University of North Carolina Athletics
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Virginia
Tar Heels Fall Short Vs. Top-Ranked Virginia, 7-5
April 10, 2010 | Men's Lacrosse
April 10, 2010
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - The University of Virginia got three goals and an assist from Steele Stanwick and held off a furious rally from North Carolina, defeating the Tar Heels 7-5 in the second game of the Konica Minolta Big City Classic on Saturday afternoon at the Meadowlands Stadium, new home of the National Football League's New York Giants and Jets. The game drew a crowd of 25,710 fans, the largest to see a regular-season game in collegiate men's lacrosse history.
The game was the second of a tripleheader with Hofstra beating Delaware 12-11 in the opener and No. 3 Syracuse routing No. 5 Princeotn in the nightcap 13-4.
With the win, top-ranked Virginia improves to 11-0, 2-0 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Second-ranked Carolina falls to 10-1, 2-1. It was the third time this season the Tar Heels played a battle of the unbeatens. The Tar Heels had won the first two games against Princeton 12-11 on March 16 and Maryland 9-7 on March 27.
Virginia led 5-0 early in the second period before the Tar Heels rallied to pull as close as 5-4 midway through the third quarter. Carolina scored just one goal in the final 22:59 of the game, however, and Virginia held on to win 7-5 in a key ACC contest. The Tar Heels limited Virginia's offense, ranked second nationally, to only two goals in the final 41:25 of the match. UNC redshirt junior goalkeeper made a career high 14 saves, exceeding the 13 he had earlier this year in wins at Navy and UMBC.
Carolina got two goals from Billy Bitter before leaving the game for an extended period with an injury. Bitter returned to action late in the third quarter. Jimmy Dunster, Cryder DiPietro and Michael Burns each scored one goal for UNC. Sean Jackson and Gavin Petracca tallied assists for the Tar Heels.
Carolina out-shot UVa by a 47-35 margin but only five of UNC's shots found the back of the net. The Cavaliers actually had an edge in shots on goal, 19-17. Both team won eight face-offs and both teams scooped up 31 ground balls. Madalon had nine saves in the second half and Adam Ghitelman had 12 saves for Virginia, five in the fourth quarter. Each goalie gave up only two goals after halftime.
UNC's defense, which leads the nation in scoring defense, held its 10th opponent this year to seven goals or less. UNC forced Virginia into 17 turnovers and limited Virginis to one goal on four extra-man chances.
UNC played the game minus starting attackman Thomas Wood and starting midfielder Sean DeLaney for the second straight game. UNC's MASH unit got longer as Chris Hunt, who runs on the second team midfield, left the game in the first quarter with an injury, Bitter was forced to the sidelines in the second quarter after taking an illegal body check moments after he scored a goal, and starting midfielder Ian Braddish had to be helped off the field in the third quarter. Only Bitter returned to the game but it was after missing most of the second and third quarters.
Virginia opened a 5-0 lead just 18:25 into the match. Stanwick scored the first of his three goals at 12:43 of the first quarter on a fast break off a feed by defenseman Ken Clausen. At 9:35, Colin Briggs scored on a rebound to make it 2-0 and at 4:46 John Haldy scored to make it 3-0.
Stanwick scored the first two goals of the second quarter, just 11 seconds apart to give Virginia 5-0 at 11:25. The first of the two goals was on an EMO.
Carolina answered with three of their own before halftime. Bitter got the first two, both unassisted, at 11:02 and 9:34. After scoring the second, Bitter took an illegal body check by Virginia's Bray Malphrus, leading to an unusually harsh two-minute penalty. UNC capitalized on the EMO with Jimmy Dunster scoring on the right side from eight yards away off an assist by Gavin Petracca.
Exactly 15 minutes later, the Heels cut the lead to 5-4 as Cryder DiPietro scored unassisted. DiPietro, who has now started every game, has yet to commit a turnover for UNC this season.
Virginia answered with goals by Matt White at 4:04 of the third quarter and by Chris Bocklet at 11:27 of the fourth to boost it lead to 7-4. UNC's Michael Burns scored a transition goal off an assist by Sean Jackson to close out the scoring at 7-5 with 3:35 left in the game. Despite some excellent chance, the Tar Heels got no closer. UNC has now lost its last four regular-season game against Virginia by a total margin of four goals.
Milton Lyles had a game-high five ground balls for UNC.
The Tar Heels return to action next Saturday when it travels to Moon Township, Pa. to take on Robert Morris in a 1 p.m. game. The Colonials are 8-3 and lead the nation in scoring offense while UNC leads the nation in scoring defense.
The Tar Heels now also know their ACC Tournament fate will match them with fourth-ranked Maryland at Byrd Stadium in College Park, Md. on Friday, April 23. Top-seeded Virginia will meet fourth-seeded Duke in one semifinal game while No. 2 seed North Carolina tangles with No. 3 Maryland in the other. The title game is Sunday, April 25 at 3:30 p.m. at Byrd Stadium.
