University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Notre Dame
No. 7 Fighting Irish Hand No. 3 Tar Heels First Loss Of Season
March 8, 2009 | Men's Lacrosse
March 8, 2009
SOUTH BEND, IND. - Seventh-ranked Notre Dame outscored third-ranked North Carolina 6-3 in the second half Sunday afternoon to hand the Tar Heels their first loss of the season by a 9-7 count. The Fighting Irish defense held Carolina to less than half its season goal average as they improved to 4-0. UNC fell to 6-1 with the loss.
The Tar Heels, who were seeking to give Head Coach Joe Breschi his 99th career coaching victory, led 4-3 at halftime but Notre Dame outscored the Tar Heels 2-0 in the third quarter to take a 5-4 lead into the fourth quarter. The Tar Heels were never able to get the equalizer in the final period and Notre Dame three times built three-goal leads.
UNC will try to bounce back when it plays Providence at 3 p.m. Wednesday at Fetzer Field. The Tar Heels will host ACC rival Duke on Saturday at 2 p.m. in a game to be nationally-televised by ESPNU.
Sophomore attackman Billy Bitter led the Tar Heels with three goals and an assist while junior midfielder Sean Delaney had two goals and freshman midfielder Jimmy Dunster added a goal and an assist. Junior midfielder Sean Burke had a goal and two assists for UNC. Senior attackman Bart Wagner was held without a point for only the third time in his four-year career.
Ryan Hoff led Notre Dame with three goals while Grant Krebs had two goals and an assist and Peter Christman had a goal and three assists. Duncan Swezey added two assists.
Shane Walterhoefer won 11 of 20 face-offs for the Tar Heels. Ryan Flanagan led the defense with six ground balls. UNC won the ground ball battle by a 42-32 margin but was not able to turn that into a winning victory strategy.
The Tar Heels also outshot the Fighting Irish 47-39 but Scott Rodgers was the difference in the game for Notre Dame as he made 16 saves, including seven in the fourth quarter when the Tar Heels were trying to stage their comeback. Grant Zimmerman had 10 saves for Carolina including five in the final period.
The UNC riding game was impressive again, forcing eight clears while UNC failed on four clears.
