March 4, 2010
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA MEN'S LACROSSE GAME NOTES
No. 4 North Carolina (4-0) at No. 18 UMBC (1-1)
Saturday, March 6, 2010, 12 p.m.
UMBC Stadium, Catonsville, Md.
CAROLINA PLAYS AT UMBC SATURDAY SEEKING FIFTH SUCCESSIVE WIN
The University of North Carolina men's lacrosse team (4-0) returns to action after a nine-day break this Saturday when the Tar Heels travel to Catonsville, Md. to meet the Retrievers of UMBC (1-1) at 12 p.m. at UMBC Stadium. The game will be the first meeting between the teams at Catonsville since the 2005 season.
This is the second of three successive televised games for the Tar Heels. The game will be televised live in the Baltimore area as the WMAR-TV Game of the Week and will be tape delayed on ESPNU. UNC's 11-4 win at Navy on February 25 was televised nationally on CBS College Sports Television and the Tar Heels' game at Duke on March 10 will be televised nationally on ESPNU.
Coach
Joe Breschi's (UNC '90) team will be looking for its fifth successive win to open the season for the third straight year. Carolina won its first six games a year ago en route to finishing with a 12-6 record and Carolina started 5-0 in 2008 en route to an 8-6 record. The game will feature a coaching matchup between two veteran coaches with deep Tar Heel connections - Breschi, a four-year letterman (1987-90), assistant coach (1991-92) and head coach (2009-10) for UNC, and UMBC's Don Zimmerman, who was an assistant coach with the Tar Heels from 1979-82.
CAROLINA LOOKS FOR A FIVE-GAME WIN STREAK
The Tar Heels (4-0) have opened their season with four straight wins for the third year in a row. Carolina opened their season February 6 with an 11-5 victory at Jacksonville in the first-ever varsity game for the Dolphins, beat Bryant 5-4 February 13 in UNC's home opener at Navy Field, turned in a dominating performance in beating Lehigh 17-5 at Fetzer Field on February 20 and then won at Navy 11-4 on February 25 after racing out to a 10-1 lead over the Midshipmen.
THE SERIES WITH THE RETRIEVERS
Carolina and UMBC will be playing for the 25th time in history Saturday. The Tar Heels lead the all-time series 18-6. Carolina is 6-5 in the 11 games played at Catonsville, Md. UNC has won two games in a row in the series. In the last regular-season game played between the two teams in 2005, UNC beat the Retrievers 11-5 at UMBC Stadium. The NCAA paired the two teams in the first round of last year's NCAA Tournament. The Tar Heels prevailed in that game 15-13 at Fetzer Field in Chapel Hill.
LAST YEAR AGAINST UMBC
The two teams played a wild game in the first round of the 2009 NCAA Tournament at Fetzer Field with Carolina outlasting the Retrievers 15-13 before a national TV audience on ESPNU. UNC's
Billy Bitter tied the school record for goals scored in a game in that contest with eight. His eight goals came on only nine shots and he added an assist for nine points in the match. Senior attackman
Bart Wagner also had a big game for UNC as he had two goals and three assists for five points.
After the Tar Heels built a 6-3 lead on Bitter's fourth goal of the game with 9:01 left in the second quarter, the Retrievers scored the next six goals, taking a 9-6 lead with 13:05 left in the third period. Carolina answered with a four-goal run of its own in less than three minutes, taking a 10-9 lead at 9:36 of the third quarter. UMBC retook the lead with back-to-back goals but Carolina went on to score five of the next six goals to take a 15-12 lead with 5:58 to go. It was a Bitter goal, assisted by
Bobby McAuley, that gave the Tar Heels the lead for good in the game with 4:30 left in the third quarter.
THE LAST TIME OUT FOR THE TAR HEELS
Carolina defeated No. 16 Navy 11-4 in Annapolis, Md. on February 25 in a nationally televised game on CBS College Sports Television. The Tar Heels scored the first six goals of the game and then opened up the second half with the first four goals of the third quarter to take their largest lead of the game at 10-1.
The Tar Heels won in Annapolis for only the fourth time in history and the first time since 2001. UNC outshot the Midshipmen 43-26 in the game.
MADALON'S CAREER HIGHS AGAINST NAVY
UNC redshirt junior
Chris Madalon had a career game in the Tar Heels' 11-4 win at Navy February 25. Madalon had a career high for saves in a game with 13 and for ground balls in a game with six.
CAROLINA DEFENSE HOLDS ANOTHER OPPONENT TO FIVE GOALS OR LESS
UNC's defense limited Navy to only four goals February 25, marking the fourth straight opponent the Tar Heels have held to five goals or less. That has never happened before in UNC history dating back to 1949. Carolina did hold three successive opponents to five goals or less in 1991. In the past four games UNC has held Jacksonville to five, Bryant to four, Lehigh to five and Navy to four goals, respectively.
PETRACCA, HOLMAN, DELANEY, DIPIETRO ACHIEVE CAREER HIGHS AGAINST MIDSHIPMEN
Several Tar Heel individuals posted offensive career highs against Navy. Senior attackman
Gavin Petracca had five assists in the game, exceeding the four he had against Denver on February 14, 2009. His seven points were one short of his career high. Freshman
Marcus Holman had a career high four goals in the match, doubling his season total to eight.
Sean DeLaney had four points in the game on three goals and one assist. That was the sixth time in his career he has had four points in a match. Senior
Cryder DiPietro also tied his career high for assists in a game with two. DeLaney continued his consistent play against the Midshipmen as he has scored two or more goals in each of UNC's four games this season. DePietro has six assists in four games this year, exceeding the three assists he had in his first two years combined at UNC.
WOOD CONTINUES HOT PLAY
Thomas Wood scored two goals in UNC's win at Navy February 25. That was the fourth straight game in which he has scored at least two goals this season. He shares the Tar Heel lead in goals scored with nine heading into the UMBC game. He had a career high three goals in UNC's season-opening win over Jacksonville. Wood is UNC's leading scorer with 14 points on nine goals and five assists. Wood has already exceeded his entire point total for his freshman year in 2009 when he had eight points on two goals and six assists.
THE LIKELY UNC STARTERS
Carolina's likely starting unit against the Retrievers will include junior
Billy Bitter, sophomore
Thomas Wood and redshirt senior
Gavin Petracca on attack, seniors
Sean DeLaney and
Cryder DiPietro and sophomore
Jimmy Dunster on the first midfield, senior
Michael Jarvis, junior
Ryan Flanagan and sophomore
Charlie McComas on close defense and redhsirt junior
Chris Madalon in the goal.
SCORING STREAKS BY BITTER AND DELANEY
Junior attackman
Billy Bitter and senior midfielder
Sean DeLaney both have two of the longest current scoring streaks in the country.
Bitter has the seventh longest scoring streak in the nation at 22 games in a row. Bitter's streak began on February 7, 2009. He has 49 goals and 34 assists in those 22 games for 83 points. DeLaney has the 16th longest scoring streak in the nation at 16 games, a streak which began on March 8, 2009. DeLaney has 32 goals and nine assists during that time for 41 points.
OFFENSE RESPONDS AGAINST LEHIGH
After starting the season with an 11-goal effort against Jacksonville and a five-goal output against Bryant, the Tar Heels saw their offense respond in a big way in Carolina's 17-5 win over Lehigh on February 20. The 17 goals were the most UNC has scored in a game since it beat Detroit Mercy 19-4 on March 3, 2009.
CAREER DAYS FOR BITTER, WOOD AND DUNSTER
Billy Bitter,
Thomas Wood and
Jimmy Dunster combined for seven goals and eight assists in UNC's win over Lehigh February 20.
All three had career best or career equaling performances against the Mountain Hawks. Bitter had two goals and four assists for a team-leading six points against Lehigh. The four assists matched his career high of four against Denver on February 12, 2009. Dunster had three goals and an assist in the match. The three goals were the most in a game for the Tar Heel sophomore midfielder, exceeding the two he had in three different games last season. His four points were also a career high.
Thomas Wood had career highs for both assists in a game with three and points in a game with five versus the Mountain Hawks. Wood also had five ground balls, a career best in a game.
GAVIN'S RETURN IS WELL TIMED
Fifth-year senior attackman
Gavin Petracca returned to full-time action against Lehigh and his availability was a big boost to the Tar Heel offense. After undergoing off-season knee surgery, Petracca had played only on extra-man opportunities against Jacksonville and Bryant.
Petracca celebrated his return to a bigger role in the lineup by scoring three goals in the match. Petracca's goals were particularly well-timed as he scored back-to-back tallies at 12:46 and 10:23 of the second quarter to give the Tar Heels separation at 6-2. The latter goal would hold up as the game-winner.
MORTON'S FIRST GOALS
After not scoring in his first 19 career games, sophomore midfielder
Tyler Morton scored twice against Lehigh in UNC's 17-5 win over the Mountain Hawks. Morton scored with 13:44 to play to put the Heels up 2-0 in the first quarter and his goal with 13:22 to play in the second quarter gave the Tar Heels a 4-2 in the contest.
OTHER NOTES FROM THE LEHIGH GAME
Senior midfielder
Cryder DiPietro had two assists in the game, his career high
Sophomore midfielder
Chris Layne scored his second career goal against the Mountain Hawks. His previous tally came March 3, 2009 against Detroit Mercy.
Mark Staines won a career high four face-offs against Lehigh, going 4 of 6.
Chris Hunt opened the scoring with his fifth career goal.
Freshman
Steven Rastivo saw his first career action in goal. He played the last 7:35 and made two saves while not allowing a goal.
Charlie McComas matched his career best for ground balls in a game with eight.
UNC'S STELLAR DEFENSIVE EFFORT AGAINST BRYANT
When UNC defeated Bryant 5-4 on 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.
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.
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. McComas matched that eight ground ball total in UNC's win over Lehigh February 20.
Flanagan's five caused turnovers equaled his career high, 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, forced 18 in the victory over Lehigh and 10 more in the win over Navy. Flanagan again led UNC with three caused turnovers against the Bulldogs as 10 different UNC players caused as least one turnover.
Michael Jarvis led all players with three caused turnovers against Lehigh. Flanagan led with two caused turnovers in the win over Navy as eight different Tar Heels were credited with caused turnovers in the game.
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 a then 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. Carolina is currently ranked fourth in the USILA poll and it third in the Inside Lacrosse poll.
THE ALL-TIME HOME RECORD
With a 2-0 home record in 2010, UNC now has an all-time home mark of 235-113-2 (.675). 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 EARNS 400TH ALL-TIME VICTORY AGAINST NAVY
Since the Tar Heels played their first varsity game in 1949, North Carolina has compiled a 400-254-2 record, a winning percentage of .612.
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 16-6, head coach
Joe Breschi is 108-69 overall (.610).
