success in scoring both in the half field offense and on fast break opportunities. UNC was efficient in its offensive scheme, scoring 13 goals on only 30 shots. The Tar Heels placed 21 of their 30 shots on net while Hopkins had only 22 of their 40 shots on goal.
Offensively the Tar Heels displayed tremendous balance with eight goals coming out of the midfield and one more off the stick of senior defenseman Tim Kaiser. Junior midfielder Ben Hunt led the Tar Heels with three tallies, including the opening two goals of the match, while sophomore midfielder Sean Delaney and redshirt junior attackman Michael B. Burns had two tallies apiece. Sophomore midfielder Cryder DiPietro, junior midfielder Bobby McAuley, senior midfielder Nick Tintle, redshirt sophomore attackman Gavin Petracca, junior attackman Bart Wagner and senior defenseman Tim Kaiser all added single goals for Carolina. Bart Wagner's goal gave him at least one point for the 37th successive match, the third longest scoring streak in NCAA Division I men's lacrosse. Wagner has had at least one point in 38 of the 39 games he has played in during his career.
UNC also had eight assists on the day with Delaney passing for a pair, giving him four points on the afternoon, and freshman attackman Billy Bitter, senior defenseman Brian Burke, Cryder DiPietro, senior midfielder Fletcher Gregory, Ben Hunt and Bobby McAuley each adding single assists. Like Delaney, Hunt had a four-point game for the Tar Heels.
No. 8 Johns Hopkins fell to 3-4 with the loss while the No. 9 Tar Heels improved to 7-2. The defending national champion Blue Jays had lost three straight overtime games to No. 12 Hofstra, No. 2 Syracuse and No. 1 Virginia the last three Saturdays before being beaten handily by North Carolina Saturday. For the Tar Heels, No. 9 in the USILA poll, the win was the first over Johns Hopkins at Homewood Field since April 2, 1994 when Carolina won here 11-9.
The win also gave Carolina back-to-back wins over Johns Hopkins for the first time since the 1993 and 1994 seasons. UNC had lost 13 in a row to Hopkins before ending that string with a 13-10 win at Chapel Hill a year ago. The five-goal margin of victory was the biggest for Carolina against the Blue Jays since May 29, 1993 when Carolina beat the Blue Jays 16-10 in the NCAA semifinals at College Park, Md. It was Johns Hopkins' largest margin of defeat in any game since an 11-4 Blue Jay loss against Maryland at Homewood Field on April 15, 2006.
UNC raced to a 4-0 lead after one quarter despite being outshot 11-7 in the frame. Carolina opened the scoring at 14:25 of the first quarter on an outside shot by Ben Hunt on a dodge past his defender on the left side of the box. Hunt repeated the feat at 12:22 of the quarter on yet another dodge from out top. Carolina moved to a 3-0 advantage on a goal by Cryder DiPietro from 15 yards out off an assist by Sean Delaney with 3:28 left in the opening quarter. Carolina's lead became 4-0 on an unassisted goal by Nick Tintle at 2:42 of the quarter on a drive down the left alley.
Hopkins got on the scoreboard on an unassisted goal by Paul Rabil with 5:47 left before haltime. Just a couple of minutes later, Carolina scored a goal on a fast break as defenseman Tim Kaiser tallied with 2:30 left in the first half, assisted by fellow Tar Heel defenseman Brian Burke. It was Kaiser's fourth career goal and Burke's second career assist. The Tar Heels ended the half with a 5-1 lead over the Blue Jays.
Carolina exploded for a 6-2 scoring margin in the third quarter to build an eight-goal lead. Hopkins scored on the first possession of the second half to cut the lead to 5-2 on a bounce shot by Michael Doneger. The Tar Heels matched that goal on a fast break goal by Gavin Petracca, assisted by Fletcher Gregory, with 11:19 left in the third quarter. It was the third career assist for short stick defensive middie Gregory. Hopkins scored on the next possession as Doneger got his second goal of the quarter on a pass from Stephen Peyser with 10:34 left in the period.
The rest of the third quarter was all Tar Heels. After Doneger's second goal, Bart Wagner answered right back for Carolina as he took a pass from Bobby McAuley and went upper left shelf for a 7-3 lead with exactly nine minutes left in the third quarter. McAuley then scored 1:20 later on a delayed penalty situation, going six against eight after Hopkins was caught offside. Sean Delaney assisted on McAuley's goal.
The Tar Heels scored an extra-man goal at 5:57 of the period as Sean Delaney sent a shot into the back of the Hopkins goal off an assist by Ben Hunt. The Tar Heels made the score 10-3 on a wicked bounce shot goal by Ben Hunt with 4:17 left in the third quarter. Sean Delaney then dodged a pair of defenders to score a goal with 3:08 to play in the third quarter, making the score 11-3. Carolina finished the third quarter on a five-goal scoring streak to take an eight-goal margin into the fourth period.
Hopkins cut the Tar Heel lead to 11-4 with 14:18 to play in the match on a goal by Stephen Peyser on a drive from out top. Hopkins then chopped the lead to six goals just seven seconds later on a goal by Dave Spaulding assisted by Mark Goodrich after Hopkins claimed the face-off. The Heels answered that goal at 13:44 on a goal by Michael B. Burns, assisted by Cryder DiPietro. DiPietro found Burns in front with a nifty pass to help blunt any momentum Hopkins had at that time. Johns Hopkins cut the lead to 12-6 with 8:49 remaining in the quarter on a goal by Paul Rabil assisted by Kyle Wharton.
The Heels made it 13-6 with 3:25 to play as Michael B. Burns scored his second goal of the period as Billy Bitter spotted Burns all alone in front for an easy put away. Hopkins got an extra-man goal from Kevin Huntley with 1:36 left in the fourth quarter to make the score 13-7. Huntley scored again with 18 seconds left to cut the Tar Heel lead to 13-8, which ended up being the final margin.
UNC will have seven days to prepare for No. 1-ranked Virginia which visits Fetzer Field next Saturday for a 4 p.m. game that will be nationally televised by ESPNU. Virginia lost to Maryland on Saturday to drop the Cavaliers' record to 9-1 on the season. Virginia is 0-1 in the ACC. UNC heads into the match 7-2 overall and 0-2 in the ACC.
