University of North Carolina Athletics
Carolina Looks For Third Win In A Row Saturday Versus Lehigh
February 17, 2010 | Men's Lacrosse
Feb. 17, 2010
TAR HEELS LOOK FOR THIRD WIN IN A ROW SATURDAY AGAINST LEHIGH
The University of North Carolina men's lacrosse team returns to action this Saturday when the fourth-ranked Tar Heels meet the Lehigh Mountain Hawks at 12 noon at Fetzer Field. Coach Joe Breschi's team will be looking for its third successive win to open the season for the second straight year. Carolina won its first six games a year ago en route to a 12-6 record.
Tickets for Saturday's UNC-Lehigh game are $5 for adults and $3 for students and senior citizens. UNC students, faculty and staff will be admitted free of charge with their UNC One Cards. The gates at Fetzer Field will open at 11 a.m. Tickets can be purchased in advance at the Ticket Center on TarHeelBlue.com.
Live stats for Saturday's game will be available on TarHeelBlue.com via CBS College Sports.com Gametracker. The Tar Heels (2-0) opened their season February 6 with an 11-5 victory at Jacksonville before beating Bryant 5-4 last Saturday in UNC's home opener at Navy Field.
Lehigh, which competes in the Patriot League, enters Saturday's game with a 1-0 mark after beating St. Joseph's 7-6 last Sunday at Franklin Field in Philadelphia. Pa. The Mountain Hawks are the first of two successive Patriot League opponents the Tar Heels will meet in a span of five days. Carolina will play at Navy on Thursday, February 25 at 7 p.m. in a game to be nationally televised by CBS College Sports Television.
THE SERIES WITH THE MOUNTAIN HAWKS
Carolina and Lehigh will be meeting for the seventh time in history Saturday at Fetzer Field. The Tar Heels lead the all-time series 4-1-1. UNC has won the last four meetings against the Mountain Hawks since the series resumed in 1995 following a 43-year hiatus. The previous meeting had been in 1952. UNC scored one-goal wins over Lehigh in both 1995, a triple overtime thriller, and 2000. Last year, the two teams played at the St. Paul's School in Brooklandville, Md., with the Tar Heels beating the Mountain Hawks 14-6 on February 28, 2009.
LAST YEAR AGAINST LEHIGH
UNC defeated Lehigh a year ago 14-6 at St. Paul's School in Brooklandville, Md. The Tar Heels outshot the Mountain Hawks 21-2 in the first quarter en route to taking a 4-0 lead at the end of the first quarter. UNC increased its lead to 9-3 at halftime and then outscored the Mountain Hawks 4-1 in the fourth quarter to finish with a 14-6 edge.
Bart Wagner led the Tar Heels in the game with seven points as he had four goals and three assists in the game. Senior midfielder Sean DeLaney had a career-high four goals against the Mountain Hawks and junior attackman Billy Bitter had two goals and two assists. The Tar Heels scored 14 goals, 13 of which were assisted.
UNC outshot the Mountain Hawks 56-24 in the game and won the ground ball battle 51-28. It was one of those rare games when the two teams combined for more goals scored (20) than saves (18).
THE UNC STARTERS
Carolina has started the same lineup in each of the first two games of the season. The attack unit has featured junior Billy Bitter, sophomore Thomas Wood and freshman Marcus Holman. The first midfield unit includes seniors Sean DeLaney and Cryder DiPietro and sophomore Jimmy Dunster. The close defense includes senior Michael Jarvis, junior Ryan Flanagan and sophomore Charlie McComas. Junior Chris Madalon has started in goal for the Tar Heels in the first two games of the season.
UNC'S STELLAR DEFENSIVE EFFORT AGAINST BRYANT
When UNC defeated Bryant 5-4 on Saturday, February 13 at Navy Field, it marked the fewest goals allowed by Carolina since March 3, 2009 when the Tar Heels defeated Detroit Mercy at Henry Stadium 19-4. Carolina also allowed only four goals in a 16-4 victory over Robert Morris on February 7, 2009 at Fetzer Field.
The last time UNC allowed fewer than four goals in a match was March 18, 2008 when North Carolina defeated Marist 12-3 at Fetzer Field.
CAROLINA SURVIVES STRONG EFFORT FROM BRYANT
North Carolina defeated a tough Bryant University team 5-4 on February 13 before a crowd of 1,009 at Navy Field in the Tar Heels' home opener. For the second straight week sophomore Thomas Wood led the Tar Heels offensively with two goals and an assist. Wood had the game-winning goal with 12:50 left in the game. Senior midfielder Sean DeLaney had two goals for UNC while junior attackman Billy Bitter had two assists.
The Tar Heels outshot the Bulldogs 42-22 in the match but a 20-save effort by Bryant's Jameson Love kept the game close to the final tick of the clock. UNC's defense was brilliant, allowing only four goals, forcing 25 turnovers and nine failed clears.
MADALON COMES UP BIG AGAINST THE BULLDOGS
North Carolina's Chris Madalon had the best game of his career in the goal in UNC's 5-4 victory over Bryant February 13. The Darien, Conn., native had a career-high for saves in a game with nine and he allowed only four goals in 60 minutes against the Bulldogs. Madalon made three of his nine saves in the fourth quarter as the Tar Heels outscored the Bulldogs 1-0 in the final 15 minutes to come away with the 5-4 triumph.
TAR HEELS OPEN WITH DECISIVE WIN AT JACKSONVILLE
Carolina opened its 2010 campaign February 6 with a methodical 11-5 win at Jacksonville before a crowd of 4,762 at D.B. Milne Field in Jacksonville, Fla. The game marked the first in JU's varsity lacrosse history.
UNC outscored the Dolphins in every quarter en route to the victory, including a 4-1 bulge in the third quarter when the Tar Heels pulled away from the Dolphins to lead 9-4 after three quarters. UNC dominated the game statistically against the Dolphins, outshooting them 42-22 and winning the ground ball battle 43-31. Jacksonville also committed 29 turnovers and had eight failed clears. The Tar Heels' shooting accuracy was at a high level with 28 of 42 shots on goal. JU goalkeeper Brad Hester made 17 saves.
WOOD, HOLMAN, DeLANEY LEAD OFFENSE
Five Tar Heels had at least two points each in the win over Jacksonville, led by sophomore attackman Thomas Wood (Dallas, Texas). Wood had a career-high three goals to go with an assist for four points. That point total equals exactly one-half of the point total Wood had in his entire freshman year. He had eight points last season.
Freshman attackman Marcus Holman (Baltimore, Md.) made his first career start and had a pair of goals against the Bulldogs as did senior midfielder Sean DeLaney (Moorestown, N.J.). Two other Tar Heels, senior midfielder Cryder DiPietro (Ruxton, Md.) and sophomore midfielder Mark Staines (Gambrills, Md.), each had a goal and an assist.
WOOD'S POINT TOTAL
Sophomore attackman Thomas Wood (Dallas, Texas) had seven points in the first two games of the season with five goals and two assists. That is just one point shy of Wood's entire point total for his freshman year in 2009 when he had eight points on two goals and six assists.
BURNS DEBUTS AS LEAD FACE-OFF MAN
After being the No. 2 option at the face-off X each of his first two years at Carolina, junior midfielder Michael Burns (Medford Lakes, N.J.) took over as the main face-off man for UNC against Jacksonville. Burns, who also plays short-stick defensive midfield, had a very successful game, winning 10 of 15 face-offs, scooping up five ground balls, causing two turnovers and scoring a goal.
Burns missed the game against Bryant because of a hip flexor. Freshman midfielder William Scroggs took over the face-off duties for the Tar Heels against the Bulldogs.
FLANAGAN, McCOMAS, JARVIS LEAD DEFENSIVE EFFORTS
Junior defenseman Ryan Flanagan (West Islip, N.Y.), senior defenseman Michael Jarvis (Richmond, Va.) and sophomore defenseman Charlie McComas (Parkton, Md.) led a solid defensive effort by the Tar Heels that limited Jacksonville to five goals in the season opener. Flanagan and Jarvis led all players in the game with five and four caused turnovers, respectively. McComas led all players in the game with eight ground balls.
Flanagan's five caused turnovers equaled his career high which was previously set against Ohio State on April 11, 2009. The four caused turnovers by Jarvis were a career high for him, eclipsing his previous high of three in a game. The eight ground balls by McComas were his career high standard. The most he had ever had in a previous game was five.
UNC forced 16 turnovers in the second game of the season against Bryant. Flanagan again led UNC with three caused turnovers as 10 different UNC players caused as least one turnover.
MADALON MAKES FIRST CAREER START
Junior Chris Madalon (Darien, Conn.) made his first career start in goal for the Tar Heels, going all 60 minutes against the Dolphins and making five saves while allowing five goals. Madalon also had career high four ground balls.
FOUR TAR HEELS NAMED PRESEASON ALL-AMERICAS
Four players on the 2010 University of North Carolina men's lacrosse team were named preseason All-Americas by Face-Off Yearbook and Inside Lacrosse. Junior attackman Billy Bitter (Stowe, Vt.) was named a first-team All-America while junior defenseman Ryan Flanagan and senior midfielder Sean DeLaney were both tapped as second-team All-Americas. Sophomore midfielder Jimmy Dunster (Cos Cob, Conn.) earned honorable mention All-America honors.
QUARTET OF TAR HEELS NAMED PRESEASON ALL-ACC
Face-Off Yearbook and Inside Lacrosse tapped four UNC players as preseason All-Atlantic Coast Conference choices. This quartet includes attackman Billy Bitter, midfielder Sean DeLaney, defenseman Ryan Flanagan and short-stick defensive midfielder Chris Hunt.
TAR HEELS TAP CAPTAINS
UNC's 2010 captains are a pair of seniors -- midfielder Sean DeLaney of Moorestown, N.J. and defenseman Michael Jarvis of Richmond, Va.
CAROLINA IN THE POLLS
Face-Off Magazine, Inside Lacrosse and the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association ranked UNC No. 4 in the preseason. The first regular-season polls will be released on the Monday following the Lehigh game.
CAROLINA'S DOUBLE DIGIT STREAK IN GOALS ENDS VERSUS BRYANT
Dating back to the 2009 season, Carolina has scored in double digits in nine successive games. That streak was broken when the Tar Heels scored only five goals in a 5-4 win over Bryant on February 13.
The nine-game streak was the longest run of double-digit scoring games by the Tar Heels since they scored 10 or more goals in a game 14 successive times in 1993-94. Carolina scored in double digits in the final 10 games of the 1993 season and then scored in double figures in the opening four games of the 1994 campaign.
THE ALL-TIME HOME RECORD
With a 1-0 home record in 2010, UNC now has an all-time home mark of 234-113-2 (.674). That record includes games played at Fetzer Field, Kenan Stadium, Henry Stadium and Finley Field. Carolina's nine home wins in 2010 were the most in a season in school history.
UNC SEEKS 399TH ALL-TIME VICTORY SATURDAY
Since the Tar Heels played their first varsity game in 1949, North Carolina has compiled a 398-254-2 record, a winning percentage of .611.
THE BRESCHI LEDGER
Now in his 13th year as a head coach, including the first 11 campaigns at Ohio State where he was 92-63 and two seasons at Carolina where he is 14-6, head coach Joe Breschi is 106-69 overall (.604) as UNC prepares to meet the Lehigh Mountain Hawks.
