North Carolina
Virginia
No. 6 Tar Heels Fall In OT To No. 4 Virginia
April 5, 2008 | Men's Lacrosse
April 5, 2008
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - After forcing overtime with three late goals, fourth-ranked Virginia came up with the first score in overtime to beat No. 6 North Carolina 12-11 Saturday in an Atlantic Coast Conference men's lacrosse matchup. On a rainy afternoon at Fetzer Field, the Tar Heels fell to 7-3 overall and 0-3 in ACC play while the Cavaliers improved to 10-1 and evened their ACC record at 1-1.
Virginia junior Steve Giannone's second goal of the afternoon was the gamewinner. After Carolina's Grant Zimmerman saved a shot by UVa junior Danny Glading, Giannone scooped up the ball right in front of the goal and fired it in for the win with 1:01 remaining in the extra period.
It was UNC's first overtime contest of the year, but the third for the Cavaliers, who are 3-0 in extra time. Saturday's game was the second Carolina-Virginia meeting in a row that has gone into overtime. In last year's matchup, the host Cavaliers won 10-9 in OT.
"When you go into overtime at this level it can be anybody's game and unfortunately it wasn't ours," UNC coach John Haus said. "We had to make more plays in the fourth quarter when we had a three-goal lead and we didn't do it. Hopefully we'll be able to do that down the road."
Ben Hunt led UNC with three goals, two of them in the third quarter. Sean Delaney and Gavin Petracca had two each, while Nick Tintle, Michael B. Burns, Kevin Federico and Sean Burke each added one for Carolina. Bart Wagner had a team-high three assists for the Tar Heels, freshman Billy Bitter had two and Brian Connors, Rob Driscoll and Tintle each had one.
en Rubeor was the Cavaliers' leader in goals with three. Glading, Giannone and Garrett Billings scored two each and Brian Carroll, Will Barrow and Jack Riley each had one. Glading also had a pair of assists, while Billings and Carroll accounted for the other two.
Virginia went up 2-0 in the first three minutes of the game on goals by Carroll and and Riley. UNC got on the board with 10:41 remaining in the quarter on a shot by Petracca with Wagner assisting on the play. With 92 seconds remaining in the first period, senior Will Barrow scored an unassisted goal to put the Cavaliers up 3-1.
After most of the second quarter was scoreless for both teams, Carolina came up with two goals in the final 2:52 to take a 3-3 tie into halftime. Delaney, a sophomore, drew UNC within one on a pass from Connors. With 1:10 to play before the break, Hunt tied the game with his first goal of the afternoon, assisted by Bitter.
After a total of six goals in the first half of play, the teams combined for nine in the third quarter alone. The Tar Heels took their first lead of the game 1:17 into the quarter on a goal Federico, assisted by Driscoll. Carolina then went up by two, 5-3, with a goal by Hunt in an extra-man situation. Virginia answered with a extra-man goal of its own, this one by by Glading with 9:59 on the clock. A goal by Virginia's Billings evened the game at 5-5 with 8:52 to play in the period. After the teams exchanged goals with scores by UNC's Hunt and UVa's Rubeor, the Tar Heels scored three in a row. Following goals from Delaney and Petracca, Tintle took a pass from Wagner and scored with four seconds on clock to put UNC up 9-6 heading into the fourth quarter.
In the fourth, the teams exchanged goals twice but UNC led by three, 11-8, after an unassisted goal by Burke with 3:38 to play. The Cavaliers stormed back, however, with goals by Giannone (3:22), Rubeor (2:43) and Glading (0:17) to send the game into overtime.
The Cavaliers outshot UNC 4-0 in the extra period and 56-33 on the day. UNC's Zimmerman, a junior, made 14 saves, including two in overtime. Virginia senior Bud Petit made 13 saves for his team.
The Tar Heels return to action next Saturday with a game against Ohio State in Baltimore. They close out the regular season on April 19 with a home game against Hofstra.
