University of North Carolina Athletics
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No. 19 Ohio State Upsets No. 8 North Carolina In Men's Lacrosse
April 12, 2008 | Men's Lacrosse
April 12, 2008
BALTIMORE, MD. - No. 19 Ohio State opened the second half with a 9-3 scoring run en route to posting a 14-11 upset victory over No. 8 North Carolina Saturday afternoon at the Boys' Latin School. The victory improved the Buckeyes' record to 8-3 on the season while UNC fell to 7-4. The Tar Heels will try to bounce back when they play Hofstra next Saturday at Kenan Stadium in the regular-season finale at 12 noon.
Kevin Buchanan led the Buckeyes with five goals and two assists while Mario Ventiquattro added three goals as Ohio State beat the Tar Heels for the first time in the history of the series. Jeff Ryan had two goals and an assist while Peet Poillon added a pair of goals.
Carolina attackmen Gavin Petracca and Michael B. Burns each had three goals while Billy Bitter had a goal and two assists and Nick Tintle had a goal and an assist.
Ohio State outshot the Tar Heels 49-38 despite UNC's dominance in the face-off circle where Carolina won 23 of 29 draws. UNC was hurt by committing 18 turnovers to Ohio State's nine and by going 0-for-6 on extra-man situations. Grant Zimmerman made 13 saves in goal for the Tar Heels while Stefan Schroder made 14 saves for the Buckeyes.
UNC trailed 3-1 early in the second quarter before scoring five of the last seven goals of the first half to go up 6-5. Nick Tintle's goal with 53 seconds left in the second period gave the Tar Heels their final lead of the game at 6-5.
Ohio State came out strong in the second half, scoring the first three goals to go up 8-6 with each of the goals coming from a different player.
The score stood at 9-7 in favor of OSU heading into the fourth quarter and Ben Hunt's goal at 14:17 cut the lead to a single goal. But Ohio State answered with three goals in a row and five of the next six to build a 14-9 lead with only 1:39 to play.
Carolina got goals from Burns with 46 seconds left and Petracca with 23 seconds left to cut the final margin to 14-11.
UNC's Shane Walterhoefer, playing on the field where he played his high school lacrosse, won 23 of 26 face-offs for UNC and had 15 ground balls in the match.
