University of North Carolina Athletics
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Lehigh
Tar Heel Men's Lacrosse Team Remains Unbeaten With 14-6 Win Over Lehigh
February 28, 2009 | Men's Lacrosse
Feb. 28, 2009
BROOKLANDVILLE, MD. - The University of North Carolina's men's lacrosse team improved to a perfect 5-0 on the season Saturday with a hard-fought 14-6 victory over Lehigh University in a match played at St. Paul's High School in Baltimore. Senior attackman Bart Wagner and junior midfielder Sean Delaney led the Tar Heels with four goals each. Wagner also had three assists in the game and finished with seven points, exceeding his previous career high of six points established against Marist on March 18, 2008.
The Tar Heels raced to a 4-0 lead after the first quarter and never looked back as they get ready to play two games this coming week against Detroit Mercy this coming Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Fetzer Field and then following that up with a trip to Notre Dame to face the Fighting Irish next Sunday at 1 p.m. UNC limited the Mountain Hawks to six goals, marking the fifth time in five games Carolina has limited its opponent to single digits in the goal column.
The Tar Heels outshot the Mountain Hawks 56-24 and had a 51-28 edge in ground balls as Lehigh fell to 0-3 on the season. UNC also won 14 of 23 face-offs with all 14 face-off wins coming from Shane Walterhoefer. The senior midfielder also had a game-high 10 ground balls.
The Tar Heels forced the Mountain Hawks into 28 turnovers with Mark Staines and Ryan Flanagan sharing the team lead with three caused turnovers each. UNC's riding game was also cited by Tar Heel head coach Joe Breschi as being particularly effective as Lehigh was successful on only nine of 20 clearing attempts, failing on its first seven tries of the game.
Carolina's passing game was in high gear on Saturday as 13 of UNC's 14 goals were assisted.
UNC's balanced scoring attack included four goals each by Wagner and Delaney who also had his career high for goals scored with his previous high being three. Delaney had scored three against Providence on April 21, 2007 and also against Navy on February 20, 2009.
Billy Bitter added two goals for UNC while Gavin Petracca, Thomas Wood, Sean Burke and Chris Hunt each had one goal. It was the second goal of his career for Hunt, one of UNC's top short-stick defensive midfielders.
Wagner had three assists while Billy Bitter, Bobby McAuley, Gavin Petracca and Thomas Wood had two assists each. Sean Burke and Jimmy Dunster, who earned his first career start, had single assists.
Lehigh was led by Brian Bienemann who had three goals while Adam Johnston, Matt Diehl and Dan Honeywell each had single goals. Bienemann recorded the only assist for the Mountain Hawks and had a four-point day.
UNC outshot Lehigh 21-2 in the first quarter and jumped to a 4-0 lead on goals by Wagner, Petracca, Bitter and Delaney. Wagner opened the scoring 2:47 into the game off an assist by Petracca to get the Tar Heels going. The Heels then got two goals in a span of less than a minute with Petracca scoring off an assist by Dunster at the 8:12 mark and then Billy Bitter scoring unassisted 52 seconds later. UNC then finished out the quarter on the first of the four goals by Delaney, assisted by Petracca, with 2:25 left in the quarter.
Lehigh got on the board on an extra-man goal by Bienemann 51 seconds into the second quarter but the Tar Heels answered that goal a little less than three minutes on Sean Burke's first goal of the year, assisted by Bobby McAuley, the fifth straight game in which McAuley has recorded a goal or assist.
After Lehigh cut the lead to 5-3 with 6:25 left in the second period, UNC ran off the last four goals of the quarter from Wood, Bitter, Wagner and Chris Hunt to make it 9-3 at the half. Thomas Wood was assisted by Wagner at 4:50 of the period and 41 seconds after that Bitter found the back of the net off an assist by Wagner. UNC then extended the lead to 9-3 as Wagner scored off an assist by Thomas Wood with 2:44 left in the half and then Chris Hunt tallied 20 seconds later off Wagner's third assist in a span of just 2:26.
Lehigh outscored the Tar Heels 2-1 in the third quarter to send the game into the fourth quarter at 10-5. Johnston and Diehl had the goals for Lehigh with Delaney scoring UNC's third quarter goal off an assist by McAuley with 8:01 to play.
The Tar Heels finished with a 4-1 scoring edge in the fourth quarter. Delaney made it 11-5 off an assist by Sean Burke with 13:52 to play and after Lehigh answered that goal, UNC put the contest away with three goals in a span of less than two minutes.
Sean Delaney scored his fourth goal, assisted by Bitter with 9:02 to play in the quarter. Wagner then had the last two goals for UNC, taking an assist by Thomas Wood with 7:54 left and then scoring off an assist by Bitter with 7:23 to play.
Next up for UNC is the University of Detroit Mercy, in its first varsity season, Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Fetzer Field. The game will be the third in four days for the Titans.
